Effects of a brief guided breathing meditation on EEG features and state relaxation: A randomized crossover trial

This study examines the immediate neurophysiological and psychological effects of a five-minute guided breathing meditation compared to a matched five-minute educational podcast as an active control. Using a wireless 14-channel EEG system (Emotiv EPOC X) in a randomized within-subject crossover design, we aim to (1) test whether brief meditation induces a distinct neurophysiological state that is decodable from EEG using machine learning, and to quantify participant-level State Fidelity (within-subject separability) from the same model; (2) test whether meditation increases self-reported general relaxation (RSQ factor) and whether individual differences in State Fidelity relate to the relaxation benefit; and (3) explore whether trait mindfulness (MAAS), prior meditation experience (Lifetime hours), and past-week recovery–stress balance (RESTQ-Basic) are associated with State Fidelity and the relaxation benefit (including exploratory mediation and moderation). EEG preprocessing and feature extraction will follow preregistered OSF pipeline documents (“EEG preprocessing pipeline” and “Feature extraction pipeline”) to minimize analytic flexibility.