Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Musical Aesthetic Emotion Processing
Frontiers in Psychology July 21, 2021 Xiaolin Liu, Yong Liu, Huijuan Shi et al.
A single 10-minute mindfulness meditation session before and during listening to Chinese classical folk instrumental music changed how non-musically trained adults experienced the music. The meditation decreased negative emotional responses to happy and sad music and reduced positive emotional responses to calm music, while also promoting more beautiful musical experiences and enhancing body awareness, making the music seem to pass faster. No significant differences were found between the meditation and control groups on general mood or most mindfulness facets, except for non-judging of inner experience. The results suggest that even brief mindfulness practice can alter aesthetic emotional processing of music.