Reconceptualizing the relationship between anxiety, mindfulness, and cognitive control.
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews June 1, 2025 Resh S Gupta, Wendy Heller, Todd S Braver 3 citations
Inconsistent findings linking anxiety, cognitive control, and mindfulness may stem from imprecise definitions and measurements of these concepts. This review argues that anxiety, cognitive control, and mindfulness are each multidimensional, and studies often examine different dimensions using varied behavioral or neural measures, leading to mixed results. The authors propose a framework that aligns specific anxiety dimensions with particular mindfulness states and interventions, predicting distinct effects on proactive versus reactive cognitive control. They suggest using precisely targeted experimental paradigms and metrics to test these relationships, and outline novel studies to rigorously evaluate the framework.