Dispositional Mindfulness and Neural Activity in Youth: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objectives: Dispositional mindfulness has been associated with improved emotional regulation, reduced stress, and increased well-being. Interventions aiming at developing dispositional mindfulness are thus promising non-invasive, early interventions for youth at risk for psychiatric disorders. However, little is known about the neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness in adolescents although this could inform response to preventive interventions in youth. This systematic review identified and synthesized existing literature on the functional MRI correlates of dispositional mindfulness in adolescents, to guide and pave the way for interventional studies. Method: This systematic review included observational studies investigating resting-state or task-based fMRI correlates of mindfulness traits in participants aged between 6 and 25 years, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Four databases were searched up to October 2023, and narrative synthesis of the extracted results was conducted. Results: The 7 included studies (out of the 2348 screened) had one task-based and six resting state analyses. We focused on reporting resting state studies, where neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness were found in various brain regions, including the frontal cortex, the insula, the thalamus. It was also related to transitions between brain states. These findings suggest that dispositional mindfulness may be associated to underlying processes such as attention, emotion regulation and mind wandering. Conclusions: Due to the low number of papers, it is difficult to reach a conclusion. Given the need to further investigate the neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness in adolescents to understand the positive behavioral outcomes that are associated with mindfulness, we suggest caveats and perspectives for future studies. Preregistration: This systematic review is not preregistered.