Bridging the gap between mindfulness and executive functioning
Matej Hrabovský, Iveta Kovalčíková
Psihologijske teme July 24, 2026 DOI: 10.31820/pt.35.2.5 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Systematic review Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | 36 published studies (2019-2024) providing explicit definitions or conceptual frameworks of mindfulness |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Across 102 coded definitions from 36 studies, mindfulness was most frequently defined in terms of attention regulation, self-monitoring, and emotional and behavioral self-regulation, with planning, organization, and working memory referenced less often. The authors report that definitions became more complex over time and argue that a gap exists between definitional emphases on attention and affect and empirical findings on higher-order mechanisms such as psychological flexibility and inhibitory control. |
Abstract
The construct of mindfulness has gained significant prominence in psychological and neuroscientific research; however, its definition remains inconsistent across academic literature. This systematic review, guided by the PRISMA methodology, aimed to examine how mindfulness is currently conceptualized in relation to executive functions (EFs). A purposive search of Google Scholar identified 36 eligible studies published between 2019 and 2024 that provided explicit definitions or conceptual frameworks for mindfulness. Through qualitative content analysis, nine distinct EF categories were used to code 102 extracted definitions. The most frequently represented functions were attention regulation, self-monitoring, and emotional and behavioral self-regulation, suggesting that mindfulness is primarily defined as a metacognitive capacity for present-moment awareness and adaptive control. Less commonly referenced functions included planning, organization, and working memory. A co-occurrence analysis revealed dominant EF clusters, while a temporal analysis showed increasing complexity in definitions over time. Notably, the study identifies a conceptual gap between the definitional emphasis on attentional and affective regulation and empirical findings that highlight higher-order cognitive mechanisms such as psychological flexibility and inhibitory control. These findings underscore the need to integrate executive and neurocognitive processes into future theoretical models of mindfulness to enhance conceptual clarity, improve measurement, and inform intervention design.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |