Comparison of music stimuli to support mindfulness meditation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of and preference for different auditory stimuli in supporting mindfulness meditation. Undergraduate non-musicians ( N = 57) listened to four different auditory stimuli guiding them in a mindfulness meditation: script only (i.e., Script), steady beat (i.e., Beat), beat and harmonic progression (i.e., Harmony), and beat, harmony, and melody (i.e., Melody). This study used a within-subjects repeated-measures design with the four conditions counterbalanced and randomized across participants. Participants rated responses using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), completed the Absorption in Music Scale (AIMS), and ranked auditory stimuli according to preference and usefulness for mindfulness meditation. A repeated-measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) on the MAAS scores, using the AIMS as a covariate, indicated no statistically significant difference between auditory stimuli. However, with the AIMS removed, the analysis revealed significant differences between stimuli, indicating that levels of absorption in music may moderate participants’ responses to auditory stimuli for mindfulness meditation. Friedman analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and post hoc analyses indicated that participant rankings of usefulness and preference were significantly different among conditions, with the Melody and Harmony conditions ranked highest.

Music stimuli in mindfulness meditation: Comparison of musician and non-musician responses

“…Given the differences in cognitive and neural responses to music among musicians and nonmusicians, it stands to reason that a mindfulness meditation with music would have dissimilar results among these groups. A previous study by Dvorak and Hernandez-Ruiz (2019) investigated the effectiveness, preference, and usefulness of music stimuli of increasing complexity on mindfulness practice in non-musicians. Participants listened to four conditions: recorded voice of instructions for mindfulness meditation (i.e., Script condition); the Script with a bass sound played on a steady beat (i.e., Beat condition); the Script with Beat and harmonic accompaniment played by sampled strings (i.e., Harmony condition); and the Script, Beat, Harmony, and melody played by a sampled viola (i.e., Melody condition).…”

“…The ability and willingness to be "drawn in deeply [by a musical stimulus]" is a trait that could explain dissimilar findings in music perception and music intervention research (Sandstrom & Russo, 2013). In Dvorak and Hernandez-Ruiz (2019), researchers found that absorption in music seemed to mediate participants' responses to the musical stimuli.…”

Student music stimuli composition in a scaffolded course-based undergraduate research experience

“…Teams of students crafted novel music stimuli based on the compositional principles of the stimuli used in previous studies. The compositional principles of the original stimulus were decided within parameters found in the music psychology literature (Dvorak & Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019). These principles are included in the assignment description in Appendix A.…”

“…The resulting scaffolded project embedded in this CURE involved music students composing novel music stimuli for mindfulness meditation, following similar research-9 based compositional principles to the original stimuli used in previous studies (Dvorak & Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019;Hernandez-Ruiz & Dvorak, in press;. Students chose from a range of provided structures, approaches, pathways, or sources to craft the music stimuli (Willison et al, 2015).…”

“…The first two authors facilitated the first CUREs for music students in helping professions (i.e., music therapy, music education) in required music psychology courses at two research-intensive universities (Dvorak & Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019b;Dvorak et al, in press;Hernandez-Ruiz & Dvorak, 2020b). The embedded research project in the course compared four music stimuli to support mindfulness meditation for undergraduate non-musicians (Dvorak & Hernandez-Ruiz, 2019; and musicians (Hernandez-Ruiz & Dvorak, in press;. The embedded project was bounded research in which the instructor set study parameters and directions, and students worked within them (Willison et al, 2015).…”