Research conducted on emotion by psychologists has produced numerous understandings of the concept and there is currently no consensus as to how it should be defined (Russell, 2012). Despite some general agreement among some theorists as to certain aspects, such as physiological response, eliciting events, and related facial expressions, it is a persistent issue and discussions as to how a solution may be found have recurred at various points throughout the history of psychology. Some work has been done to address the problem through the meta-analysis of various definitions and this has proved to be useful in showing the areas where psychologists might agree (e.g. Izard, 2010; Kleinginna & Kleinginna, 1981; Plutchik, 1980). There is an assumption, therefore, that with enough research and debate a solution will be found. However, this assumption neglects to take into account the changing ontological and methodological contexts through which emotion has been defined in psychological science. For this reason the current debates lack a broader contextualisation which could reveal what has influenced the production of particular definitions and the reasons why the problems of definition have come about. This thesis aims to address this gap in the literature by presenting a historical analysis of the understandings of emotion which were produced during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although there has been a great deal of historical work produced which examines psychological theories from this time, there is little, apart from Dixon (2012) which is specifically aimed at contextualising this particular issue. In particular, this thesis will examine one respect in which emotion is often defined; as that of being a subjective experience. This understanding, whilst it most often seems to be the way in which people, if asked, define emotion (Davitz, 1970) has, historically, proved to be contentious in psychological science, perhaps because it is difficult to capture. The thesis describes the method of introspection and its use as a means to examine the subjective experience of emotion during the early years of psychology, and looks at what can be learned about the issue of definition through an understanding of the work conducted during that period. It is shown that introspective analyses often presented a picture of emotions as complex, idiosyncratic and individual experiences and that these characteristics contrasted with the assumptions of the emerging scientific psychology that emotion should be defined as structured, predictable and universal. The search for a concept of emotion which embodied the latter rather than the former characteristics is described, and it is demonstrated that the result was a variety of different conceptualisations. The thesis concludes that it is important not to view the current problem simply as one of academic differences over the veracity of definitions, but to contextualise it in relation to the psychologist’s search for a definition of emotion that assumes the characteristics of a scientific concept.

Au cours des dernières décennies, la plupart des études investiguant la reconnaissance des visages ont utilisé des photographies statiques. Or dans notre environnement naturel, les visages auxquels nous sommes exposés sont des phénomènes dynamiques qu’il est difficile de communiquer écologiquement avec des images statiques. Cette exposition quotidienne et répétée à des visages en mouvement pourrait-elle avoir un effet sur notre système visuel, favorisant le traitement de stimuli dynamiques au détriment des statiques ?Afin d’éclairer cette problématique, les recherches présentées dans cette thèse avaient pour but d’utiliser des stimuli dynamiques pour étudier différents aspects du traitement des visages à travers plusieurs groupes d’âge et populations. Dans notre première recherche, nous avons utilisé des visages animés pour voir si la capacité de nourrissons âgés de 6-, 9- et 12 mois à associer des attributs audibles et visibles à un genre est influencée par l'utilisation d’un discours de type adulte par opposition à un langage de type enfantin. Nos résultats ont montré qu’à partir de 6 mois, lorsqu'ils étaient soumis à un discours de type adulte, les nourrissons associaient les voix et visages de femmes. Par contre, lorsqu'ils étaient confrontés à un langage de type enfantin, cette capacité apparaissait seulement à l'âge de 9 mois. Ces premiers résultats soutiennent l'idée selon laquelle le développement de la perception multisensorielle chez les nourrissons est influencé par la nature même des interactions sociales.Dans notre deuxième recherche, nous avons utilisé une nouvelle technique 4D pour reconstruire les représentations mentales des six émotions de base d’une patiente présentant un cas unique et pure de prosopagnosie acquise (i.e., une incapacité à reconnaître les visages), afin de réexaminer une question bien débattue, à savoir si les modules cérébraux sous-jacents à la reconnaissance de l’identité et des expressions faciales sont séparés ou communs. Les résultats ont montré que notre patiente a utilisé toutes les caractéristiques faciales pour identifier les émotions de base, ce qui contraste fortement avec son utilisation déficitaire de l'information faciale pour la reconnaissance de l’identité. Ces résultats confortent l’idée selon laquelle différents systèmes de représentations sous-tendent le traitement de l'identité et de l'expression. Par la suite, nous avons pu démontrer que notre patiente était capable de reconnaître adéquatement les expressions émotionnelles dynamiques, mais pas les émotions statiques provenant de ses propres représentations internes. Ces résultats qui pourraient être expliqués par un ensemble spécifique de lésions dans son gyrus occipital inférieur droit, soutiennent l’idée selon laquelle le traitement des stimuli statiques et dynamiques se produit dans des régions cérébrales différentes.Dans notre troisième recherche, nous avons investigué si d'autres populations ayant un système visuel neurologiquement fragile ou en développement bénéficient également de la présentation d’expressions dynamiques. Nous avons demandé à plus de 400 sujets âgés de 5 à 96 ans de catégoriser les six expressions de base en versions statique, dynamique ou bruitée. En utilisant un modèle Bayésien, nos résultats nous ont permis de quantifier la pente d'amélioration et de déclin pour chaque expression dans chaque condition, ainsi que d'estimer l'âge auquel l’efficacité est maximale. En résumé, nos résultats montrent la supériorité des stimuli dynamiques dans la reconnaissance des expressions faciales, de manière plus marquée pour certaines expressions que d'autres et de façon plus importante à certains moments spécifiques du développement.Dans l'ensemble, les résultats de cette thèse soulignent l'importance d’investiguer la reconnaissance des visages avec des stimuli dynamiques, non seulement en neuropsychologie, mais aussi dans d'autres domaines des neurosciences développementales et cliniques. / The human visual system is steadily stimulated by dynamic cues. Faces provide crucial information important for adapted social interactions. From an evolutionary perspective, humans have been more extensively exposed to dynamic faces, as static face images have only appeared recently with the advent of photography and the expansion of digital tools. Yet, most studies investigating face perception have relied on static faces and only a little is known about the mechanisms involved in dynamic face processing.To clarify this issue, this thesis aimed to use dynamic faces to investigate different aspects of face processing in different populations and age groups. In Study 1, we used dynamic faces to investigate whether the ability of infants aged 6, 9, and 12 months in matching audible and visible attributes of gender is influenced by the use of adult-directed (ADS) vs. infant-directed (IDS) speech. Our results revealed that from 6 months of age, infants matched female faces and voices when presented with ADS. This ability emerged at 9 months of age when presented with IDS. Altogether, these findings support the idea that the perception of multisensory gender coherence is influenced by the nature of social interactions.In Study 2, we used a novel 4D technique to reconstruct the dynamic internal representations of the six basic expressions in a pure case of acquired prosopagnosia (i.e., a brain-damaged patient severely impaired in recognizing familiar faces). This was done in order to re-examine the debated issue of whether identity and expression are processed independently. Our results revealed that our patient used all facial features to represent basic expressions, contrasting sharply with her suboptimal use of facial information for identity recognition. These findings support the idea that different sets of representations underlie the processing of identity and expression. We then examined our patient’s ability to recognize static and dynamic expressions using her internal representations as stimuli. Our results revealed that she was selectively impaired in recognizing many of the static expressions; whereas she displayed maximum accuracy in recognizing all the dynamic emotions with the exception of fear. The latter findings support recent evidence suggesting that separate cortical pathways, originating in early visual areas and not in the inferior occipital gyrus, are responsible for the processing of static and dynamic face information.Moving on from our second study, in Study 3, we investigated whether dynamic cues offer processing benefits for the recognition of facial expressions in other populations with immature or fragile face processing systems. To this aim, we conducted a large sample cross-sectional study with more than 400 participants aged between 5 to 96 years, investigating their ability to recognize the six basic expressions presented under different temporal conditions. Consistent with previous studies, our findings revealed the highest recognition performance for happiness, regardless of age and experimental condition, as well as marked confusions among expressions with perceptually similar facial signals (e.g., fear and surprise). By using Bayesian modelling, our results further enabled us to quantify, for each expression and condition individually, the steepness of increase and decrease in recognition performance, as well as the peak efficiency, the point at which observers’ performance reaches its maximum before declining. Finally, our results offered new evidence for a dynamic advantage for facial expression recognition, stronger for some expressions than others and more important at specific points in development.Overall, the results highlighted in this thesis underlie the critical importance of research featuring dynamic stimuli in face perception and expression recognition studies; not only in the field of prosopagnosia, but also in other domains of developmental and clinical neuroscience.

This dissertation examined the effects of implicit theories of emotion (beliefs about the malleability of emotion) on emotion regulation and experience. Incremental theories involve beliefs that emotions are controllable; entity theories involve beliefs that emotions are uncontrollable. I hypothesized that an incremental theory would be associated with better well-being, more adaptive emotion regulation, and mastery-oriented patterns of response to emotion regulation difficulty, compared to an entity theory. Study 1 developed a valid and reliable questionnaire to assess trait implicit theories of emotion and examined correlations with self-reports of personality, emotional experience, emotion regulation, and well-being. A trait incremental theory was associated with greater positive emotion and less negative emotion, an effect that was mediated by the tendency of incremental theorists to use more active coping and adaptive emotion regulation strategies, compared to entity theorists. Incremental theories were also associated with greater overall well-being, lower depression, and less stress. Studies 2-5 manipulated implicit theories of emotion and examined their causal effects on emotion and emotion regulation. Although entity and incremental participants did not report differences in emotional experience when experiencing emotions naturally (Study 2), participants in the incremental group were more likely to regulate their emotions when explicitly asked to do so (Study 3). Specifically, only incremental participants responded to instructions to remain objective while rating emotionally evocative images. Studies 4 and 5 examined differences in reactions to emotion regulation difficulty. After completing an emotional interference task, all (Study 4) or a random half (Study 5) of participants were told that they had done poorly and rated attributions for their performance, affect, and motivation to remain engaged versus withdrawing. Although hypothesized patterns did not emerge as a whole, participants in the incremental condition were more likely to attribute their performance (failure or success) to strategy use. This research has implications for the study of emotion regulation, in particular, patterns of helplessness and mastery within the domain of emotions.

Les décisions que nous prenons au quotidien nécessitent le traitement de plusieurs sources d'information, et dépendent par conséquent de nombreux éléments contextuels tels que les indices sociaux provenant d'un émetteur ainsi que le centre de l'attention, l'humeur et l'expérience passée de l'observateur. Le travail réalisé durant cette thèse a eu pour but de caractériser les mécanismes cognitifs et neuraux sous-tendant l'impact de ces éléments contextuels sur la prise de décision dans un environnement social. La première étude d'électroencéphalographie (EEG) a manipulé l'attention de l'observateur lors du traitement des indices sociaux. Grâce à des analyses comportementales et EEG basées sur la modélisation, la seconde étude a caractérisé les mécanismes qui sous-tendent l'intégration des indices sociaux extraits d'un visage et l'influence de l'anxiété sur cette intégration. Enfin, en conjuguant modélisation et enregistrements pupillaires, la troisième étude a caractérisé l'influence de l'expérience apriori sur la perception de l'émotion. Alors que les indices sociaux émis simultanément interagissent en renforçant le traitement ascendant 'bottom-up' des signaux pertinents de menace, l'expérience apriori agit comme un facteur contextuel descendant 'top-down' qui biaise les décisions vers les options attendues, tandis que l'attention et les caractéristiques de l'observateur modulent la contribution relative de régions pertinentes dans le traitement de stimuli sociaux. Les résultats mettent en lumière les différents mécanismes cognitifs qui sous-tendent l'influence de facteurs contextuels distincts lors de la prise de décision perceptive dans un environnement social. / Everyday social decisions require the combination of multiple sources of information and therefore build upon abundant contextual elements such as the social cues of emitters (e.g., gaze direction, emotion, gesture), the attentional focus of observers, their mood and their past experience. The work conducted during this Ph.D. (including three main studies in healthy human subjects) aimed at characterizing the cognitive and neural mechanisms of contextual influences in social settings. The first Electroencephalography (EEG) study manipulated the attentional focus of participants while they processed social signals. Using model-based behavioral and single-trial EEG analyses, the second study aimed at characterizing the mechanisms underlying the integration of multiple social cues from faces and the role of anxiety in this integration,. Finally, the third study used model-based behavioral and pupillometric analyses to investigate the mechanisms by which prior experience with individual identities influences the perception of their emotion. While co-emitted social cues interact by boosting bottom-up processing of relevant threat signals within 200 ms after stimulus onset, prior experience enacts as a top-down contextual factor biasing decisions toward expected options, and attention and individual traits (anxiety) modulate the relative contribution to social processing of relevant neural regions. Altogether, these findings shed light on the distinct cognitive mechanisms underlying the influence of different contextual factors during perceptual decisions in social settings.

Ce travail de thèse propose de s’intéresser au développement des capacités de compréhension et de marquage graphique des émotions de manière conjointe. Ce manuscrit aborde plusieurs questions comme le décalage pouvant exister entre ces deux capacités ou encore l’influence des stéréotypes liés au genre sur la manière dont les enfants comprennent les émotions dans une histoire et les représentent dans leurs dessins (Etudes 1 et 2). Dans une visée plus appliquée, ce travail de thèse pose la question de la pertinence d’utiliser une tâche de dessin pour évaluer la compréhension des émotions chez des enfants présentant des troubles du langage oral (Etude 3). Pour répondre à ces questions, nous avons demandé à des enfants âgés de 6 à 10 ans d’identifier l’état émotionnel du personnage d’un récit (i.e., tâche d’identification) et/ou de marquer cette émotion dans leur dessin en complétant le visage du personnage (i.e., tâche de marquage graphique). Contrairement aux travaux déjà existant dans le domaine, les histoires utilisées pour examiner les capacités de compréhension et de marquage des émotions sont issues de la littérature jeunesse. Les résultats de ce travail de thèse suggèrent que l’âge, l’émotion mais aussi l’importance de l’évènement déclencheur de l’émotion sont autant de facteurs pouvant expliquer le décalage existant entre la capacité à comprendre une émotion et celle consistant à la représenter dans un dessin. Par ailleurs, les enfants semblent identifier et représenter les émotions en tenant compte des stéréotypes de genre. Enfin, la tâche de dessin semble être une tâche intéressante lorsque nous nous intéressons à la compréhension émotionnelle des enfants présentant des troubles du langage. Les apports de ce travail de doctorat sont discutés au regard des connaissances théoriques et méthodologiques qu’il fournit à propos des capacités de compréhension et de marquage des émotions. Nos perspectives de recherches futures sont également abordées. / This thesis deals with the development of two abilities: understanding and drawing of emotions studied together. This work considers many questions, namely on the gap between both abilities, and the influence of gender stereotypes on how children understand emotions in a story and how children represent these emotions in their drawings (Study 1 and 2). On an applied basis, we consider the interest of using a drawing task to assess the emotional understanding in children with language impairment (Study 3). To answer these questions, we ask children aged 6 to 10 to identify the emotional state of a character in a story (i.e., identification task) and to depict this emotion in a drawing by completing the character’s face (i.e., drawing task). Contrary to prior studies, we used natural stories from children literature to assess abilities to understand and to depict emotions. Our results suggest that age, emotion and the trigger event of the emotion can explain in part the difference between both abilities. Moreover, children seem to identify and depict emotions taking account of gender stereotypes. Finally, the drawing task seems to be relevant to assess the emotional understanding in children with language impairment. Contributions of this thesis are discussed in view of theoretical and methodological knowledge about abilities to understand and to depict emotions. Research perspectives are also approached.

Older adults may be better able to modulate their emotional experiences than younger adults, and thus may recover more quickly from negative stressors. Additionally, older adults may be more likely to experience co-occurrence of negative and positive emotions in the setting of negative stressors, which may facilitate emotion recovery. To date, few studies have investigated the nature of age group differences in spontaneous emotional responses to a standardized stressor. The current study utilizes a laboratory mood manipulation to determine age group differences in emotion recovery in negative and positive affects, as well as age group differences in the co-occurrence of negative and positive affect. Older adults reported greater reactivity in one and greater recovery in two negative affect scales than younger adults; however, these differences did not remain significant when controlling for overall arousal ratings of the mood induction. There were no age group differences in reactivity or recovery of positive affects. Both younger and older adults returned to baseline in negative affects by the end of the recovery period despite age group differences in affect responses and arousal ratings. Older adults reported greater co-occurrence of negative and positive emotions in response to the mood induction as compared to younger adults. Overall, these results provide support for age group similarities in reactivity and recovery in discrete affects, and age group differences in mixed emotion states. Greater co-occurrence appears to reflect greater baseline endorsement of positive affect in older as compared to younger adults. Thus, higher baseline positive affect may create greater opportunities for older adults to experience mixed emotion states, which may in turn serve as an adaptive resource for older adults.

La Maladie de Huntington (MH) est une pathologie génétique neurodégénérative, causée par un nombre anormalement élevé de répétitions du codon CAG dans le gène codant pour la protéine huntingtine (htt). A un stade pré-symptomatique (avant les symptômes moteurs), des troubles émotionnels sont souvent observés chez les patients MH, tels une agitation, une anxiété, une irritabilité ainsi qu’une tendance à la dépression, une apathie et une perte du contrôle émotionnel. Dans le but d’étudier la physiopathologie sous-jacentes aux (dys)fonctions émotionnelles de la MH, nous analysons le rôle de l’amygdale (en particulier le noyau central (CeA)). Cette structure est connue pour être impliquée dans la régulation du processus émotionnel et avoir un volume réduit ainsi qu’un grand nombre d’agrégats chez les patients et chez des modèles animaux transgéniques. Afin d’étudier les symptômes émotionnels de la MH, nous avons utilisé un modèle de rats transgéniques récent, les BACHD. Nos résultats montrent que ces animaux sont hyper-anxieux et hyper-réactifs face aux situations menaçantes à un stade précoce de la maladie. Ces rats BACHD présentent également un nombre élevé d’agrégats de grande taille augmentant en fonction de l’âge spécifiquement dans le CeA par rapport au noyau basolateral (BLA). De plus, la modulation pharmacologique du CeA entraine un effet comportemental différentiel chez les rats BACHD par rapport aux rats normaux, attestant d’un défaut fonctionnel de cette structure à un stade précoce de la maladie. Finalement, l’hyper-activité cellulaire observée dans le CeA (partie médiane) des rats BACHD pourrait expliquer l’hyper-réactivité émotionnelle de ces animaux et participer aux troubles émotionnels de la MH. / Huntington’s disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder, caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the gene encoding the huntingtin protein. At the presymptomatic phase, before motor symptoms occur, psychiatric and emotional disorders are observed with high prevalence in HD patients. Agitation, anxiety and irritability are often described but also depression and/or apathy, associated with a lack of emotional control.In search of the pathophysiology underlying the emotional (dys)functions of HD, we studied the role of the amygdala (especially the central nucleus (CeA)). This structure is known to be involved in emotional regulation and has a reduced volume and a large number of aggregates in both patients and transgenic rat models. To study the emotional symptoms of HD we used a recent model of transgenic rats, BACHD. Our results show that these animals are hyper-anxious and hyper-reactive to threatening situations at an early stage of the disease. BACHD rats also have a high number of large aggregates, increasing with age, specifically in the CeA compared to the basolateral nucleus (BLA). In addition, pharmacological modulation of the CeA induce differential behavioral effects in BACHD rats compared to WT rats, evidencing a functional deficit of the structure at an early stage of the disease. Finally, the cellular hyper-activity observed in the CeA (medial part) of BACHD rats could account for the emotional hyper-reactivity of these animals and participate of emotional disorders of HD.

The relationship between female undergraduate students’ (n = 151) reports of parental emotion coaching in childhood and their reports of emotion regulation, romantic attachment, and romantic intimacy in young adulthood was investigated. The female undergraduate students completed additional questionnaires about their mood, personality characteristics, and relationship satisfaction in young adulthood, and parental warmth in childhood. Remembered supportive emotion coaching (comprised of Emotion-Focused Reactions, Problem-Focused Reactions and Expressive Encouragement) was significantly and positively correlated with healthier emotion regulation (reappraisal), and was significantly and negatively correlated with less healthy emotion regulation (suppression). Remembered unsupportive emotion coaching (comprised of Minimizing Reactions, Punitive Reactions, and Distress Reactions) was significantly and positively correlated with romantic avoidant and anxious attachment. Romantic intimacy was not significantly correlated with remembered supportive or unsupportive emotion coaching. Emotion regulation mediated the relationship between remembered emotion coaching and avoidant and anxious attachment, but not romantic intimacy. Emotion regulation continued to mediate the relationship between remembered emotion coaching and avoidant attachment after mood, personality characteristics, relationship satisfaction, and parental warmth were entered into the model as covariates, but emotion regulation did not continue to mediate the relationship after covariates were entered into the model when anxious attachment was the predicted variable.

The thesis investigates the endogenous generation of emotion (EnGE). Two main questions were pursued: 1) How is the volitional generation of emotion neurally and behaviourally implemented? and 2) How can this ability be used for emotional self- regulation? This was investigated in two projects: In the first project, neural, psychophysiological, and behavioural indices of EnGE were investigated in a large, representative sample. The second project investigated the behavioural, functional and structural correlates of meditation practices involving endogenous generation of positive emotion, in a sample of expert meditators. Answering the first question, the first project indicated that EnGE is neurally supported by the cooperation of nodes of the Default Mode (DMN), extended Salience (SN), and left Frontoparietal Control (FPCN) Networks. Results suggest dissociable functional component processes were implemented by these networks, with DMN supporting the generation of simulated representations, while SN supported the generation of core affective qualities of self-generated emotional experiences. FPCN co-activation patterns suggested it supports the coordination of the generation process. The second project showed similar activations during loving-kindness and compassion meditation. Moreover, expert meditators showed increased cortical thickness in, primarily, the left FPCN. This suggests endogenous emotion generation is neurally effected by left FPCN, entraining core affective processes supported by SN and simulation construction supported by DMN. EnGE-based emotional self-regulation was investigated in a second set of studies. Neural and behavioural measures indicated that expert meditators could successfully regulate their emotional reactions to negative external stressors. Comparing compassion with reappraisal-based emotion regulation, regulatory effects differed, with compassion-based regulation primarily increasing positive emotion while reappraisal primarily decreased negative emotion. Moreover, in the large, representative sample, EnGE-abilities were associated with trait affect and emotion management styles. Moreover, evidence was found that EnGE-abilities partially mediate the relationship between positive trait affect and adaptive, instrumental emotion management styles. These results suggest that EnGE can be used in a reactive fashion to regulate emotional reactions to negative stressors, and that EnGE-abilities support emotion management in the normal population. / Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die endogene Generation von Emotionen (EnGE). Zwei Hauptfragen wurde verfolgt: 1) Wie die willentliche Erzeugung von Emotionen neuronal oder im Verhalten implementiert ist, und 2) wie diese Fähigkeit für die emotionale Selbstregulation verwendet werden kann. Dies wurde in zwei Projekten genauer untersucht: Im ersten Projekt wurden neuronale und psychophysiologische Mechanismen sowie Verhaltensweisen in Bezug auf EnGE in einer großen und repräsentativen Stichprobe untersucht. Das zweite Projekt untersuchte die verhaltensbedingten, funktionellen, und strukturellen Korrelate von bestimmten Meditationsübungen, die die endogene Erzeugung von positiven Emotionen beinhalten, in einer Stichprobe von Meditationsexperten. In Bezug auf die erste Forschungsfrage, haben wir im ersten Projekt Daten erhoben, die nahelegen, dass EnGE auf neuronaler Ebene durch die Kooperation von wichtigen Arealen des Default Mode Netzwerks (DMN), sowie des erweiterten Salience (SN) und des linken Frontoparietal Control (FPCN) Netzwerks unterstützt wird. Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass unterscheidbare funktionelle Komponenten-Prozesse durch diese Netzwerke implementiert werden. Das DMN unterstützt dabei die Erzeugung von simulierten Repräsentationen, während das SN die Generation der „core“ affektive Qualitäten von selbstgenerierten emotionalen Erfahrungen unterstützt. Das FPCN Ko-Aktivierungsmuster legt eine Rolle bei der Koordination von Erzeugungsprozessen nahe. Das zweite Projekt zeigte ähnliche Aktivierungen durch Loving-kindness und Mitgefühls-Meditation. Weiterhin zeigten Meditationsexperten eine erhöhte kortikale Dicke vor allem im linken FPCN. Diese Ergebnisse lassen vermuten, dass eine endogene Emotionsgeneration neuronal vom linken FPCN beeinflusst wird, dass eine SN Aktivierung „core“ affektive Prozesse unterstützt, und dass die Simulationskonstruktion vom DMN gesteuert wird. EnGE-basierte emotionale Selbstregulation wurde mittels dem zweiten Set von Experimenten genauer untersucht. Neuronale- und Verhaltensmaße weisen darauf hin, dass Meditationsexperten ihre eigenen emotionalen Reaktionen auf negative externe Stressoren erfolgreich regulieren konnten. Ein Vergleich von Mitgefühlsmeditation und Neubewertungs- basierter (reappraisal) Emotionsregulation zeigte, dass die Regulationseffekte insofern unterschiedlich sind, dass Mitgefühl-basierte Regulation zunächst positive Emotionen erhöht, während eine Neubewertungsstrategie hauptsächlich negative Emotionen reduziert. Außerdem wurden in der großen und repräsentativen Stichprobe EnGE-Fähigkeiten mit habituellem Affekt (trait affect) und Emotionsmanagement-Stilen assoziiert. EnGE- Fähigkeiten wurden teilweise durch die Beziehung zwischen positiven habituellem Affekt und adaptiven instrumentellen Emotionsmanagement-Stilen vermittelt. Diese Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass EnGE in einer reaktiven Weise für eine Regulation von Emotionsreaktionen auf negative Stressoren verwendet werden kann und das EnGE Fähigkeiten das Emotionsmanagement in einer normalen Population unterstützen.

Research has shown that positive emotions are important to optimal health, functioning, and well-being, and contribute to resilience against psychological dysfunction. However, many clinical disorders, particularly anxiety and mood disorders, are associated with deficits in positive emotion that may contribute to symptoms and inhibit full recovery. Despite accumulating data identifying disturbances in positive emotion and positive emotion regulation in anxiety and depressive disorders, these deficits have received insufficient attention in treatment. The present study represents a preliminary evaluation of the feasibility and utility of a novel augmentation intervention for enhancing positive emotion in anxiety and depressive disorders. Nine patients with a range of principal anxiety disorders who had previously completed an initial course of cognitive-behavioral treatment at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University (CARD) completed the study. The study utilized a single case experimental design, specifically a multiple baseline across participants design, with participants randomized to 2-, 4-, or 6-week baseline periods to control for the effect of time on outcome variables. Primary outcome variables were assessed weekly during the baseline and intervention phases to permit analysis of functional relationships between individual factors, specific treatment components, and therapeutic outcomes. Major assessments were conducted at baseline, pre-, post-treatment, and a 3-month follow-up. These included both self-report and independent evaluator-rated components. Results indicated that the intervention was effective in improving positive emotion regulation skills for 5 of the 9 of participants. The intervention was associated with significant improvements in anxiety and depressive symptoms, and preliminary effects sizes for pre- to follow-up changes in positive emotion regulation, symptoms, positive and negative emotion, functioning, quality of life, and well-being were moderate to large. Participants reported high acceptability and satisfaction with the study intervention. Qualitative feedback from participants highlighted several areas for improvement in the format and delivery of the intervention, such as increasing the number of sessions and providing a patient workbook, and these changes may increase the effectiveness of the intervention. Future research is needed to confirm the validity of these findings and evaluate the generalizability of these effects across patients and settings.