The effects of mindfulness meditation training on musical aesthetic emotion processing in Chinese pop music: an empirical study of musically trained individuals.

A brief mindfulness meditation session (10 minutes) before listening to Chinese pop music enhanced aesthetic attitudes and aesthetic judgment in musically trained college students, but did not significantly change positive or negative mood or trait mindfulness. The study compared 63 Chinese music students randomly assigned to a mindfulness meditation group or a music-only listening group. For Chinese Folk music specifically, the meditation group also reported richer emotional experiences. Aesthetic attitudes were strongly linked to emotional experiences, suggesting they may be a new dimension of musical aesthetic emotion processing. The mindfulness group also reported greater attention, altered time perception, and reduced bodily control while listening.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Musical aesthetic emotions often display pleasant characteristics and function as a key reward mechanism in music appreciation. Previous research suggests that temporary mindfulness meditation training can enhance the aesthetic experiences associated with music aesthetic emotion processing (MAEP), fostering richer and more pleasant emotional responses. However, empirical evidence on the relationship between MAEP and mindfulness-particularly with respect to music genre, music training, and newly identified MAEP dimensions-remains limited. Therefore, this study, based on music-trained individuals and Chinese pop music, aims to investigate the effects of a 10-min mindfulness meditation training on MAEP. A 2 (group: Mindfulness Music Group [MMG] vs. Music Listening Group [MLG]) × 3 (music style: R&B/Pop/Folk) mixed experimental design was adopted. Sixty-three Chinese college students with professional music training were randomly assigned to MMG (Male = 15, Female = 16) or MLG (Male = 12, Female = 20). Psychological measures included the Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance and independent samples t-tests. Self-report results indicated no significant between-group differences in PANAS or FFMQ scores (all p > 0.05). Aesthetic attitudes were found to be significantly positively correlated with emotional experiences, suggesting that aesthetic attitudes may represent a novel MAEP dimension. Additionally, temporary mindfulness meditation training significantly improved both aesthetic attitudes and aesthetic judgment scores across all three music styles. However, enhancements in emotional experiences were observed only for Chinese Folk music. Compared with the MLG, the MMG demonstrated greater attention and altered time perception, along with reduced bodily control during music listening. These findings provide new insights into the relationship between mindfulness and MAEP and highlight a potential new dimension-aesthetic attitudes-that may contribute to the psychological mechanisms underlying MAEP.