Our Experiment
What’s it about?
An Investigation into the Effect of Relaxation on Attention in Everyday Life.
Research has shown that meditation and relaxation practices might be beneficial for attention and emotional regulation. We are studying the effects of setting time aside for a short relaxation practice upon attentional focus and mood in everyday life.
The purpose of our study is to gather data from a sample of the general population to investigate whether the practice of a short relaxation or meditation task associates with the way that people feel and act on a day-to-day basis, whether or not you are someone who currently has a relaxation or meditation practice.
This is a Masters project through the Department of Psychologically Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London.
If you would like to take part please read the following information and then click on the link to go straight to the experiment
What we are asking you to do…
The experiment will take about 20 minutes of your time.
You will be asked a series of questions about your background, your everyday behaviour and feelings, whether you intentionally relax or meditate, and how much your mind wanders. You will take part in a ten minute relaxation exercise and a short attention task. If you would like to take part in the experiment, please do not practice meditation or relaxation on the day that you take the experiment, until afterwards.
To take part in the study you need to have access to a computer or laptop in a place where you will not be distracted, probably your home, and a stable internet connection as the whole experiment will take place online. It helps if you are able to use the Chrome browser. You need to be over 18 years old and have a good command of spoken English.
By taking part you will be supporting research into brief practices that can aid concentration and focus, and perhaps even offer tools to improve mood. The study will take about 20 minutes of your time.
Protecting your anonymity and data…
All answers are anonymised by the platform upon which the experiment is hosted. The data collected will be used by Masters students in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London. The results of the study will be written up for MSc student projects and results may be presented at conferences and written up in journals. Results are normally presented in terms of groups of individuals.
If you wish to withdraw during the experiment at any point you may do so by closing your browser window. You may withdraw consent for the study at any time without giving any reason. Furthermore, you will be able to withdraw your data up to the point of publication.
FAQS
This project has received ethical approval from the Department of Psychological Sciences Research Ethics Committee of Birkbeck University of London
To take part in this experiment you need to fit the following criteria:
- You need to have a stable internet connection.
- You have normal or corrected to normal vision.
- You are using a standard computer or laptop.
- You do not have a history of migraines, epilepsy or schizophrenia.
- You are able to take part in the experiment uninterrupted, and without distraction, for around 20 minutes.
- You have a good comprehension of spoken English.
- You are 18 years of age or above.
Are you ready to take part?
If you have any questions about this study…
please contact investigator Emma Curtis, ecurti03@student.bbk.ac.uk
or supervisor Professor Tim Smith, tj.smith (at) bbk.ac.uk
Researchers on this project:
Emma Curtis, Samantha Engelbrecht, Daniel Goodman, Azusa Higa, Arabella Stephenson-Witchell, Sinem Uyanik