The Impact of DBT-Based Mindfulness Training on Cognitive Performance Among University Students: A Pre-Post Stroop Test Study
Effects of DBT-Based Mindfulness on Cognition
Keywords:
Attention, Executive Function, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Mindfulness, Self-regulationAbstract
Background: Mindfulness is increasingly used to support cognitive and emotional functioning in high-stress academic settings. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) combines mindfulness with distress tolerance, cognitive flexibility, and emotion regulation skills that may strengthen attentional control. However, controlled evidence using objective cognitive measures remains limited in South Asian university populations.
Methods: A one-group pre-test–post-test design was used with 50 undergraduate students (aged 18–25 years) purposively recruited from a Pakistani university. Participants completed the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT) before and after a structured six-session DBT-based mindfulness training program covering core mindfulness, distress tolerance, cognitive flexibility, and stress-management skills. Pre- and post-intervention scores on nine SCWT indices were compared using paired-samples t-tests.
Results: Word-reading time fell significantly, from 15.19±5.19 to 12.89±3.93 seconds (t(49)=2.691, p=0.010), as did letter-reading time, from 32.38±10.07 to 26.10±9.33 seconds (t(49)=3.596, p=0.001), and letter-reading errors, from 0.74±0.99 to 0.40±0.78 (t(49)=2.084, p=0.042). Color-naming time, the remaining error scores, and all three interference (conflict) scores showed no significant change (all p>0.05).
Conclusion: A brief DBT-based mindfulness program improved basic processing speed and selective attention but left higher-order executive control and interference resolution largely unchanged. The training is a feasible, low-cost way to strengthen foundational attentional processes in university students. However, longer or more intensive programs may be needed to affect more complex executive functions.
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