Quantitative versus qualitative emotion regulation goals: Differential effects on emotional responses

Savoring mental imagery: Electrocortical effects and association with depression

The ability to focus on and increase positive emotion in response to mental imagery may play a key role in emotional wellbeing. Moreover, deficits in this ability might underlie emotional disorders such as depression. Here, we set out to determine whether people could use savoring to upregulate subjective and electrocortical response to mental imagery of previously viewed positive and neutral pictures, and whether this would be negatively affected by depression. On each trial, participants (N = 49) viewed a positive or neutral picture, prior to simply re-imagining the previously presented picture ("view") or re-imagining the picture while savoring it ("savor"). Results showed that savoring increased electrocortical and subjective response to imagined stimuli; however, this effect was only evident at the electrocortical level when controlling for depression. Moreover, depression moderated electrocortical findings, such that individuals who were more depressed showed a reduced effect of savoring on neural response to mental imagery. Results are in line with recent work that has shown the benefits of positive affect treatment for depression, to suggest that deficits in savoring mental imagery may play a role in the development and/or maintenance of depression.

Temporal dynamics of positive emotion regulation: insights from facial electromyography

Introduction

Emotion regulation (ER) is a complex process that manifests gradually over time. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of ER in modifying positive emotions in terms of both negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) dimensions.

Methods

After participants had been exposed to pleasant pictures for 8,000 ms, they received instructions to either continue viewing the picture (no regulation) or reappraise it with a neutral meaning (neutralize goal) or negative meaning (transform goal) for another 8,000 ms. We obtained corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major electromyography (EMG) as objective measures of NA and PA.

Results

For the no-regulation condition, upon instruction onset, we observed maintained low levels of corrugator and high levels of zygomaticus EMG reactivity, indicating sustained PA activation. Compared to the no-regulation condition, for the neutralize goal, we observed no change in corrugator reactivity, which remained at a low level, while zygomaticus reduction started at 1,000 ms after instruction onset, indicating decreased PA and generation of a neutral emotional state. For the transform goal, we observed corrugator increase and zygomaticus decrease both starting at 1,500 ms after instruction onset and co-existing throughout the regulation period. These results indicate increased NA and decreased PA, relating to generation of a negative emotional state. The transform goal differed from the neutralize goal in terms of corrugator increase starting at 2,500 ms after instruction onset. Albeit simultaneous onset of changes on corrugator and zygomaticus reactivity under the transform goal, model-fitting analyses indicated that the best-fitting trajectory was one that first emphasized PA reduction until, at 3,000 ms, it turned into primary NA increase.

Discussion

These distinct temporal patterns highlight the possibility of effecting one-dimensional PA change with the neutralize goal and sequential two-dimensional change (first decreasing PA, then increasing NA) with the transform goal. This research sheds light on the time course of emotional change brought about by different regulatory goals.

The Future of Emotion Regulation Research: Broadening Our Field of View

Over the past few decades, emotion regulation research has matured into a vibrant and rapidly growing field (in 2022 alone, more than 30 thousand papers were published on emotion regulation). Taking stock of our progress, we ask "What does the future hold?" In this manuscript, we offer a roadmap for the next generation of research on emotion regulation. We begin by painting a picture of the field's journey so far. We then outline a forward-looking agenda for broadening our field of view along three key dimensions: (1) increasing our resolution to see how regulatory strategies are flexibly and dynamically translated into tactics; (2) widening our viewing angle to embrace interpersonal emotion regulation; and (3) extending the timescale of emotion regulation research to examine how regulatory efforts are fine-tuned across the regulatory cycle and in the context of a broader range of affective experiences. In doing so, we highlight empirical studies that exemplify these three areas of focus and discuss the opportunities that lie before us. We close by offering a set of concrete practical and methodological recommendations for how the field can accomplish the goals we have outlined.