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 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.

Background: Music training involves several cognitive functions in the brain, particularly executive function. Numerous studies have proven a link between the two. Cognitive flexibility is an important component of executive function, however, there has been little study investigating the association between music training and cognitive flexibility.Method: Music training (N = 22) and the control groups (N = 26) were included in the present study. A tone-related oddball task was used to investigate the tone-related inhibition and the switch task was to investigate cognitive flexibility. During the switch task, EEG data were collected.Results: The behavioral results of the oddball task showed that the individuals in the music training group had a shorter reaction time and higher accuracy in both the between-tone and within-tone categories compared to the controls. The behavioral results of the switch task showed similar results, with the music training group exhibiting better reaction time and accuracy performance than the controls. ERP results showed that the music training group had smaller P3 amplitudes and greater N2 and N450 amplitudes than the control group.Discussion: The findings further supported the link between music training and enhanced cognitive function.

Music, an influential environmental factor, significantly shapes cognitive processing and everyday experiences, thus rendering its effects on creativity a dynamic topic within the field of cognitive science. However, debates continue about whether music bolsters, obstructs, or exerts a dual influence on individual creativity. Among the points of contention is the impact of contrasting musical emotions–both positive and negative–on creative tasks. In this study, we focused on traditional Chinese music, drawn from a culture known for its ‘preference for sadness,’ as our selected emotional stimulus and background music. This choice, underrepresented in previous research, was based on its uniqueness. We examined the effects of differing music genres (including vocal and instrumental), each characterized by a distinct emotional valence (positive or negative), on performance in the Alternative Uses Task (AUT). To conduct this study, we utilized an affective arousal paradigm, with a quiet background serving as a neutral control setting. A total of 114 participants were randomly assigned to three distinct groups after completing a music preference questionnaire: instrumental, vocal, and silent. Our findings showed that when compared to a quiet environment, both instrumental and vocal music as background stimuli significantly affected AUT performance. Notably, music with a negative emotional charge bolstered individual originality in creative performance. These results lend support to the dual role of background music in creativity, with instrumental music appearing to enhance creativity through factors such as emotional arousal, cognitive interference, music preference, and psychological restoration. This study challenges conventional understanding that only positive background music boosts creativity and provides empirical validation for the two-path model (positive and negative) of emotional influence on creativity.

Background: The value of music lies in its ability to evoke emotions. People can gain emotional experiences in music and can also regulate their own emotions through music. Music has its own structural rules, and exploring the relationship between musical structure and emotions is an important approach to understanding the mechanism of music-induced emotions. Musical mode refers to the arrangement of intervals around the tonic, presenting different musical modes based on the central tone and the arrangement of intervals, including Chinese pentatonic modes and Western major and minor modes. Musical morphology indicates significant differences in the construction intensity of traditional Chinese pentatonic modes and major and minor modes, affecting their mode forms and thus determining their adaptability to external influences.Aims: Exploring the modalities of music and the effects of individual music training experiences on emotion induction; validating whether musical modes exhibit cross-cultural universality in the process of emotion induction.Method: This study recruited 65 university students as participants (34 with music training experience, 31 without music training experience). Through a passive listening paradigm using the GEMS and combined with a biofeedback equipment, it explored the differences in behavioral and physiological indicators (skin conductance, temperature, heart rate) of emotional experiences (basic and aesthetic emotions) influenced by the modal forms of Chinese traditional pentatonic modes and Western major and minor modes.Results: Firstly, the arousal level of music emotion is a primary factor influencing individuals’ aesthetic emotional experiences in music, which is related to the intensity of modal construction in music; Secondly, the emotional pleasure and skin temperature change induced by pentatonic music are greater than those induced by major and minor modes; Thirdly, the arousal level, electrodermal change, and heart rate variability of major and minor modes are greater than those of pentatonic music; Finally, music training experience enhances college students’ familiarity and preference for pentatonic music, thereby strengthening the electrodermal physiological indicators of emotional experiences.Conclusion: The different modal forms of music express different levels of emotional arousal, leading to differences in individuals’ emotional dimensions and physiological indicators in music. Additionally, individuals’ music training experiences and cultural backgrounds also influence their experience of music emotions.

Background: Music training facilitates the development of individual cognitive functions and influences brain plasticity. A comprehensive understanding of the pathways and processes through which music affects the human brain, as well as the neurobiological mechanisms underlying human brain perception of music, is necessary to fully harness the plasticity that music offers for brain development.Aims: To investigate the resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) activity of individuals with and without music training experience, and explore the microstate patterns of EEG signals.Method: In this study, an analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates from 57 participants yielded temporal parameters(mean duration, time coverage, occurrence, and transition probability)of four classic microstate categories (Categories A, B, C, and D) for two groups: those with music training experience and those without. Statistical analysis was conducted on these parameters between groups.Results: The results indicate that compared to individuals without music training experience, participants with music training experience exhibit significantly longer mean durations of microstate A, which is associated with speech processing. Additionally, they show a greater time coverage of microstate B, which is associated with visual processing. Transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate B were greater in participants with music training experience compared to those without. Conversely, transition probabilities from microstate A to microstate C and from microstate C to microstate D were greater in participants without music training experience.Conclusion: Our study found differences in characteristic parameters of certain microstates between individuals with and without music training experience. This suggests distinct brain activity patterns during tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation among individuals with varying levels of music training experience. These findings support an association between music training experience and specific neural activities. Furthermore, they endorse the hypothesis of music training experience influencing brain activity during resting states. Additionally, they imply a facilitative role of music training in tasks related to speech, vision, and attention regulation, providing initial evidence for further empirical investigation into the cognitive processes influenced by music training.