Regulation of Mindfulness-Based Music Listening on Negative Emotions Related to COVID-19: An ERP Study

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the behavioral and neural correlates of mindfulness-based music listening regulation of induced negative emotions related to COVID-19 using the face–word Stroop task. Eighty-five young adults visited the laboratory and were randomly assigned to three groups: a calm music group (CMG: n = 28), a happy music group (HMG: n = 30), and a sad music group (SMG: n = 27). Negative emotions were induced in all participants using a COVID-19 video, followed by the music intervention condition. Participants underwent the face–word Stroop tasks during which event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The N2, N3, P3, and late positive component (LPC) were investigated. The results showed that calm music and happy music effectively regulate young adults’ induced negative emotions, while young adults experienced more negative emotions when listening to sad music; the negative mood states at the post-induction phase inhibited the reaction of conflict control in face–word Stroop tasks, which manifested as lower accuracy (ACC) and slower reaction times (RTs). ERP results showed negative mood states elicited greater N2, N3, and LPC amplitudes and smaller P3 amplitudes. Further studies are needed to develop intervention strategies to enhance emotion regulation related to COVID-19 for other groups.

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.…”

“…The Chinese version of the mindfulness meditation script [ 5 , 27 ] was chosen for this study. The duration of the audio recording was 10 min.…”

“…As a training method for improving sustained attention and self-control, mindfulness meditation can effectively promote physical and mental relaxation, induce attention to the present, and enhance attention processing [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Mindfulness meditation is a self-regulation method in which individuals consciously sustain their attention on the internal or external experience without judging it in the present moment [ 30 , 31 ].…”

“…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. To evaluate this premise, different emotional–cognitive interaction effects before and after mindfulness meditation training on the MAEP and ERPs were assessed among the high trait group (HTG) and low trait group (LTG).…”

“…A revised affecting priming paradigm [ 46 , 50 ] was used to measure and evaluate the difference between facial recognition and emotional arousal before and after mindfulness meditation training among the subgroups. As previous ERP studies of executive control and attentional distribution emphasized the P3 and LPC components [ 27 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ], we also adopted these ERPs as the focus of group and music with different emotional-level comparisons. Based on the assumption that coping with sustained attention induced by mindfulness meditation can positively impact emotional–cognitive interaction, we hypothesized that post-test phases would elicit smaller P3 and greater LPC amplitudes than pre-test phases in completing facial recognition and emotional arousal tasks.…”