Introduction: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness‑based yoga training, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and their combination on working memory and attention among students of Torbat Jam Faculty of Medical Sciences.
Methods: his quasi‑experimental study employed a pretest‑posttest design. Forty‑five male students aged 18 to 24 years were assigned to three groups of 15: mindfulness‑based yoga training, tDCS, and combined intervention (yoga + tDCS). The intervention consisted of 12 sessions (6 weeks, two sessions per week). Working memory was assessed using the N‑Back test, and attention was measured with the Stroop test. Data were analyzed using paired t‑tests, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and Bonferroni post‑hoc tests in SPSS‑27.
Results: All three interventions significantly improved working memory and attention (p < 0.05). The combined group demonstrated significantly better performance in response time for simpler working memory tasks compared to the other groups. However, no significant differences were observed among the groups for complex working memory tasks or attention (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: The findings indicated that although each intervention alone produced significant within‑group improvements in working memory and attention, in the between‑group comparison, the only significant difference was a reduction in response time at the simpler level of working memory (1‑back) in the combined group compared to the other two groups (p < 0.001). For other variables, including the number of correct responses at the simpler level, both indices of complex working memory (2‑back), and attention, no significant differences were observed among the three groups (p > 0.05). Therefore, the advantage of the combined intervention is limited solely to accelerating processing speed in simpler working memory tasks.