Mindfulness on Creativity

NCT07102953 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 20250401LR001WU2024A001
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 111
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Purpose of the Study This clinical trial aims to find out whether a 5-day mindfulness training program can help improve creativity in academic researchers. The study focuses on answering these key questions: Can focused-attention (FA) and open-monitoring (OM) meditation boost creativity in academic researchers? Do FA and OM meditation have different effects on creativity? How does the training affect brain activity (measured by electrical signals)? Researchers will compare the effects of FA and OM meditation with a control group that listens to audio recordings, to see which method-if any-helps improve creativity. What Participants Will Do Join one of three groups: FA meditation, OM meditation, or audio listening (control), and take part in daily practice for 5 days. Come to the research center for testing three times. Keep a daily log of how they engage with the training.

Conditions

Active Control; Focused-attention Meditatioin; Open-monitoring Meditation

Keywords

dismantling mindfulenss; focused-attention; open-monitoring; creativity; EEG

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Divergent thinking

  Divergent thinking, a key component of creativity, will be assessed using the Alternative Uses Task (AUT). In this test, participants are asked to think of as many different uses as possible for a common object-like a brick, knife, or pillow-within a limited time. The scores including three factors: fluency, flexibility, and originality, which will be gained via TranDis, a semantic distance scoring system based on transformer-based language models.

  Pre- and post- assessments after a 15-min training at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

• Convergent thinking

  Convergent thinking, a key component of creativity, will be measured by the Remote Associate Test (RAT). In this test, participants are given three words and must identify a fourth word that links all three.

  Pre- and post- assessments after a 15-min training at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

• EEG

  Quantitative EEG power spectral density (PSD) across frequency bands (delta: 0.5-4 Hz, theta: 4-8 Hz, alpha: 8-13 Hz, beta: 13-30 Hz, gamma: \>30 Hz) will be measured at Day 7 (post-intervention). Absolute and relative power in each band will be extracted from resting-state EEG (eyes closed), task-state EEG (15-min mindfulness or control), and task-state EEG during creativity tests, recorded at standardized scalp locations. Changes in spectral power will be used as indicators of neurophysiological responses to the mindfulness training.

  During the whole tests at Day7 (after 5-day practice)

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Mindfulness

  Assessments at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

• Metacognition

  At Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

• Attention

  Assessments at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice).

• Depression

  Assessments at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

• Anxiety

  Pre- and post- assessments after a 15-min training at Day1 (before 5-day practice), Day7 (after 5-day practice), and follow-up (1 month after 5-day practice).

Other Outcomes (1)

• Engagement and practice times

  Day 2 to Day 5 during the intervention, and 1 month after the 5-day practice period, for participants who engaged in follow-up practice.

Study Arms (3)

Focused-attention group

EXPERIMENTAL

Focused-attention training

Behavioral: Focused-attention meditation

Open-monitoring group

EXPERIMENTAL

Open-monitoring training

Behavioral: Open-monitoring meditation

Control group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Listen to stories about creativity

Behavioral: Audio-listening control

Interventions

Focused-attention meditation BEHAVIORAL

This is a type of mindfulenss meditation, which instructes participants to keep focusing on own breathing with a sitting and rest posture.

Focused-attention group

Open-monitoring meditation BEHAVIORAL

This is a type of mindfulenss meditation, which instructs participants to stay aware of their vision with a sitting and rest posture.

Open-monitoring group

Audio-listening control BEHAVIORAL

Participants listen to stories about creativity with a sitting and rest posture.

Control group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Currently enrolled graduate students (Master's or PhD) or other research personnel (e.g., postdoctoral fellows, research assistants, or academic researchers).
• Aged 18 years or older and under 65 years.
• No current diagnosis of severe mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder).
• Not currently taking mood-stabilizing medication (e.g., SSRIs), to avoid confounding effects on mindfulness training and EEG outcomes

You may not qualify if:

• Simultaneously participating in other mindfulness-based psychological intervention programs or courses that cannot be paused during the study period.
• Suicidal ideation or planning reported within the past two weeks.
• Inability to attend in-person assessments at the laboratory site.
• Refusal or inability to provide informed consent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Zhejiang University: lead
• Westlake University: collaborator
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Westlake University

Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310030, China

RECRUITING

Central Study Contacts

Rong Li, Assisstant researcher

CONTACT

086+134 66529411; lirong13@westlake.edu.cn

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Prof.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 30, 2025
• First Posted: August 5, 2025
• Study Start: May 19, 2025
• Primary Completion: August 31, 2025
• Study Completion: August 31, 2025
• Last Updated: August 5, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP, ICF, CSR, ANALYTIC CODE
• Time Frame: Beginning 1 year and ending 5 years after publication
• Access Criteria: Criteria for data sharing: Researchers must submit a scientific proposal describing the purpose and methods of the planned analyses. The analyses should be aligned with the original study objectives and must not attempt to identify individual participants. The proposal may be reviewed by the study team for scientific and ethical appropriateness. Mechanism for data sharing: Researchers need to submit a proposal and sign a data sharing agreement. Requests can be sent via email to the corresponding author. Approved researchers will receive access to the de-identified data through a secure transfer method.

Locations

CN (1)