Dispositional mindfulness: Dissociable affective and cognitive processes.
Nancy Tsai, Isaac N Treves, Clemens C C Bauer, Ethan Scherer, Camila Caballero, Martin R West, John D E Gabrieli
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review February 1, 2024 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02462-y (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study with reanalysis of previously reported neuroimaging findings Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Adolescents |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Brain Humans Affect Personality Cognition Attention Female Stress Adolescents |
| Key findings | The authors suggest that dispositional mindfulness relates to affective and cognitive processes through two dissociable pathways rather than one shared process, based on behavioral measures in adolescents and reanalysis of prior neuroimaging data. They argue that trait mindfulness benefits both affect and cognition, but that these benefits are at least partly separable in the mind and brain. |
Abstract
Mindfulness has been linked to a range of positive social-emotional and cognitive outcomes, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. As one of the few traits or dispositions that are associated with both affective and cognitive benefits, we asked whether mindfulness is associated with affective and cognitive outcomes through a shared, unitary process or through two dissociable processes. We examined this in adolescents using behavioral measures and also reanalyzed previously reported neuroimaging findings relating mindfulness training to either affect (negative emotion, stress) or cognition (sustained attention). Using multivariate regression analyses, our findings suggest that the relationships between dispositional mindfulness and affective and cognitive processes are behaviorally dissociable and converge with neuroimaging data indicating that mindfulness modulates affect and cognition through separate neural pathways. These findings support the benefits of trait mindfulness on both affective and cognitive processes, and reveal that those benefits are at least partly dissociable in the mind and brain.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Cancer patients (clinical intervention study) | 2003 | Mixed methods: scale development, correlational, quasi-experimental, laboratory, experience-sampling, and clinical intervention study | |
| Loving-kindness meditation increases social connectedness. | 2008 | Controlled laboratory experiment | |
| Mindfulness and mind-wandering: Finding convergence through opposing constructs. | 2012 | Two studies: correlational study and experimental study | |
| Mental Training Enhances Attentional Stability: Neural and Behavioral Evidence | 2009 | Experimental study | |
| Mindfulness meditation and substance use in an incarcerated population. Incarcerated population | 2006 | Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual control condition |
Citations in the library
Cited by 4
- Dynamic Functional Connectivity Correlates of Trait Mindfulness in Early Adolescence. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science November 1, 2024
- Attention and meditative development: A review and synthesis of long-term meditators and outlook for the study of advanced meditation. Neuroimage November 19, 2025
- Awake bruxism and dispositional mindfulness: psychophysiological and behavioral correlates in a real-time ecological assessment Odontology June 2, 2026
- Does Mindfulness Reduce Automatic Preference Development? Mindfulness August 5, 2026
Cites 34
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects Psychological Inquiry October 19, 2007
- Assessment of Mindfulness by Self-Report Assessment September 1, 2004
- Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Psychosomatic Medicine July 1, 2007
- Inside the Mindful Mind Current Directions in Psychological Science December 1, 2013
and 29 more in the library