Cognitive emotion regulation strategies can be used to counter the negative effects of life stress. In neuroimaging paradigms, many different types of reappraisal strategies have been used to promote cognitive coping with impersonal, emotion-evoking stimuli, but limited research has been done utilizing specific reappraisal strategies with real-life events. Big picture reappraisal is a specific emotion regulation strategy that offers a way of managing distress aiming to promote acceptance and cognitive coping. Big picture reappraisal instructions (experimental condition) were compared to distraction and rumination instructions (control conditions) resulting in activation in areas associated with cognitive control (orbital frontal cortex, superior parietal lobe, cerebellum lobule VI). Mood ratings collected after each of several condition prompts were significantly more positive in the distraction compared to the big picture reappraisal condition during the first third of the induction, but as the task progressed the effectiveness of distraction declined considerably. There were no significant condition differences in mood during the second and third segments of the induction. / text

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Introduction: Emotion regulation, the process of changing one’s emotion is necessary for efficiency when performing cognitive tasks, and is often measured using a Stroop task that provides conflict between emotional and factual information. Researchers have found that listening to music increases performance on cognitive tasks, and we hypothesize that listening to music samples that evoke different arousal and valence levels will affect participants’ emotion regulation skills. Method: 38 Georgia State University undergraduates listened to three-minute excerpts of film scores known to evoke a particular mood and arousal state while completing an emotional-Stroop task. Results: We performed a repeated measures ANOVA and found a significant difference of music type and an interaction between music type and word context. Discussion: These results provide evidence that music evokes different arousal and valence states, which have a distinct effect on emotion regulation skills.

Older adults improve in emotional well-being, and this may be a product of changes in motivation to regulate emotions or emotion regulation effectiveness. However, there are cognitive changes in old age that could make regulation harder in some contexts. The current set of studies sought to determine whether there were age-related improvements or deficits in ability to use distraction in two contexts. The first study examined use of distraction in a recovery context and found no age differences in emotional recovery when 1) using spontaneous self-distraction, 2) intentionally self-distracting, and 3) being distracted by another task. There was, however, evidence that the distracting task was the most effective way to recover from the negative induction. There was also some evidence that cognitive changes with age made it more difficult for older adults to limit negative thoughts in certain conditions. The second study contrasted use of distraction, positive reappraisal, and detached reappraisal by looking at success in terms of emotion regulation and impact on a subsequent cognitive task and later memory for the emotional stimuli. No age differences were found in emotion regulation success in this study either, but interesting differences in consequences of the three regulation strategies did emerge.

Positive affect, which has been broken down into four lower-level facets (i.e., joviality, attentiveness, self-assurance, serenity), has demonstrated numerous ties to physical and mental health. The experience of positive affect can be regulated by emotion regulation strategies. However, few studies have assessed their relationship, and no studies have examined the relationship using the lower level facets of positive affect. The link between positive affect and emotion regulation may be of particular importance for individuals at increased risk for bipolar disorder, as both are disrupted in individuals with the condition. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between positive affect and emotion regulation while also exploring whether risk for bipolar disorder moderated their relationship. Undergraduates (N = 155) completed measures of emotion regulation, affect, and bipolar disorder risk at baseline. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), participants completed surveys 3 times a day for 7 days. Hierarchical linear models were estimated and revealed significant effects between certain baseline emotion regulation tendencies (experiential avoidance/ psychological inflexibility, rumination, behavioral social avoidance) and daily positive affect facets as well as between daily emotion regulation use (i.e., reappraisal, acceptance, reflection, savoring, mindfulness social support, suppression, rumination, procrastination) and daily positive affect facets. Bipolar disorder risk was not found to moderate the relationship. Findings support the use of strategies emphasized in evidence-based treatments and highlight the importance of daily practice of emotion regulation skills.

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Emotion regulation difficulty is commonly experienced by autistic adults and has been explored as a transdiagnostic mechanism contributing to anxiety and depression in autistic adults. Previous research has found that emotion regulation strategies and autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses involved in emotion regulation differ between autistic and non-autistic individuals. These findings highlight the role of the ANS as a measure of emotion regulation; however, this has not been studied in an autistic adult sample. The current study examined ANS activity, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), root mean square successive differences (rMSSD), and skin conductance level (SCL), and subjective ratings of valence and arousal at rest and while viewing emotional film clips and engaging in emotion regulation in autistic adults. The study consisted of 31 autistic and 31 non-autistic adults, matched on age, intellectual ability, sex, and race/ethnicity. Participants also self-reported their daily emotion regulation use via the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results demonstrated group differences in baseline RSA and rMSSD, self-reported valence of viewing neutral and negative stimuli, and cognitive reappraisal used in daily life. There was also increased SCL and self-reported arousal and decreased self-reported valence to negative stimuli across the whole sample. Exploratory results also showed that SCL and self-reported arousal to negative stimuli were correlated for autistic participants, and that emotion regulation changed physiological and subjective experiences of negative emotion across the whole sample. Supplementary analyses explored the covarying role of co-occurring depression and anxiety and antidepressant use, and showed that these covariates may explain variance in some physiological and self-reported responses whereas in other models, they may suppress these changes. This study extends previous research on emotion regulation in daily life of autistic adults and is the first investigation that demonstrates how an objective measure, such as correlates of ANS, provides additional insight in emotion regulation in autistic adults beyond subjective ratings. This study is important insofar as it shows how emotion regulation strategies manifest in autistic adults and its implications for informing the use of emotion regulation treatment intervention. / Doctor of Philosophy / Autistic adults struggle to regulate their emotions which may contribute to their anxiety and depression. It is previously known that autistic people emotionally regulate differently than non-autistic people, and that their autonomic nervous system (ANS) reacts differently too. These differences may lead to information about how the ANS may measure emotion regulation, yet no one has ever studied this in autistic adults. Therefore, the following study examined ANS activity, as measured by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), root mean square successive differences (rMSSD), and skin conductance level (SCL), and self-reported ratings of positivity and excitement at rest and while watching emotional film clips and regulating their emotional responses in autistic adults. The study included 31 autistic and 31 non-autistic adults, who had similar age, intellectual ability, sex, and race/ethnicity. Participants also self-reported how often they emotionally regulated, specifically by changing their thoughts ("reappraisal") and keeping a blank face ("suppression") in their daily life using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Based on this study, autistic adults had lower levels of RSA and rMSSD when they were watching a baseline video of swimming fish. They also rated lower levels of positivity when watching both neutral and negative themed film clips and shared that they used reappraisal less frequently in daily life than non-autistic adults. Everyone in the study showed increased SCL and rated lower levels of positivity when watching negative themed film clips. Also, autistic adults with higher SCL also felt greater levels of excitement when watching negative film clips. For everyone, regulating emotional experiences changed the body's responses (i.e., RSA, rMSSD, and SCL) and experiences of positivity and excitement when watching negative themed film clips. However, since having depression and anxiety and taking antidepressants may affect how participants emotionally regulate, additional analyses also explored the impact of these factors; these extra analyses found that some of the previously reported findings may be because of depression, anxiety, and antidepressants, rather than being autistic. Overall, this is the first study to explore the relationship between emotion regulation and autism in adults by looking at the ANS. It is important because it shows how autistic people emotionally regulate which can help experts design mental health treatments.

Deliberate Emotion Regulation (ER), the effortful regulation of emotions, is strongly linked to psychopathology. In adults, deliberate ER is often experienced as a self-narrative, such as reappraising a negatively perceived scenario. However, researchers have yet to study how young children articulate deliberate ER strategies, whether these strategies relate to real-time ER neurophysiological processes, and how they are associated with psychopathology. Thus, from an existing sample of 59 children, I aimed to examine preschool-aged children’s verbally articulated ER strategies prior to a frustration challenge, and related these strategies to subsequent neural and physiological responses to frustration and psychopathology. I categorized children’s responses into two groups: those who articulated any emotion regulation strategy (i.e., “strategy”) and those who did not articulate a strategy (i.e., “no strategy”). We found that about 70% of children in this age range were able to articulate an emotion regulation strategy. Children who articulated a strategy had lower psychophysiological stress during a frustration task and fewer parent-reported ADHD inattention symptoms than children who did not articulate a strategy. There were no observed differences between groups for Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) activation, parent-reported externalizing symptoms, or parent-reported irritability symptoms. To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide evidence that emotion regulation strategy articulation is an emerging skill, and that children who are able to articulate emotion regulation strategies are also able to change their physiological stress in response to a negative emotion challenge and have fewer symptoms of psychopathology.

Yes / This article takes a critical approach to emotion regulation suggesting that the concept needs supplementing with a relational position on the generation and restraint of emotion. I chart the relational approach to emotion, challenging the ‘two-step’ model of emotion regulation. From this, a more interdisciplinary approach to emotion is developed using concepts from social science to show the limits of instrumental, individualistic and cognitivist orientations in the psychology of emotion regulation, centred on appraisal theory. Using a social interactionist approach I develop an ontological position in which social relations form the fundamental contexts in which emotions are generated, toned, and restrained, so that regulation is decentred and seen as just one moment or aspect in the relational patterning of emotion.