The construct of mindfulness has gained significant prominence in psychological and neuroscientific research; however, its definition remains inconsistent across academic literature. This systematic review, guided by the PRISMA methodology, aimed to examine how mindfulness is currently conceptualized in relation to executive functions (EFs). A purposive search of Google Scholar identified 36 eligible studies published between 2019 and 2024 that provided explicit definitions or conceptual frameworks for mindfulness. Through qualitative content analysis, nine distinct EF categories were used to code 102 extracted definitions. The most frequently represented functions were attention regulation, self-monitoring, and emotional and behavioral self-regulation, suggesting that mindfulness is primarily defined as a metacognitive capacity for present-moment awareness and adaptive control. Less commonly referenced functions included planning, organization, and working memory. A co-occurrence analysis revealed dominant EF clusters, while a temporal analysis showed increasing complexity in definitions over time. Notably, the study identifies a conceptual gap between the definitional emphasis on attentional and affective regulation and empirical findings that highlight higher-order cognitive mechanisms such as psychological flexibility and inhibitory control. These findings underscore the need to integrate executive and neurocognitive processes into future theoretical models of mindfulness to enhance conceptual clarity, improve measurement, and inform intervention design.
