Academic literature on the topic 'Emotion regulation mechanisms'

Traditional theories of emotion have emphasised the automatic and unconscious nature of emotion generation and hence emotion regulation via antecedent and response focused strategies. Response strategies either inhibit the expression of an emotional response or modulate it via cognitive reappraisal. Antecedent strategies involve avoidance behaviour i. e. avoiding situations in which the emotional response is likely to occur. Recent evidence has now demonstrated, however, that the cognitive and emotional systems are highly interactive and that conscious attention may be necessary to generate emotion. Conscious attention can be controlled via executive functioning and the requirements of immediate goals. This evidence opens up the possibility of regulating emotions by executive functioning on-line i. e. as they occur. The aim of this thesis was to investigate on-going emotion generation and the mechanisms and processes that regulate it. A series of experiments manipulated cognitive functioning via direct instructions to Feel and Not Feel emotional responses to negative and neutral pictures and, indirectly, by manipulating cognitive resources available for processing the pictures. Participants in the latter experiments were required to maintain visual attention to the stimuli in order to rate the strength of their emotional responses to them whilst simultaneously holding in mind pictures or words requiring a subsequent same-different decision to a following item. It was believed that depleting cognitive resources could attenuate emotional responses. Results from the experiments showed that emotional responses can be attenuated by depleting cognitive resources available for processing emotional stimuli; an explanation that can explain both direct and indirect manipulations of cognitive functioning. It was not clear, however, whether emotion generation is not automatic or whether automatic processing requires some input from cognitive resources. Further research is also required to discover whether the cognitive resources required to generate emotions involve executive functioning for visual attentional processing, to maintain conscious attention for higher order processing, or for low level cognitive appraisals.

A significant proportion of the population experience adverse events in childhood. For some, the literature demonstrates that these adverse events contribute towards the later development of severe and enduring mental health problems such as psychosis and borderline personality disorder (BPD). These diagnoses are associated with poor outcomes including reduced Quality of Life (QoL). Whilst we are making progress in our understanding though the advances in theoretical models, reviews of current literature, and new research, the multi-faceted mechanisms and influence of different variables require further exploration. The first aim of this research was to ascertain if coping mechanisms were related to QoL in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The second aim was to explore whether BPD, psychosis and control populations differ in their trauma history, symptomatology (psychotic and BPD), attachment style and difficulties in emotion regulation; to assess if trauma type and severity relate to symptomatology, attachment and emotion regulation; and finally, to assess if attachment or emotion regulation influence the relationship between trauma and symptomatology. A systematic review of the literature generated 2795 studies. Nine studies met inclusion criteria for data synthesis. A quantitative questionnaire-based empirical study involved 120 adult participants (28 BPD, 29 psychoses and 63 controls). Synthesis demonstrated evidence for a small to medium positive correlation between problem-focused coping and QoL. Between group differences were found for all variables and trauma correlated with all variables. Only emotion regulation mediated the influence of trauma on both BPD and psychotic symptomatology. More research is required for conclusions to be determined about how coping relates to QoL in schizophrenia. The empirical results evidence the necessity of further research and development towards multifactorial models which incorporate the complex interacting influences of trauma, attachment and emotion regulation. Models should be integrative and be applied beyond diagnostic boundaries to best promote recovery.

This thesis explored the feasibility and efficacy of individual emotion-focused therapy for binge-eating disorder, and the role of beliefs about emotions and emotional expressivity as potential mechanisms of change. The unique findings of this research will assist clinicians and patients by providing another treatment option for binge-eating disorder, which is important given mounting evidence of the comparatively high prevalence and clinical significance, and the paucity of proven effective treatment approaches for this condition compared to other eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

What does it mean to be an emotion researcher? First of all, having no idea of what the object of study is. Indeed, there is still no general agreement about the definition of emotion, a vague concept that changes depending on the theoretical approach of each researcher. Given the important role they play in our lives influencing thoughts, behaviors, and social experiences, emotions have increasingly drawn the attention of several researchers in different domains. Specifically, the assumption that we are not slaves of our own emotions, but we can actively change them, has fostered a growing interest in emotion regulation. The field of affective neuroscience highlights the importance of integrating different methodological approaches (e.g., neuroimaging techniques, computational modeling, machine learning) to unveil the psychophysiological mechanisms and neural bases of emotional processes, providing insights about their impairments in mental disorders and the development of more accurate treatments. In light of this, in this thesis I will investigate the neural bases of emotion regulation, considering both its adaptive and detrimental aspects. The goal of the first part is to trace neurophysiological and brain structural representations of emotion regulation. In the second part, this construct will be explored by addressing its less adaptive counterparts, looking for morphometric evidence of emotion dysregulation. In the first study (Study I), I will investigate whether regulating emotions can leave a long-lasting trace in the brain, such as a neurophysiological ‘signature’ in the oscillatory activity, recording EEG signal at rest before and after applying an emotion regulation strategy. After exploring the physiological characterization of emotion regulation, the second study (Study II) will provide a morphometric representation of this process. A supervised machine-learning algorithm, namely Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis (MVPA), will be applied on MRI images to identify structural networks predicting the use of specific cognitive strategies to regulate emotions. Studying mental disorders characterized by emotional difficulties can give us a direct window into neural mechanisms involved in emotion regulation. To address this issue, I will capitalize on Source-based Morphometry (SBM), a whole-brain multivariate approach to structural images based on Independent Component Analysis, a form of unsupervised machine learning to separate independent sources from a mixed-signal. In the third study (Study III), I will track down the neurostructural markers of emotion dysregulation focusing on Borderline Personality Disorder, whose core feature is dysfunctional emotion regulation, as compared to patients with Bipolar Disorder more characterized by mood disturbances and impulsive behavior. Along with emotions, the ability to control impulses can be dysregulated as well, representing a problematic symptom in many affective disorders. The fourth study (Study IV) will provide evidence of the neural bases of impulses dysregulation, investigating morphometric features of Bipolar Disorder. I will combine both subjective (self-report assessing impulsivity) and objective (MRI) measures, in order to gain a more comprehensive picture of this multifaceted dimension. These studies will be able to shed new light on emotion regulation processes, providing a wider overview of the underlying functional and dysfunctional mechanisms, thanks to the combination of neuroimaging techniques and subjective measures. According to a brain-behavioral approach, this will lead to build a model that can help to increase both scientific knowledge and everyday well-being.

Decades of research suggest that talking on a cell phone interferes with driving performance, but the underlying mechanisms of this interference remain poorly understood. Driving and cell phone research often generalizes easy, novice laboratory tasks to the well practiced task of driving, and it frequently ignores important factors like emotion in tasks used to represent cell phone conversation. This experiment sought to address these issues. Participants performed a tracking task and two verbal tasks over 7 one-hour sessions. At some times the tasks were performed individually, and at others the tracking task was performed concurrently with one of the verbal tasks. Participants watched an anger-inducing film clip at the beginning of the 7th session and were instructed to either down-regulate or maintain that anger. Results challenged the validity of generalizing easy novice task performance to driving performance.

Aggression and violence are social behaviors that exact a significant toll on human societies. Individuals with aggressive tendencies display deficits in effortful control, particularly in affectively charged situations. However, not all individuals with poor effortful control are aggressive. This study uses event-related potentials (ERPs) to decompose the chronology of cognitive functions underlying the link between effortful control and aggression. Specifically, this study investigates which ERPs moderate the effortful control - aggression association. We examined three successive ERP components (P2, N2 and P3) for stimuli that required effortful control. Results indicated that N2 activation, but not P2 or P3 activation, moderated the relationship between effortful control and aggression. These effects were present in negative and neutral contexts. This moderating effect was consistent with previous studies linking neural processing efficiency with reduced activation during cognitive control tasks. Our results suggest that efficient cognitive processing moderates the association between effortful control and aggression.

Achtsamkeit wird mit vielen positiven Effekten für das psychische Wohlbefinden assoziiert, wobei Fähigkeiten wie Emotionsregulation (ER) und soziale Kognition (SC) zu den wichtigsten Mechanismen gehören. In der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit wurde die Beziehung zwischen Achtsamkeit, ER und SC mit verschiedenen methodischen Ansätzen untersucht. In Studie I wurde mithilfe von Literatur und empirischen Modellen die Beziehung zwischen Achtsamkeit und ER ausgearbeitet und verschiedene psychologische und neurokognitive Mechanismen diskutiert. Studie II zielte darauf ab den ER-Mechanismus bei „Trait-Achtsamkeit“ zu entschlüsseln. Hier zeigte sich, dass es sowohl bei Probanden mit einer Borderline-Persönlichkeitsstörung als auch bei gesunden Teilnehmern einen mediierenden Effekt von Selbstmitgefühl gab, der Achtsamkeit mit ER-Merkmalen verband. Studie III untersuchte den Zusammenhang zwischen ER und SC mit Hilfe von Verhaltens- und Neuroimaging-Experimenten, mit Fokus auf dem Konzept der sozialen ER (die Fähigkeit, die Emotionen anderer zu modulieren). Es zeigte sich, dass bei der Regulierung der Emotionen anderer der eigene Stress reduziert wird, wobei wichtige "soziokognitive" Hirnregionen (z.B. Precuneus) an der Vermittlung dieser Effekte beteiligt sind. Studie IV untersuchte im Rahmen einer Neuroimaging-basierten randomisierten Kontrollstudie ER-Mechanismen während einer achtsamkeitsbasierten Intervention (MBI). Die Studie zeigte eine durch die MBI induzierte ER-Verhaltensplastizität im Gehirn, sowohl für die Eigen- als auch für die soziale ER. Ein Effekt im Vergleich zu SC (kognitive und emotionale Empathie) wurde nicht gezeigt. Unter Einbezug aller Ergebnisse wurde ein Modell postuliert, das den Austausch und die Regulierung von Emotionen im Kontext von sozialen Interaktionen integriert. Die Dissertation bietet neue Einblicke in die ER-Mechanismen der Achtsamkeit und beleuchtet die individuellen Determinanten sozialer Prozesse durch das Zusammenbringen von ER und SC.<br>Mindfulness, the capacity to fully attend to the present experience, has been linked to a myriad of mental health benefits, being abilities such as emotion regulation (ER) and social cognition (SC) of the main potential active mechanisms. The current doctorate thesis investigated the relationship between mindfulness and ER and SC using a range of methodological approaches from trait level individual differences to behavioral and brain mechanisms. Study one explored the relationship between mindfulness and ER by examining the diverse literature and empirical models, discussing different psychological and neuro-cognitive mechanisms. Study two intended to unravel the ER mechanism of trait mindfulness, showing in both borderline personality and healthy subjects the mediating effect of self-compassion linking mindfulness and ER traits. Study three further investigated the link between ER and SC using behavioral and neuro-imaging experiments, addressing the notion of social ER (the capacity to modulate others’ emotions). It showed that when regulating others’ emotions, an individual’s own distress is reduced, being key ‘sociocognitive’ brain regions (i.e. precuneus) engaged in mediating these effects. Study four investigated the fine-grained ER mechanisms of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI), comparing the MBI with a reading group (READ), in the context of a neuroimaging-based randomized controlled trial. This study revealed ER brain behavioral plasticity induced by the MBI, for both self and social ER. It also showed a lack of effect over SC (cognitive and emotional empathy). Articulating overall findings, a model that integrates exchanges and regulation of emotions in the context of social interactions is proposed. The dissertation offers new insights into mindfulness’ ER mechanisms, from dispositions to neuro-behavioral levels, and also sheds light onto individual level determinants of social processes, linking ER and SC.

Aims: There is now a very large research literature showing that childhood trauma has enduring consequences that can span across many areas of a child’s development. Since early emotion-regulatory processes emerge within the context of a caregiver-child relationship, disruptions in the development of emotion regulation skills are thought to be a common consequence of childhood abuse. A comprehensive investigation of this relationship would be a useful addition to the literature, given the increasing recognition of shared processes across a range of disorders and recommendations to adopt a mechanism-focused approach. This review sought to identify, summarise and critically evaluate studies that investigated the relationship between childhood abuse and emotion regulation in adults with a diagnosed mental health disorder. Method: Searches of electronic databases Embase, PsycINFO and Medline were conducted. After screening, papers relevant to the review question were examined in more detail and quality assessment ratings were completed. Results: Overall, 549 studies were identified through searches. After inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, a total of 10 studies met criteria and were included in the review. These included 1,431 participants with a variety of clinically significant mental health problems. Quality varied across studies and some frequent methodological limitations were identified. Conclusion: Findings provide evidence for a specific link between childhood abuse, particularly childhood emotional abuse, and emotion regulation difficulties. Findings also provide some evidence that emotion regulation difficulties may, in part, explain the relationship between childhood abuse and mental health difficulties later in life. However, due to the methodological issues raised and the small number of studies reviewed, it is not possible to draw firm conclusions and further investigation is needed. Recommendations are made to improve the methodological quality of future studies and to encourage consistency in research aims and methods.