Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing

Abstract

Mindfulness meditation is a form of self-regulatory training for the mind and the body. The relationship between mindfulness meditation and musical aesthetic emotion processing (MAEP) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of temporary mindfulness meditation on MAEP while listening to Chinese classical folk instrumental musical works. A 2 [(groups: mindfulness meditation group (MMG); control group (CG)] × 3 (music emotions: calm music, happy music, and sad music) mixed experimental design and a convenience sample of university students were used to verify our hypotheses, which were based on the premise that temporary mindfulness meditation may affect MAEP (MMG vs. CG). Sixty-seven non-musically trained participants (65.7% female, age range: 18–22 years) were randomly assigned to two groups (MMG or CG). Participants in MMG were given a single 10-min recorded mindfulness meditation training before and when listening to music. The instruments for psychological measurement comprised of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Self-report results showed no significant between-group differences for PANAS and for the scores of four subscales of the FFMQ (p > 0.05 throughout), except for the non-judging of inner experience subscale. Results showed that temporary mindfulness meditation training decreased the negative emotional experiences of happy and sad music and the positive emotional experiences of calm music during recognition and experience and promoted beautiful musical experiences in individuals with no musical training. Maintaining a state of mindfulness while listening to music enhanced body awareness and led to experiencing a faster passage of musical time. In addition, it was found that Chinese classical folk instrumental musical works effectively induced aesthetic emotion and produced multidimensional aesthetic experiences among non-musically trained adults. This study provides new insights into the relationship between mindfulness and music emotion.

Mindfulness Meditation Improves Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing in Young Adults

“…The stimuli set consisted of six complete Chinese classical folk instrumental works, which were taken from the commercially available “Kugou” music software (see Liu et al, 2021a [ 27 ] and Liu et al, 2021b [ 5 ]). These music stimuli included three emotion levels (calm, happy, and sad) and the duration of each was approximately 3 min.…”

“…Enjoying music is a favored artistic experience for human beings, and musical aesthetic processing profoundly impacts human life [ 1 ]. Researchers have determined that, just as with the needs for food and sex, the aesthetic significance of music lies in the pleasant experiences and reward values induced by music exposure [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Previous studies have revealed that emotions are the core features of people enjoying music [ 1 , 2 , 7 , 8 ].…”

“…[ 2 , 7 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. In the study of musical aesthetic emotion processing (MAEP) [ 5 ], the aesthetic emotion model [ 1 , 7 , 12 , 15 , 17 ] may be more suitable than the traditional discrete emotion model [ 18 , 19 ] and the two-dimensional emotion model [ 20 ]. Aesthetic emotion theory belongs to a specific field of emotion modeling [ 1 , 7 , 12 , 15 ], and is the theoretical basis for this study.…”

“…However, previous studies mostly explored the behavioral and neural mechanisms of music-induced emotions and aesthetic experience from the perspective of music ontology, and paid less attention to the influence of individual attentional, physical, and mental states on the processing of musical aesthetic emotions [ 24 , 25 ]. There is a lack of psychological evidence that explores whether temporary mindfulness meditation can improve the behavioral and neural correlation of MAEP among individuals with different trait mindfulness [ 5 ].…”

“…Although previous studies [ 5 , 27 , 49 ] have found that mindfulness meditation has a positive effect on emotional processing and regulation of negative emotions, the impact of individuals with different trait mindfulness on the neural markers of the emotional–cognitive interaction is unclear; also, researchers have not examined whether the ERPs associated with repeated listening to familiar Chinese folk instrumental works differ among individuals with different mindfulness traits. Given that the different temporal stages of cognitive processing are affected by the induced emotional states [ 27 ], it is plausible that underlying neurophysiological differences are also present between these subgroups.…”