The relationships between rumination and core executive functions: A meta-analysis

Rumination has been thought to relate to deficits in core executive functions (EFs), but the empirical findings for this idea are mixed. The aim of the present study is to synthesize existing literature to clarify these relations.

A comprehensive literature search revealed 34 published as well as unpublished studies on the associations between rumination and core EF. These studies report on 3,066 participants. The effect size in the meta-analyses was obtained by the z transformation of correlation coefficients.

Analysis revealed significant negative associations between rumination and both inhibition (r = -.23) and set-shifting (r = -.19). There was no significant association between rumination and working memory. These associations were not moderated by age, sex, type of sample (depressed or healthy), type of outcome measure (accuracy vs. reaction time), or affective content of the task, although statistical power for these tests was limited.

We found significant negative associations between rumination and inhibition or set-shifting. There was no significant association between rumination and working memory. Future research should adopt multiple measures of EF to provide clear evidence on the associations between EF and rumination. A better understanding of this relationship may have important implications for intervention of rumination, such as training programs to improve EF or teach compensatory strategies to mitigate the effects of EF impairments.