Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students: A Pilot Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Assess Its Effectiveness...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Public Health

Background:

• Neuroticism significantly impacts individual well-being and public health.
• Emotion regulation is a key factor in managing neuroticism's effects.
• Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly explored for psychological benefits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a 6-week breathing-based mindfulness intervention (BMI) on emotion regulation in undergraduate students with neuroticism.
• To analyze psychological, physiological, and electroencephalogram (EEG) changes before and after the intervention.
• To identify potential neurophysiological markers of intervention effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• A 6-week breathing-based mindfulness intervention (BMI) was administered to undergraduate students.
• Psychological assessments (anxiety, stress, emotion regulation strategies) were conducted.
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were collected during resting states and tasks, pre- and post-intervention.
• Machine learning algorithms (KNN, SVM) were used to analyze EEG data for classification accuracy.

Main Results:

• Significant reductions in anxiety (p=0.013) and stress (p=0.027) were observed post-intervention.
• A significant difference in the use of emotion suppression strategy was noted.
• EEG analysis revealed significant differences between pre- and post-intervention states, with Fp1 and O2 channels showing promise.
• Machine learning models achieved good accuracy (~77%) in classifying pre- and post-intervention EEG states.

Conclusions:

• Breathing-based mindfulness intervention effectively improves emotion regulation in neurotic students.
• Psychometric and electrophysiological data support the efficacy of BMI for enhancing self-regulation.
• Specific EEG channels (Fp1, O2) show potential as biomarkers for tracking mindfulness intervention effects.