Abstract
Objectives
The use of mindfulness interventions have increased in schools with little knowledge of how dispositional mindfulness affects cognitive processes in the developing brain. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the association between dispositional mindfulness and the neural correlates of working memory in adolescents. A secondary objective was to examine the link between adolescent dispositional mindfulness and working memory performance.
Methods
Adolescents aged 11–18 (M = 13.75, SD = 1.56, n = 83) completed the Adult and Adolescent Mindfulness Scale and a functional magnetic resonance imaging N-back task. The blood oxygen level–dependent signal as well as functional connectivity of the right dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was contrasted between 2-back versus 0-back conditions.
Results
Lower blood oxygen level–dependent signal in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was correlated to higher Attention and Awareness scores, controlling for participants’ experience with a mindfulness practice (k = 112, FWEp = .011). Reduced functional connectivity between right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex/supplementary motor area during the 2-back compared to 0-back task was associated with higher Nonreactivity, although this did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. Dispositional mindfulness did not correlate to working memory performance.
Conclusions
Adolescents with higher levels of Attention and Awareness and Nonreactivity may require less cognitive effort to inhibit distractors for the same level of working memory performance.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, awarded to Dr. Daniel Kopala-Sibley. Jade Stein was supported by a Branch Out Neurological Foundation Master’s Grant and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Master’s Scholarship.
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J. A. S. designed and executed the study, performed data analyses, and wrote the manuscript. S. B. collaborated with the design and analyses. F. P. M. and L. T. M. collaborated with the study design. D. C. K. S. designed the study and collaborated with analyses and writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed to editing the final manuscript.
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Stein, J.A., Bray, S., MacMaster, F.P. et al. Adolescents with High Dispositional Mindfulness Show Altered Right Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex Activity During a Working Memory Task. Mindfulness 13, 198–210 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01785-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01785-4