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Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception

Matthew Hopkins, KATIE BISHOP, MIA ASHMAN, Phil Reed Orcid Logo, Irene Reppa Orcid Logo

Mindfulness

Swansea University Authors: Matthew Hopkins, KATIE BISHOP, MIA ASHMAN, Phil Reed Orcid Logo, Irene Reppa Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1007/s12671-025-02733-2

Abstract

Objectives: Mindfulness meditation has been reported to lengthen perceived durations, but it remains unclear whether these effects reflect meditation itself or confounding factors such as task repetition. Brief, app-based mindfulness practices are widely used by novices, yet they may induce states o...

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Published in: Mindfulness
ISSN: 1868-8527 1868-8535
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71144
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Brief, app-based mindfulness practices are widely used by novices, yet they may induce states of relaxation rather than genuine mindfulness. The present study investigated whether short meditation sessions produce unique effects on duration judgments, or whether repetition better accounts for observed changes. Methods: In Experiment 1A, 178 adults completed an online visual temporal bisection task before and after a brief 5-min interval which involved either a focused attention meditation (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;63), unfocused attention meditation (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;64), or doing nothing (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;50). Experiment 1B (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;60) was a laboratory replication of Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2 (n&#x2009;=&#x2009;64), the order of sessions was reversed: participants first completed a 5-min meditation and then performed the bisection task twice, allowing direct assessment of repetition effects. Results: In both Experiments 1A and 1B, stimulus durations were overestimated after the interval across all groups, with only small and inconsistent group differences. In Experiment 2, a clear leftward shift in the psychophysical function occurred from the first to the second task session, indicating robust overestimation driven by task repetition. Conclusions: The findings suggest that brief meditation sessions do not uniquely affect time perception in participants with no prior meditation experience. Instead, task repetition emerged as the dominant driver of overestimation, consistent with attention-based models of duration judgments. These results highlight the need to distinguish meditation-specific influences from the more general effects of relaxation and repeated task exposure. 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spelling 2026-01-22T14:20:14.2870827 v2 71144 2025-12-15 Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception 3d87e734b3650458e4932bce7202cc9a Matthew Hopkins Matthew Hopkins true false 89a3e3c36cf77455d643800429ae7eda KATIE BISHOP KATIE BISHOP true false 2c9e9aa03bbb853ad334218b59820b88 MIA ASHMAN MIA ASHMAN true false 100599ab189b514fdf99f9b4cb477a83 0000-0002-8157-0747 Phil Reed Phil Reed true false 7824f127c16603af4e08530245a62400 0000-0002-2853-2311 Irene Reppa Irene Reppa true false 2025-12-15 Objectives: Mindfulness meditation has been reported to lengthen perceived durations, but it remains unclear whether these effects reflect meditation itself or confounding factors such as task repetition. Brief, app-based mindfulness practices are widely used by novices, yet they may induce states of relaxation rather than genuine mindfulness. The present study investigated whether short meditation sessions produce unique effects on duration judgments, or whether repetition better accounts for observed changes. Methods: In Experiment 1A, 178 adults completed an online visual temporal bisection task before and after a brief 5-min interval which involved either a focused attention meditation (n = 63), unfocused attention meditation (n = 64), or doing nothing (n = 50). Experiment 1B (n = 60) was a laboratory replication of Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2 (n = 64), the order of sessions was reversed: participants first completed a 5-min meditation and then performed the bisection task twice, allowing direct assessment of repetition effects. Results: In both Experiments 1A and 1B, stimulus durations were overestimated after the interval across all groups, with only small and inconsistent group differences. In Experiment 2, a clear leftward shift in the psychophysical function occurred from the first to the second task session, indicating robust overestimation driven by task repetition. Conclusions: The findings suggest that brief meditation sessions do not uniquely affect time perception in participants with no prior meditation experience. Instead, task repetition emerged as the dominant driver of overestimation, consistent with attention-based models of duration judgments. These results highlight the need to distinguish meditation-specific influences from the more general effects of relaxation and repeated task exposure. Preregistration: This study was not preregistered. Journal Article Mindfulness 0 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 1868-8527 1868-8535 Focused attention meditation; Unfocused attention meditation; Relaxation; Temporal bisection; Task repetition 17 12 2025 2025-12-17 10.1007/s12671-025-02733-2 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) Swansea University 2026-01-22T14:20:14.2870827 2025-12-15T09:56:35.1063830 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology Matthew Hopkins 1 KATIE BISHOP 2 MIA ASHMAN 3 Phil Reed 0000-0002-8157-0747 4 Irene Reppa 0000-0002-2853-2311 5 71144__36004__40a1181074384ceab11a89653439194f.pdf 71144.VOR.pdf 2026-01-15T13:11:33.8665620 Output 1664742 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
spellingShingle Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
Matthew Hopkins
KATIE BISHOP
MIA ASHMAN
Phil Reed
Irene Reppa
title_short Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
title_full Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
title_fullStr Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
title_full_unstemmed Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
title_sort Relax and Repeat: Disentangling the Roles of Mindfulness and Task Repetition on Duration Perception
author_id_str_mv 3d87e734b3650458e4932bce7202cc9a
89a3e3c36cf77455d643800429ae7eda
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100599ab189b514fdf99f9b4cb477a83
7824f127c16603af4e08530245a62400
author_id_fullname_str_mv 3d87e734b3650458e4932bce7202cc9a_***_Matthew Hopkins
89a3e3c36cf77455d643800429ae7eda_***_KATIE BISHOP
2c9e9aa03bbb853ad334218b59820b88_***_MIA ASHMAN
100599ab189b514fdf99f9b4cb477a83_***_Phil Reed
7824f127c16603af4e08530245a62400_***_Irene Reppa
author Matthew Hopkins
KATIE BISHOP
MIA ASHMAN
Phil Reed
Irene Reppa
author2 Matthew Hopkins
KATIE BISHOP
MIA ASHMAN
Phil Reed
Irene Reppa
format Journal article
container_title Mindfulness
container_volume 0
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1868-8527
1868-8535
doi_str_mv 10.1007/s12671-025-02733-2
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Objectives: Mindfulness meditation has been reported to lengthen perceived durations, but it remains unclear whether these effects reflect meditation itself or confounding factors such as task repetition. Brief, app-based mindfulness practices are widely used by novices, yet they may induce states of relaxation rather than genuine mindfulness. The present study investigated whether short meditation sessions produce unique effects on duration judgments, or whether repetition better accounts for observed changes. Methods: In Experiment 1A, 178 adults completed an online visual temporal bisection task before and after a brief 5-min interval which involved either a focused attention meditation (n = 63), unfocused attention meditation (n = 64), or doing nothing (n = 50). Experiment 1B (n = 60) was a laboratory replication of Experiment 1A. In Experiment 2 (n = 64), the order of sessions was reversed: participants first completed a 5-min meditation and then performed the bisection task twice, allowing direct assessment of repetition effects. Results: In both Experiments 1A and 1B, stimulus durations were overestimated after the interval across all groups, with only small and inconsistent group differences. In Experiment 2, a clear leftward shift in the psychophysical function occurred from the first to the second task session, indicating robust overestimation driven by task repetition. Conclusions: The findings suggest that brief meditation sessions do not uniquely affect time perception in participants with no prior meditation experience. Instead, task repetition emerged as the dominant driver of overestimation, consistent with attention-based models of duration judgments. These results highlight the need to distinguish meditation-specific influences from the more general effects of relaxation and repeated task exposure. Preregistration: This study was not preregistered.
published_date 2025-12-17T05:34:33Z
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