A randomized trial on differential changes in thought and affect after mindfulness versus dyadic practice indicates phenomenological fingerprints of app-based interventions
Open accessAbstract
Contemplative practice has demonstrated benefits for mental health and well-being. Most previous studies, however, implemented in-person trainings containing a mix of different, mostly solitary, practices and focused on pre- to post-training outcomes. In this randomized trial, we explore the immediate differential efficacy of two daily app-delivered practices in shifting emotional (valence, arousal) and thinking patterns (thought content on future-past, self-other, positive-negative dimensions). For 10 weeks of daily training, 212 participants (18-65 years) performed either a novel 12-min partner-based socio-emotional practice (Affect Dyad) or a 12-min attention-focused solitary mindfulness-based practice. Using ordinal Bayesian multilevel modeling, we found that both practice types led to more positive affect and higher arousal. However, whereas mindfulness-based practice partly led to a decrease in active thoughts, particularly in future-, other-related and negative thoughts, the Dyad in contrast led to increases in other-related, and positive thoughts. This shift towards more social and positive thoughts may specifically support overcoming ruminative thinking patterns associated with self-related and negative thought content. Overall, these differential findings may help inform the adaptation of scalable app-based mental trainings in different segments of the population with the goal to improve mental health and well-being.
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Prior studies have demonstrated that attention-focused meditation reduces past- and future-related thoughts while socio-emotional practices increase positive other-related thoughts.
“prior studies [30,98] have demonstrated that attention-focused meditation reduces past- and future-related thoughts while socio-emotional practices increase positive other-related thoughts.”
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- Authors
- Petzold, P., Silveira, S., Godara, M., Matthaeus, H., & Singer, T.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Silveira, Sarita
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2023-08-24
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 13843-13843
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10449800
- OpenAlex
- W4386121126
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 2.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- MPG Social Neuroscience Lab
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- mindfulness, mobile app intervention, positive affect, arousal, thought content, rumination, social thinking, contemplative practice, mental health, well-being
- MeSH terms
- Acclimatization, Arousal, Bayes Theorem, Humans, Mobile Applications, Mindfulness
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