Irrelevant Emotional Information Does Not Modulate Response Conflict in Mindfulness Meditators

Objectives Although mindfulness improves executive control and emotional processing, its impact on conflict resolution-an essential executive function-in emotionally irrelevant contexts is unclear. The present study investigated the interactive role of mindfulness and task-irrelevant emotional information in conflict resolution.Method In total, 48 participants were categorized as mindfulness meditators and non-meditators based on prior meditation experience. Data were collected from two flanker tasks. On each trial, an emotional face distractor (neutral, happy, or angry) either preceded the target stimulus (Task 1) or appeared with it (Task 2). The flanker interference effect reflected the magnitude of conflict. Self-reports of emotional states, affectivity, and trait mindfulness were also collected.Results Non-meditators displayed a lower interference effect for happy face distractors in both tasks. The interference effect was higher for angry than happy face distractors in Task 1 (p = 0.02, d = 0.73) and higher for angry than happy (p < 0.01, d = 1.01) and neutral face distractors (p = 0.01, d = 0.61) in Task 2. In mindfulness meditators, similar interference effects were observed for all face distractors in Task 1 (p > 0.292) and Task 2 (p > 0.540). Mindfulness meditators' self-reports on emotional states indicated lesser depressive symptoms than non-meditators (p = 0.01).Conclusions The findings suggest that conflict resolution is influenced by the valence of emotionally irrelevant information in non-meditators but not in mindfulness meditators. The study specifically demonstrates how mindfulness can act as a buffer against the disruptive effects of emotional distractions on conflict resolution.