App-based mindfulness meditation training enhances cognitive flexibility and modulates ACC and medial frontal gyrus activation during task switching in adolescent OCD.

Overview

Authors: Sarah Rempel^1,2, Maria McDonald¹, Veit Roessner^1,3, Christian Beste^2,3, Nicole Beyer¹

ORCID iDs: Sarah Rempel, Maria McDonald, Christian Beste

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, 01307, Dresden, Germany
Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, 01307, Dresden, Germany
German Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DZKJ), partner site Leipzig/Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Institutions: Technische Universität Dresden (Germany)

Journal: Neuroimage. Reports, volume 6, issue 2, article 100347

Dates: received 29 July 2025; accepted 15 April 2026; published online 23 April 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347 · PMID 42064681 · PMCID PMC13127193 · OpenAlex W7155373237

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only

Categories: EEG (modality), human (organism), other condition (population), cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Connectivity, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Preprocessing, Spectral & time-frequency, Evoked potentials

Keywords: Cognitive flexibility, OCD, Mindfulness, Task switching, MVPA, EEG

Topic: Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions (Clinical Psychology, Psychology), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Bundesministerium für Forschung Technologie und Raumfahrt Informationstechnikzentrum Bund (01GL2405B); Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (2017_A101)

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 79 references in the paper

Abstract

Background: Cognitive flexibility is a core executive function often impaired in individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Mindfulness-based interventions have been hypothesized to improve cognitive flexibility and may be a promising adjunctive intervention for adolescents with OCD. The current study examines which cognitive neurophysiological processes underlie mindfulness-based interventions in cognitive flexibility.

Methods: In a randomized, interviewer-blind design, 76 adolescents (aged 10-19) with diagnosed or suspected OCD were enrolled. After exclusion, the final sample included 53 participants (45.3 % male). Participants were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness training group or an active control group (audiobook listening). Cognitive flexibility was assessed using a task-switching paradigm while EEG data were collected. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and source localization were applied to decomposed EEG data, enabling control of inter-individual variability.

Results: The mindfulness group showed significantly reduced switch costs compared to the control group, indicating improved cognitive flexibility. The MVPA revealed group-specific decoding performance effects in fractions of EEG data reflecting response selection processes in a time window of 300-400 ms. In this time frame, the mindfulness group showed differential activation in the medial frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusions: This study provides evidence that an app-based mindfulness meditation training can enhance cognitive flexibility in adolescents with OCD through modulating stimulus-response selection processes in frontal cortices.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Datasets cited

osf:8vfnj, at OSF; found in “Data availability”

Data availability

Data presented in the study can be found under the following link: https://osf.io/8vfnj/

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 6 keywords, 2 funders, 76 references.

Cite

This paper

Rempel, S., McDonald, M., Roessner, V., Beste, C., & Beyer, N. (2026). App-based mindfulness meditation training enhances cognitive flexibility and modulates ACC and medial frontal gyrus activation during task switching in adolescent OCD. Neuroimage. Reports, 6(2), 100347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347

BibTeX

@article{rempel2026app, author = {Rempel, Sarah and McDonald, Maria and Roessner, Veit and Beste, Christian and Beyer, Nicole}, title = {{App-based mindfulness meditation training enhances cognitive flexibility and modulates ACC and medial frontal gyrus activation during task switching in adolescent OCD}}, journal = {Neuroimage. Reports}, year = {2026}, month = apr, volume = {6}, number = {2}, pages = {100347}, publisher = {Elsevier}, issn = {2666-9560}, doi = {10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347}, pmid = {42064681}, pmcid = {PMC13127193} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Rempel, Sarah AU - McDonald, Maria AU - Roessner, Veit AU - Beste, Christian AU - Beyer, Nicole TI - App-based mindfulness meditation training enhances cognitive flexibility and modulates ACC and medial frontal gyrus activation during task switching in adolescent OCD T2 - Neuroimage. Reports J2 - Neuroimage Rep PY - 2026 DA - 2026/04/23 VL - 6 IS - 2 SP - 100347 SN - 2666-9560 PB - Elsevier DO - 10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynirp.2026.100347 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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