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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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.

The objective of this study is to determine whether the practice of yoga is associated with enhanced emotion regulation and empathy, and if the relationship between these variables is mediated by mindfulness. It was hypothesized that the participants with more yoga experience will show more skillful emotion regulation, more mindfulness, and higher empathetic ability. The relationship of exercise experience to the dependent variables was also examined to evaluate if it differed from the relationship of yoga experience to the dependent variables. It was also hypothesized that mindfulness mediates the effect of yoga experience on the other variables. The study sampled both a college students (n =185) and individuals in the community (n =81) with a range of yoga experience, from no experience to experts. Yoga experience was measured with three independent variables in the community sample, including lifetime number of hours of yoga, frequency of yoga practice, and importance of yoga practice. In the college student sample, individuals who practiced yoga were compared to those who had never practiced yoga in a dichotomous independent variable. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ; Godin & Shepard, 1985), Five Factor Mindfulness Measure (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, & Toney, 2006), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980) were used to assess the study constructs. Preliminary analyses were conducted to examine the relationship of demographic variables (age, gender, ethnicity/race, religion, religious attendance, income, education, and relationship status) with the dependent variables, and demographic variables that were found to be significantly related to dependent variables were controlled for in the primary analyses. The hypotheses were analyzed using hierarchical regression, simple regression, and mediation. The study hypotheses were partially supported by the study findings. In the community sample, those with more yoga experience exhibited increased mindfulness, improved emotion regulation, and higher perspective taking. Mindfulness was found to mediate the relationship between yoga experience and suppression and the relationship between yoga experience and reappraisal. The results of the college student sample yielded non-significant findings. The implications of the study findings are discussed. / text