APPENDIX Ic

Please read carefully before filling in the checklist.

Thanks for offering to participate, on a purely voluntary basis, in this study, which shall focus on working memory in meditators, contemporary actors and matched control groups. The control group will be matched according to the characteristics of the other groups, on the variables of sex, age and level of education. Therefore, this short checklist has to be filled in by all prospective participants as preliminary groundwork for the working memory experiments run on a computer programme, which are at the core of the study. The replies on this checklist are strictly confidential.

If your characteristics on the variables mentioned above, match those of the study groups, I shall contact you again to verify whether you are still interested in participating in the study, by undergoing the working memory tests themselves.

For further details about the study do not hesitate to contact me on 46 68 29 or by e-mail at <nadya@nextgen.net.mt>.

Thanks for your help and patience,

Nadia Farrugia

Meditation:

Maintaining focused attention for 5 minutes or more, on your breath or heartbeat; or gazing attentively and continuously at an object e.g. candle, cross, fixed point; or repeating and/or chanting a single word or phrase.

Contemporary theatre:

Experimental theatre inspired by Grotowski and Barba, where the focus is on particular exercises, which inspire improvisation. Throughout the training, attention is maintained on the particular task at hand.