None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The current research aims to replicate findings of improved attention following training in meditation or action video games among healthy adults with limited prior video game or meditation experience. A further aim is to examine how this affects neural mechanisms that are important for attention, as indexed by attention related ERP components and spectral measures of EEG activity. Improvements are expected where the experimental measures are related to the executive control of attention.
Interventions
Participants will be randomised to either the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group will complete Mindfulness Meditation practice via the Muse mobile phone application (including neurofeedback via brain sensing headband). Participants will complete daily 20-min sessions for 7 days in their own homes. Practice will be via the 10 lesson "Muse Essentials" introductory course included in the Muse mobile application (1. Intro to Muse, 2. Training a puppy, 3. Sensation of bre
Participants will be randomised to either the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group will complete Mindfulness Meditation practice via the Muse mobile phone application (including neurofeedback via brain sensing headband). Participants will complete daily 20-min sessions for 7 days in their own homes. Practice will be via the 10 lesson "Muse Essentials" introductory course included in the Muse mobile application (1. Intro to Muse, 2. Training a puppy, 3. Sensation of breath 4. Counting breaths, 5. Sitting comfortably, 6. Finding your soundscape, 7. Dealing with distraction, 8. working with discomfort, 9. Lowering the bar, 10. Bridging to daily life). During each 20 minute session, participants wear the Muse headband and listen to a brief tutorial on specific aspects of mindfulness meditation from the 10 lesson course (with two course tutorials covered in the first three sessions, and one in each session after) followed by mindfulness meditation practice (involving focused breath). During each meditation practice session, audio feedback is provided when brain signals are active (stormy weather), neutral (calm weather), or calm (bird sounds). This neurofeedback is argued to enhance ability to identify mind wandering and to refocus attention on the breath. The aim is to increase/maximise the number of ‘birds’ in each session. All sessions and progress are recorded within the app.
Sponsors
University of Tasmania
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Participants with low video game experience (0-1 hours per week in last year) and low meditation/relaxation experience (no experience, or none in last year and less than 5 hours in lifetime) will be selected based on their responses to the Video Game Playing Questionnaire (VGPQ) (Bediou et al., 2018), and a customised meditation / relaxation experience questionnaire. Participants will be male and female, aged between 18 and 35. Only right-handed individuals will be recruited due to their more consistent lateralisation of brain areas. Participants will have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing, so they are able to see the stimuli and hear instructions clearly. In addition, all participants will speak English as a first language to account for differences in processing language related stimuli such as the letter/symbol stimuli used in the cognitive tasks.
Exclusion criteria
Standard exclusion criteria for EEG/ERP research will also apply, so that any differences in brain activity are not attributable to other factors. These exclusion criteria include: any history of major psychiatric or neurological disorders (including epilepsy), severe head injury, seizure, giddiness or loss of consciousness (>2 mins), a heart condition or any other serious physical condition, current daily tobacco use, recent history of illicit drug use, current use of prescription medications (excluding the contraceptive pill), current sleep disorders, and pregnancy or a high likelihood of pregnancy. Those with high levels of Psychological distress (scores >30 on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale – K10) or risk of alcohol dependence (scores greater 16 on the Alcohol Use and Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) will also be excluded.
Outcome results
None listed