Research On The Influence Of Breathing Training Combined With Mindfulness Intervention On College Students’ Emotional Style And Cognitive Ability

Background: A new study by the World Health Organization has proved that 90% of diseases are related to emotions.Emotion is not only related to disease,but also an advanced component of the life regulation mechanism,which endows thinking with a high degree of flexibility.Emotions,good or bad,are part of the reasoning and decision-making process.The emotional style theory based on the solid research results of modern neuroscience provides a new perspective for the research of emotion.The combination of the six dimensions of emotional style determines how we perceive and react to the world around us,how we get along with others,and how we overcome the difficulties in life.Emotion plays a central role in brain function and mental life.Richard Davidson pointed out that emotion is related to the prefrontal cortex.He believed that the higher cortical function controlled by the highly evolved prefrontal cortex and other regions has a decisive impact on emotion.He firmly believed that the regions in the brain that control rationality and higher cognitive function(executive control function)have no less impact on emotion than the limbic system.Through the research of mainstream emotional neuroscience,it has been proved that the key to change the brain activity mode is those regions(such as the prefrontal cortex)that control high-level reasoning activities.Research shows that there are two effective methods at present: physical exercise and mindfulness meditation.Breathing is an important feature of life,a bridge connecting physiology and psychology,and an important gateway to fitness and health preservation.The main function of breathing itself is to achieve gas exchange.The prime force of the breathing process is the contraction and relaxation of respiratory muscles.Breathing itself is also a body movement.Regular breathing training can improve the function of diaphragm and other respiratory muscles.Mindfulness is a treasure rooted in Chinese culture.Mindfulness decompression course was founded by Dr.Jon Kabakin in 1979.He transformed the mysterious essence of meditation into an operable and quantifiable cognitive exercise course.Bring a concept that is on the edge of learning and with a bit of mysticism to the center of science and culture,and make it quickly become one of the hot spots of current scientific research.The year 2011 is also widely regarded as the watershed of contemporary western mindfulness entering the mainstream society of China.Based on the method pointed out by Damasio,in order to evaluate the effect of breathing training combined with mindfulness intervention on college students’ emotional style and cognitive ability,this paper adopts a randomized controlled experimental design and longitudinal tracking research method,The behavioral indicators(stroop response time and accuracy rate,R-Test response time and accuracy rate,ERP P300 response time and accuracy rate at Fz,Cz and Pz points)and emotional style evaluation scale scores of the subjects at different periods before and after the eight-week intervention were measured and evaluated;At the same time,ERP P300(ERP P300 latency and amplitude at Fz,Cz and Pz points),a cognitive function index,was compared and analyzed;Five vital capacity tests and Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire(FFMQ)were used as evaluation indicators to test the implementation effect of intervention.Objective: To observe the effects of eight weeks breathing training,eight weeks mindfulness training and eight weeks breathing training combined with mindfulness training on college students’ emotional style and cognitive ability.To explore the effects of breathing exercise combined with mindfulness on emotional style and cognitive function.To verify the plasticity of the six dimensions of college students’ emotional style affected by breathing movement and mind,explore the hidden brain function mechanism,and explore behavioral intervention methods to adjust the six dimensions of college students’ emotional style.Methods: A total of 46 male college students from Shandong Normal University were randomly recruited to participate in the experiment.They were randomly divided into four groups,including 12 in the breathing training group,12 in the mindfulness training group,12 in the breathing and mindfulness training group,and 10 in the control group.The breathing training group received resistance training of inspiratory muscles;The mindfulness training group carried out mindfulness training of observing breathing;The breathing combined with mindfulness training group carried out inspiratory muscle resistance training combined with mindfulness intervention.The training content included inspiratory muscle resistance training and mindfulness training of breathing observation,but the training amount was halved to ensure the total intervention duration of each training group;The control group did not participate in any form of training and maintained the normal study and life of the original work and rest system.The pretest(initial value)at the time of 0 week was carried out for all subjects before the experiment,and the index collection was carried out at the 8th week after the experiment to measure the value after the 8th week.The relative value of vital capacity for five consecutive times and the total score of Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire were used as the evaluation index to evaluate the implementation effect of the intervention measures for eight weeks.Stroop Color-Word Test,RTest,ERP P300 reaction time and emotional style scale were used to evaluate the behavioral indicators of subjects before and after the eight-week training intervention,and ERP P300 latency and amplitude were used to evaluate the cognitive ability of subjects.SPSS24.0 was used to carry out descriptive statistics and inferential statistics on the data respectively.The paired t-test or repeated measurement analysis of variance was used for the intragroup difference significance test.The independent sample t-test or one-way analysis of variance and post-event LSD were used for the inter-group difference significance test.The difference significance standard was P<0.05,and the results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation(X± SD).Results:(1)After eight weeks of special breathing training,the relative value of continuous vital capacity test of subjects in the breathing training group and the breathing combined with mindfulness training group increased significantly(P<0.05);However,there was no significant change in the subjects without special breathing training(P>0.05).After eight weeks of special mindfulness training,the total score of mindfulness five-factor scale of subjects in mindfulness training group and breathing combined mindfulness training group increased significantly(P<0.05);However,there was no significant change in the subjects without special mindfulness training(P>0.05).(2)After eight-week breathing training,eight-week mindfulness training,eight-week breathing combined with mindfulness training,the subjects’ Stroop Color-Word Test reaction time was significantly lower than that before training(P<0.05).After eight weeks of breathing training,eight weeks of breathing combined with mindfulness training,the R-test reaction time of the subjects decreased significantly(P<0.05);The mindfulness training group and the control group showed no significant changes(P>0.05).(3)Eight-week intervention had no significant effect on the ability of emotional adjustment(P>0.05).However,the improvement of emotion regulation ability of mindfulness training group was higher than that of other groups.After eight weeks of training,the life attitude scores of subjects in the breathing training group decreased(P<0.05),and the scores tended to the middle of 5.Eight-week intervention had no significant effect on social perception score(P>0.05).Eight-week intervention had no significant effect on self-perception(P>0.05).After eight weeks of breathing and mindfulness training,the subjects’ situational sensitivity scores decreased(P<0.05),which was closer to the middle level of5.After eight weeks of mindfulness training,the concentration level of subjects tends to increase.(4)After eight weeks of breathing training,breathing combined with mindfulness training and mindfulness training,the subjects’ ERP P300 reaction time at Fz point was significantly shortened(P<0.05).There was no significant change in the control group(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,the Cz ERP P300 reaction time of subjects in the breathing training group and the breathing combined with mindfulness training group decreased significantly(P<0.05),but there was no significant change in mindfulness training group and control group(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,the Pz ERP P300 reaction time of subjects in the breathing training group and the breathing combined with mindfulness training group decreased significantly(P<0.05),and there was no significant change in the mindfulness training group and the control group(P>0.05).(5)After eight weeks of intervention,the latency of ERP P300 at Fz point of subjects in mindfulness training group decreased significantly(P<0.05).There was no significant change in other groups(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,there was no significant change in ERP P300 latency at Cz(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,there was no significant change in the latency of ERP P300 at Pz(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,there was no significant change in ERP P300 amplitude at Fz(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,the amplitude of ERP P300 at Cz did not show significant changes(P>0.05).After eight weeks of intervention,compared with the control group,the amplitude of ERP P300 at Pz in the breathing and mindfulness training group decreased.Conclusion:(1)After eight weeks of special breathing training,the subjects’ respiratory muscle endurance level was significantly improved;The behavioral indicators of the subjects were significantly improved,which was reflected in the significantly shortened Stroop Color-Word Test reaction time,R-test reaction time,Fz point,Cz point,Pz point ERP P300 reaction time,and the significant change in the dimension of life attitude of emotional style.(2)After the mindfulness training of eight-week observation breathing,the mindfulness level of the subjects was significantly improved;The behavioral indicators of the subjects were significantly improved,which was reflected in the significantly shortened reaction time of Stroop Color-Word Test and ERP P300 at Fz,and some emotional style dimensions(emotional adjustment ability and concentration)showed a change trend.The cognitive ability indicators of the subjects were improved,which was reflected in the significant decrease of ERP P300 latency at Fz point.(3)After eight weeks of breathing combined with mindfulness training,the subjects’ behavioral indicators were significantly improved,which was reflected in the significantly shortened Stroop Color-Word Test reaction time,R-test reaction time,Fz point,Cz point,Pz point ERP P300 reaction time,and the significantly changed situational sensitivity dimension of emotional style.The improvement of cognitive ability is reflected in the decrease of ERP P300 amplitude at Pz point.(4)The combination of breathing and mindfulness training has both the effects of breathing alone or mindfulness alone,and seems to have some new composite effects.(5)The results of this study support the previous view that exercise can transform the brain and emotional style is stable and plastic;Support the view that physical exercise and mindfulness meditation can improve the effectiveness of emotion and cognition.