The Effects of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression on Memory of Emotional Pictures

Effects of cognitive reappraisal on directed forgetting of negative emotional memory: an ERP study

This study aimed to adopt the item-method directed forgetting (DF) paradigm to explore the effects of cognitive reappraisal on intentional forgetting of negative emotional pictures. Behavioral results showed that the recognition of to-be-forgotten but remembered (TBF-r) was significantly greater than that of to-be-remembered and remembered (TBR-r) in the recognition test, which was the opposite result to the DF effect. Event-related potential (ERP) results showed that in the 450-660 ms (ms) of cue presentation, the F-cue of the cognitive reappraisal condition (imagining the upcoming pictures to be "fake or performed by actors" to avoid or reduce the intensity of negative emotions caused by the pictures) elicited more positive late positive potential (LPP) than passive viewing (participants watched freely and paid attention to the characters, scenes, and other details in the picture). This indicated that cognitive reappraisal required stronger inhibition than passive viewing for the to-be- forgotten (TBF) items. In the test phase, both the TBR-r and TBF-r items in the cognitive reappraisal condition evoked more positive ERP than correctly rejected (CR) unseen items in the study phase, which induced the frontal old/new effect (P200, 160-240 ms). In addition, this study also found that the LPP amplitudes of 450-660 ms in the frontal area induced by F-cues in cognitive reappraisal were significantly negatively correlated with the LPP amplitudes of 300-3500 ms induced by cognitive reappraisal instructions, and positive waves in the frontal area were significantly positively correlated with the TBF-r behavioral results. However, these results were not observed in the passive viewing group. The above results show that cognitive reappraisal enhances the retrieval ability for TBR and TBF items, and TBF-r is associated with cognitive reappraisal in the study phase and inhibitory control of F-cues.

Age-related reductions in arousal-enhanced memory are moderated by trait emotion regulation

Emotional arousal is known to enhance episodic memory in young adults. However, compared to valence, little is known about how healthy aging impacts arousal-enhanced memory effects. Furthermore, while emotion regulation is believed to improve with age, it is unclear how individual differences in emotion regulation influence arousal-enhanced memory. In this large-scale online study, we investigated the impact of age and individual differences in emotion regulation on arousal-enhanced memory. During encoding, participants made arousal ratings about negative, neutral, and positive images, and we compared their subsequent memory of high and low-arousal images. We found the impact of emotional arousal on memory was reduced with age, especially for older adults who habitually suppress their emotions. Our findings show that arousal-related memory benefits are reduced with advancing age, and that individual differences in habitual usage of emotion regulation impact these age-related alterations.

The Relationship between Emotion Regulation (ER) and Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses

Emotion Dysregulation (ED) and Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) are two rising global issues requiring further understanding on how they are linked. This paper aims to summarize the evidence pertaining to this relationship. Five databases were systematically searched for published literature from inception until 29 March 2021 using appropriate search strategies. Each study was screened for eligibility based on the set criteria, assessed for its quality and its level of evidence was determined. The Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software program (CMA) was employed to run further analyses of the data. Twenty-one studies were included in the systematic review. Nine studies with extractable data for meta-analysis had high across-studies heterogeneity, hence subgroup analyses were performed that confirmed a significant moderate positive correlation between ED and PSU (pooled correlation coefficient, r = 0.416 (four studies, n = 1462) and r = 0.42 (three studies, n = 899), respectively) and a weak positive correlation between "expressive suppression" and PSU (pooled correlation coefficient, r = 0.14 (two studies, n = 608)). Meta-regression analysis showed a stronger correlation between ED and PSU (R² = 1.0, p = 0.0006) in the younger age group. Further studies to establish and explore the mechanisms that contribute towards the positive link between ED and PSU are required to guide in the planning of targeted interventions in addressing both issues.

Expressive suppression a mediating variable between stress and procrastination in eating behavior disorder

Eating disorders (EDs) are psychiatric illnesses in which emotions play an important role in their development and maintenance. These disorders are associated with expressive suppression, stress, and procrastination. The purpose of this work was to explain eating disorders from stress and procrastination, with expressive suppression as a mediating variable. It was attended by 918 students from three universities in Ecuador. The information was collected through four instruments: inventory of eating disorders, perceived stress scale, Tuckman procrastination scale and emotional regulation questionnaire. The data was analyzed through a mediational analysis in the Jasp program, version 15. The independent variables were: procrastination and stress, the dependent variable was risk of experiencing bulimia (REB) and the mediating variable was expressive suppression. Procrastination and stress, mediated by expressive suppression, were found to have no statistically significant effect on EBR. Procrastination has a direct effect on REB, although stress does not, and the model between expressive suppression and REB explains a good percentage of the variance.

The influence of dispositional cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression on post-retrieval and standard extinction

Individual differences in the ability to habitually regulate emotion may impact the efficacy of fear memory extinction. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between dispositional cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression with post-retrieval and standard extinction. Fear memory and extinction were measured with the recovery of skin conductance responses. We also examined the relationship between a temporal feature of electrodermal responding (half-recovery time) and each of the emotion regulation strategies. University students (N = 80) underwent a three-day fear conditioning procedure using a within-subject design consisting of acquisition on day one, post-retrieval extinction and standard extinction on day two, and recovery test on day three. Individual difference data on self-reported levels of cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, trait anxiety, and depression were collected. We did not detect a relationship between the two emotion regulation strategies measured in this study and acquisition or extinction. We found, however, that increased dispositional use of cognitive reappraisal was associated with lower spontaneous recovery to both the post-retrieval extinction and standard extinction stimulus after controlling for age, trait anxiety, and depression. There were no associations between expressive suppression and conditioned responses. We also observed patterns of faster dissipation of arousal for reappraisal and slower for suppression to the conditioned stimulus during extinction training, which may represent the unique influence of each emotion strategy on the regulation of fear. We conclude greater daily use of cognitive reappraisal, but not expressive suppression, associates with extinction retention after receiving both standard and post-retrieval extinction.

Individual Differences in Emotional Appraisal during Development: Analysis of the Role of Age, Gender, and Appraisal Accuracy

Emotional appraisal is the process by which different responses are generated from subjective assessments of different stimuli. Children and adults can react differently to the same stimulus. Emotional appraisal is crucial to define emotional processing and its consequent response rather than the properties of the stimulus itself. Age and gender modulate emotional appraisal during development. This study analyzed emotional appraisal in children aged 4 to 8-years-old. The children's emotional appraisal responses and the appraisal accuracy to images with positive, negative, and neutral valence be compared between the different age groups, and according to the gender of the participants. About the appraisal accuracy, the comparisons indicated significant differences for positive and negative images according to the age of the participants, with no differences in the appraisal accuracy of neutral images. Differences in appraisal accuracy for negative images were observed between the 4-years-old group compared to the 7- and 8-years-old group, as well as in 5-years-old participants compared to 7-years-old. Significant differences were found for the positive and negative images between girls and boys, but no differences were found for neutral images. Girls had more appraisals accuracy for positive and negative images. This work highlights the importance of analyzing individual differences associated with emotional processing at different stages of development. This interrogates research findings in which emotional appraisal is carried out considering the valence assigned by adults and highlights the need for a methodological approach that includes individual differences in the appraisal of stimuli used during development.

The Role of Presumed Head and Neck Injuries in Emotion Dysregulation Among Community Women With a History of Physical Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent among women and associated with negative outcomes, including emotion dysregulation. Limited research has examined factors that contribute to emotion dysregulation in this population. This study explores the potential influence of presumed head and neck injuries from IPV on five dimensions of emotion dysregulation. Participants were 352 community women who responded to an online survey. Results of a path analysis indicated that presumed head and neck injuries from IPV were significantly associated with lack of emotional clarity and difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviors when experiencing emotions. Findings suggest an association between presumed head and neck injuries from IPV and emotion dysregulation, underscoring the potential need for considering both neurological and psychological factors in the assessment and treatment of emotion dysregulation in this population.

Influence of suppression and reappraisal on eating-related symptoms and ruminative thinking in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

The goal of the present study was to investigate the influence of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal on eating-related symptomatology in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Secondly, on the background of theoretical models proposing a reciprocal relationship between suppression and rumination, we sought to understand whether inhibition of emotional expression also affects ruminative thinking in eating disorders. Women with AN (n = 39), BN (n = 37) and a control group (CG, n = 41) were randomly assigned to either engage in suppression or reappraisal during a sadness-eliciting film clip. Levels of drive to eat, anticipated loss of control over eating and ruminative thoughts were rated before and after the induction of emotion regulation. Induced expressive suppression led to a decrease of reported drive to eat in AN and an increase of anticipated loss of control over eating in BN. All groups responded to suppression with greater rumination, whereas no significant changes were found for reappraisal. Mediation analyses on trait questionnaires pointed to rumination as a partial mediator of the correlation between suppression and eating disorder pathology. Results are discussed in line with recent empirical research and current emotion regulation theories.

Pain Modulates Responses to Emotional Stimuli

Pain and emotion are common subjective experiences that play vital roles in daily life. Pain has been clinically confirmed to increase depressive mood. However, little is known about how pain modulates cognitive emotional judgment processing. A better understanding of this may help explain the effect of pain on the development of depressive moods. We recruited 30 adult participants to test their responses to pictures of scenes (Experiment 1) and faces (Experiment 2) that represented happy, neutral, and sad emotions, while experiencing painful (induced via topical capsaicin cream) and control (hand cream) treatments. Results showed that participants in the painful condition showed lower accuracy to emotional scene stimuli and longer reaction times to both emotional scene and face stimuli, relative to the control condition. In addition, the difference values of the reaction times between the painful and control conditions were larger for sad scenes than for happy or neutral scenes. These results suggest that pain alters attentional processing of emotional stimuli, especially with regards to sad scene stimuli, which may explain how painful stimuli affect the development of depressive moods.