Objective: The purpose of this dissertation was to reproduce Thayer and Lane’s (2000) neurovisceral model by examining both tonic and phasic heart rate variability (HRV) and emotion regulation (ER), and explore the effects of brief evidence-based intervention techniques in a sample of adults with clinically elevated levels of anxiety. Methods: This was a comprehensive multi-methodological study of 34 adults (ages 19 to 63 years) with clinically elevated levels of anxiety. Study 1 examined subjective and physiological effects of implementing ER strategies in response to a well-validated emotion elicitation paradigm consisting of viewing emotion-eliciting aversive images and sentences. Study 2 employed a within-subject RCT design and compared the impact of cognitive restructuring (CR), a top-down ER technique, with open monitoring mindfulness (OM), a bottom-up ER technique. Effects of intervention on self-regulation were assessed at a physiological (i.e. HRV), behavioral (i.e. ER and executive function (EF) computerized task) and subjective (i.e. self-report questionnaires) level. Results: Study 1 revealed that tonic HRV significantly predicted perceived ER success for both top-down and bottom-up generated emotions, whereas phasic HRV only predicted perceived ER success under conditions of bottom-up emotion generation. Variability emerged in our findings depending on the unique ER strategy used. Study 2 indicated a significant time by intervention effect on phasic HRV on the ER task, where HRV decreased with CR and increased with OM. There was a main effect of age independent of intervention on the EF task, such that increased age was related to increased phasic reactivity. On the ER task, CR led to greater perceived success in cognitive reappraisal. On the EF task, CR became faster, whereas OM became slower but more accurate. Significant intervention effects were also found on self-reported anxiety and aspects of mindfulness, with greatest reductions in anxiety found in OM compared to CR. Conclusions: In keeping with the neurovisceral integration model, HRV was reduced in individuals’ with clinically elevated levels of anxiety. Moreover, our findings illustrate that the method of emotion generation and regulation matters and has a significant impact on the degree to which persons with clinical levels of anxiety are able to successfully self-regulate. Finally, our results demonstrate the utility of multi-modal assessment of cognitive and emotional dysregulation in anxiety disorders, as well as the different pathways through which different interventions can impact HRV and ameliorate symptoms of anxiety. / Graduate

L'émotion et le discours scientifique sont traditionnellement deux domaines considérés comme incompatibles du fait du caractère subjectif de la première et des exigences d'objectivité et de neutralité du dernier. La thèse propose une étude des processus en œuvre dans la génération des émotions en relation avec la constitution du discours, et ensuite des stratégies ou modes d'intégration des phénomènes de manifestations émotionnelles dans le discours final. L'étude combine une approche psychologique et linguistique des émotions et s'articule autour de la transition entre le domaine mental et celui de la préparation et de l'expression finale des émotions générées dans le discours (lien entre l'évaluation cognitive et l'Appraisal theory en linguistique). Une synthèse de grandes typologies des modes d'inclusion, ainsi que des grands types de manifestations de charges émotionnelles-affectives globale est présentée dans la thèse. Cette même synthèse est issue de la recherche et de l'analyse de manifestations d'émotions incluses volontairement ou non dans un corpus d'articles de la presse scientifique anglophone soumise à comité de relecture. L'un des objectifs étant de déterminer si le discours scientifique présente des manifestations de subjectivité des auteurs, et par quels biais ces phénomènes de subjectivité et d'émotion s'encodent dans des textes devant, selon les normes et conventions, être aussi objectifs et neutres que possible, quelle que soit la discipline concernée. A donc été soulevée la question de la part prise par l'émotion dans le discours en général, de sa constitution à son expression. / Emotion and scientific discourse are, by tradition, considered to be incompatible due to the subjective nature of the former and the objectivity requirements of the latter. The thesis deals with a study of the processes involved in emotion generation in relation with discourse generation. This is followed by the approach of the modes or strategies of inclusion of emotion manifestation phenomena in the final discourse. The study combines a psychological and linguistic approach of emotions, and revolves around the transition stage between the mental domain and that of language elaboration, leading to communicating the previously generated emotions in discourse (link between cognitive appraisal and the Appraisal theory in linguistics). The thesis sums up the broad categories of inclusion modes, as well as the main global emotion/affect load manifestation types. This very synthesis is the result of the research and analysis of emotion manifestations deliberately or accidentally included into a selection of articles sampled out from english-speaking peer-reviewed scientific press. One of the goals was to determine if scientific discourse contains and displays the authors' subjectivity and emotion manifestations, and how these phenomena are encoded in texts that are primarily meant (according to norms and conventions) to be as objective and neutral as possible, regardless of the subject. Thus was raised the question of the importance of the share taken by emotion in any discourse, from its generation to the moment it is uttered.