Dissertations / Theses 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.
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.

Research has begun to identify recovery experiences during nonwork time as an important mechanism explaining the relationship between job characteristics and strain (Geurts & Sonnentag, 2006; Kinnunen, Feldt, Siltaloppi, Sonnentag, 2011). Corrections officers face challenges unique to their occupation (Armstrong & Griffin, 2004) that may contribute to the high levels of strain that currently characterize their occupation (i.e., short life expectancy, high suicide rates; Spinaris & Denhof, 2011; Stack & Tsoudis, 1997). Though previous research has not examined emotion regulation, recovery experiences, and coping within corrections officers, these constructs may be of particular importance to an occupation that requires employees to navigate the complex demands of managing an incarcerated population of individuals. Emotion regulation - managing one's emotions - is an important aspect of many jobs, and has been linked with employee strain, such as burnout, psychological strain, and psychosomatic complaints (Hülshege & Schewe, 2011). However, research only begun to assess nonwork recovery and its relationship with emotion regulation strategies at work, and additionally the influence of individual coping strategies has not been considered in past studies. I offered that recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, and mastery) mediated the relationship between emotion regulation at work (i.e., reappraisal and suppression) and strain (i.e., disengagement, emotional exhaustion, and psychological distress). I further offered, based on the matching hypothesis (de Jonge & Dormann, 2006), that emotion-focused coping strategies (i.e., emotional social support and venting emotions) moderated the relationships between emotion regulation, recovery experiences, and strain. To examine these hypotheses, data were collected via a survey of corrections officers in Oregon (N = 1317). Results indicated that emotion regulation at work was associated with strain, and this relationship was partially mediated by recovery experiences. The results further suggested that the coping strategies examined in this study did not appear to moderate relationships between the study variables. These findings are discussed in the context of the present sample, and implications for future research are considered.

Up to 12 percent of the population experience Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) in their lifetime, significantly impacting on quality of life. National guidance recommends Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT); however, up to 40 percent of individuals experience symptoms post-treatment, with evidence for improved efficacy with a more cognitive approach. Cognitive reappraisal of negative thinking is a cognitive strategy utilised to regulate emotion. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms are not well understood. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature was completed, in which fourteen research papers were included. Methodologies utilised were varied in terms of imaging methodology, reappraisal task and sample utilised. However, the results support previous research with evidence for altered activation across the prefrontal cortices (PFC; dorso-lateral PFC, dorso-medial PFC, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex), in addition to the inferior parietal lobe and superior temporal gyrus in SAD. This may present the neural mechanisms by which cognitive reappraisal, exerts therapeutic effect in SAD, demonstrating a neural substrate consistent with the Threat Reappraisal Mediation Hypothesis. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the PFC can improve cognitive reappraisal success in healthy adults. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the selective effects of PFC tDCS on cognitive reappraisal in adults experiencing symptoms of SAD, in comparison to active (cerebellar) and sham control groups. A secondary, exploratory aim was to investigate the effects of cerebellar tDCS on emotion recognition. Thirty-three healthy students with symptoms of social anxiety received 20-minutes of PFC, cerebellar or sham tDCS whilst completing an autobiographical social situations reappraisal task, before completing an emotion recognition task; within this multi-site, mixed, double-blind design. The main findings were that PFC and cerebellar tDCS improved cognitive reappraisal in the first trial block. Additionally, tDCS improved recognition sensitivity for happy faces and increased reaction times to angry faces. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Social Anxiety (SAD) increases in prevalence as children enter adolescence. Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are diagnosed with comorbid SAD at higher rates than these individuals are diagnosed with other clinical disorders, including depression and other anxiety disorders. However, there is little research on whether the presentation and neural underpinning of comorbid SAD within the context of ASD is the same as SAD alone. Individual and diagnostic differences exist in neural and biological mechanisms of fear conditioning. Characterization of whether neural mechanisms of fear are different within ASD with comorbid SAD and SAD alone may better inform clinical treatments. Accordingly, the present study characterizes neural responses during a fear-inducing experiment, as measured by fMRI. Fifty-seven adolescents participated in this study, with adolescents with ASD and SAD (n=17), SAD alone (n=20), and typically developing adolescents (n=20). All participants completed two fear conditioning and reversal paradigms while completing an fMRI scan. The paradigm consisted of a Social condition and Nonsocial condition. An ANOVA for fear conditioning was conducted. Results revealed significant activation in the Inferior Temporal Gyrus (ITG) during fear conditioning. No between group differences were observed, but within-group differences indicated differential modulation of the ITG in the ASD with SAD group in the Social condition compared to the Nonsocial condition. The SAD group demonstrated differential activation between conditioning stimuli in the Nonsocial condition, but not in the Social condition. Results indicate that adolescents with ASD and SAD may display different neural mechanisms for acquiring fear compared to typically developing peers. Results have potential to inform treatment approaches.
Doctor of Philosophy

Background Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is considered to be one of the most debilitating and difficult to treat mental disorders. Traditionally, studies investigating the aetiology and mechanisms associated with the development and exacerbation of BPD have relied on the use of clinical populations. As a consequence, the opportunities to understand vulnerabilities and fundamental processes that may contribute to the development and maintenance of the disorder have been limited. Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the potential interactions and mediating effects of metacognition and emotion regulation on the relationships among different forms of childhood abuse, attachment, and parental bonding with a composite of core BPD features designed to encompass major areas of personality functioning and pathological personality traits (per DSM-5 section III). Method: A non-clinical sample of 695 students in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland took part in an internet survey composed of a battery of self-report measures. This was geared to identify features associated with BPD, emotion regulation difficulties, characteristics of metacognition, adult insecure attachment, fundamental parental bonding styles and signs of childhood maltreatment. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. Results All variables of interest had a direct effect on the development of features associated with BPD. Metacognition was found to mediate the effects of all three forms of childhood abuse used in the study as well as the effects of adult insecure attachment on the development BPD related traits. Emotion regulation suppression was found to mediate the effects of sexual and physical childhood abuse (but not emotional abuse, adult insecure attachment, parental bonding indifference, or parental bonding overprotection) on the development of borderline features. In addition, the lack of emotion regulation reappraisal was found to mediate the effects of sexual abuse and adult insecure attachment (but not emotional or physical abuse, parental bonding indifference, or parental bonding overprotection) on the development of BPD related traits. Discussion These findings have important clinical and theoretical implications. The results provide support and understanding of the role of mediating mechanisms in the exacerbation and in the development of features associated with BPD. This is important because metacognition and emotion regulation may be more amenable to change than traumatic past experiences and/or deep seeded patterns of attachment. In addition, further development in this area of research has the potential to lead to better and more effective psychotherapeutic treatments for BPD.

Technological advances over the past four decades have decreased the major complications or mortality in cardiac surgery. However, a significant number of patients suffer from adverse neurological and cognitive outcomes which, in turn, remain an important cause of postoperative morbidity and are responsible for an increasing proportion of perioperative deaths. Adverse neurological and cognitive outcomes after cardiac surgery are the result of multiple preoperative and/or intraoperative factors. While demographic, biomedical, and psychological disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression) represent preoperative variables associated with postoperative adverse outcomes, intraoperative cerebral hypoperfusion, microembolization and neuroinflammation that are related to cardiopulmonary bypass also represent a major cause of impairment after surgery. Despite a growing interest in adverse psychological outcomes after cardiac surgery, the psychobiological mechanisms underlying postoperative cognitive decline have to be investigated yet. In this dissertation, four studies are described, that were meant to examine cognitive decline and depression after cardiac surgery and some psychobiological mechanisms underlying the afore-mentioned phenomena. The main aim of Experiment I was to provide further evidence about the preoperative relationships among anxiety, depression, cognitive dysfunctions and risk-stratification scores, namely the Stroke Index and European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation, in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. It was found that both the risk-stratification scores showed significant correlations with cognitive performance, whereas only the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation was significantly associated also with anxiety and depression. The main goal of Experiment II and III was to investigate the hemodynamic cerebral factors underlying cognitive decline after cardiac surgery. Experiment II was designed to examine whether cerebral hypoperfusion may represent a predictor of cognitive decline in patients undergone cardiac surgery after controlling for common demographic and biomedical risk factors. Experiment II showed that hypoperfusion in the left middle cerebral artery selectively predicted the incidence of cognitive decline after surgery, whereas blood flow velocity in the right middle cerebral artery was unrelated to postoperative cognitive decline. Hence, cardiac surgery patients with reduced left cerebral blood flow velocity preoperatively are at greater risk for postoperative cognitive decline. Left cerebral hypoperfusion may also represent an independent predictor of cognitive decline in cardiac surgery patients. Experiment III was designed to determine the effects of lateralization and type of microembolization on postoperative cognitive decline in patients who had undergone heart valve surgery. Experiment III showed that microembolization in the left middle cerebral artery significantly correlated with early and late (i.e., 3-month follow-up) postoperative cognitive decline, while microembolization in the right middle cerebral artery was unrelated to early and late cognitive decline. Moreover, an association between solid microemboli with early but not late postoperative cognitive decline was noted. In contrast, gaseous microembolization was related to both early and late cognitive decline. Given the relevant role played by depression as a risk factor for postoperative adverse clinical and cognitive outcomes, the main aim of the Experiment IV was to examine, postoperatively, whether electroencephalographic activity could reflect the influence of depression during an emotional imagery task requiring the subject being involved in a cognitive task (retrieval and imagery), which is emotionally laden. There was no difference between groups in resting electroencephalographic activity, whereas patients with depression showed a significant reduced frontal theta power during the emotional imagery task compared to those without depression. Also, a significant correlation was selectively found between frontal theta power and emotional reappraisal. Taken together these experiments provide a better understanding of the psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying postoperative cognitive decline and depression in cardiac surgery patients. In conclusion, the present thesis suggests the need for including preoperative and postoperative evaluation of cognitive and affective status as well as objective hemodynamic and/or electroencephalographic measures to accurately predict and/or treat patient’s dysfunctional psychological outcomes after cardiac surgery
Le innovazioni tecnologiche conseguite nella seconda metà del XX secolo hanno ridotto le complicazioni maggiori e la mortalità nei pazienti sottoposti a cardiochirurgia. Nonostante gli evidenti benefici clinici nella pratica medica, un numero significativo di pazienti presenta disfunzioni neurologiche e/o psicologiche nel periodo postoperatorio che, a loro volta, sono responsabili per l’incremento della mortalità perioperatoria e della morbidità postoperatoria. Tali disfunzioni neurologiche e cognitive in seguito a cardiochirurgia sono il risultato di diversi fattori preoperatori e/o intraoperatori. Mentre le variabili demografiche, biomediche e psicologiche (tra cui ansia e depressione) rappresentano importati fattori preoperatori associati allo stato di salute postoperatorio, l’ipoperfusione cerebrale, l’embolizzazione e/o i processi neuroinfiammatori associati al bypass cardiopolmonare durante la chirurgia rappresentano fattori di rischio intraoperatori per le disfunzioni neurologiche e cognitive postoperatorie. Sebbene vi sia un sempre crescente interesse nello studio delle disfunzioni psicologiche in seguito a cardiochirurgia, i meccanismi psicobiologici sottostanti il declino cognitivo postoperatorio devono ancora essere indagati. Perciò, nella presente tesi sono descritti quattro studi che, per prima cosa, avevano lo scopo di indagare l’entità del declino cognitivo e della depressione in seguito a cardiochirurgia e, in secondo luogo, miravano ad identificare alcuni fattori di stampo psicobiologico coinvolti nel declino cognitivo e depressione postoperatori. L’Esperimento I mirava, come scopo principale, a fornire nuove evidenze circa la relazione, nel periodo preoperatorio, tra ansia, depressione, disfunzioni cognitive e punteggi di rischio biomedico (lo Stroke Index e l’European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation) in pazienti in attesa di intervento cardiochirurgico. I risultati del presente studio hanno indicato che, mentre entrambi i punteggi di rischio biomedico erano associati allo stato cognitivo preoperatorio dei pazienti cardiochirurgici, solo l’European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation teneva in considerazione anche i fattori di rischio associati all’ansia e depressione. Lo scopo principale degli Esperimenti II e III era indagare l’associazione fra fattori emodinamici cerebrali perioperatori e disfunzioni cognitive in seguito a cardiochirurgia. L’Esperimento II è stato disegnato per indagare se l’ipoperfusione cerebrale preoperatoria potesse essere un predittore di declino cognitivo postoperatorio nei pazienti sottoposti a cardiochirurgia, anche dopo aver controllato per i più comuni fattori di rischio demografici e biomedici. L’Esperimento II ha mostrato che l’incidenza del declino cognitivo si associava selettivamente all’ipoperfusione nell’arteria cerebrale media sinistra, mentre la velocità di flusso ematico nell’arteria cerebrale media destra non correlava con il declino cognitivo postoperatorio. L’ipoperfusione cerebrale sinistra, quindi, sembra rappresentare un fattore di rischio indipendente per il declino cognitivo in pazienti sottoposti a cardiochirurgia. L’Esperimento III è stato disegnato per determinare il ruolo dell’asimmetria e della natura della microembolizzazione intraoperatoria sul declino cognitivo postoperatorio in pazienti sottoposti a chirurgia valvolare. L’Esperimento III ha mostrato che la microembolizzazione intraoperatoria nell’arteria cerebrale media sinistra correlava significativamente sia con il declino cognitivo nell’immediato postoperatorio (alle dimissioni) che a distanza nel tempo (a 3 mesi dall’intervento chirurgico), mentre gli eventi embolici nell’arteria cerebrale media destra non erano associati né al declino cognitivo immediato né a distanza nel tempo. Inoltre, i microemboli solidi correlavano significativamente con il declino cognitivo immediato ma non al follow-up di 3 mesi. Al contrario, è stata riscontrata un’associazione significativa tra gli eventi microembolici gassosi ed il declino cognitivo immediato e a 3 mesi di distanza dall’intervento chirurgico. Dato il ruolo rilevante giocato dalla depressione come fattore di rischio per le disfunzioni cognitive postoperatorie, lo scopo principale dell’Esperimento IV è stato quello di indagare, nel periodo postoperatorio, se e come la depressione potesse influenzare l’attività elettroencefalografica durante un compito di imagery emozionale, il quale, a sua volta, implica sia un’elaborazione di tipo cognitivo che emozionale. Sebbene nessuna differenza tra i gruppi sia stata riscontrata nell’attività elettroencefalografica a riposo, rispetto ai controlli non depressi, si osservava nei pazienti depressi una ridotta attività theta frontale durante il compito di imagery emozionale. Inoltre, una ridotta ampiezza della theta frontale si associava selettivamente a disregolazione emozionale (ridotta capacità di reappraisal). Questi esperimenti, considerati nel loro insieme, forniscono una migliore e più approfondita comprensione dei meccanismi psicologici e fisiologici sottostanti il fenomeno del declino cognitivo e depressione postoperatori in pazienti cardiochirurgici. In conclusione, la presente tesi suggerisce la possibilità di includere sia una valutazione cognitiva e affettiva pre e postoperatoria che misure emodinamiche e/o elettroencefalografiche oggettive in grado di predire e/o facilitare il trattamento delle disfunzioni psicologiche postoperatorie nei pazienti sottoposti a cardiochirurgia

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'examiner comment les croyances sur la réalité peuvent amener à une régulation émotionnelle. Cette discussion est centrée autour de 4 études opérationnalisant la réévaluation par la fiction comme une modulation de la nature d'un stimulus affectif (en le présentant à des participants comme étant réel ou fictionnel). Elles étudient l'effet de ce mécanisme sur l'expérience émotionnelle dans sa composante phénoménologique, physiologique et neurale, ainsi que son interaction avec le Self (études 1 et 3), les fonctions exécutives (études 2 et 4) et l'intéroception (étude 4). Les résultats suggèrent que la réévaluation par la fiction est une stratégie efficace pour atténuer l'expérience émotionnelle, englobant ses aspects subjectifs et objectifs. Bien que l'émotion soit modulée par les processus de référence à soi, nos travaux suggèrent une absence d'interaction avec la fiction. Par contre, les données soulignent le rôle des capacités exécutives et intéroceptives dans l'efficience de la réévaluation par la fiction. Ces résultats sont discutés dans le contexte de leur importance pour les sciences affectives fondamentales, leurs implications cliniques, ainsi que comme nouvelles pistes pour une science du sentiment de réalité
The aim of this thesis is to examine how, and under what circumstances, beliefs about reality can lead to emotion regulation. This discussion is centred around four studies operationalising fictional reappraisal as a modulation of the nature of an affective stimulus (presenting it to participants as real or fictional). They investigated the effect of this mechanism on phenomenal, bodily and brain markers of the emotional experience, as well as its interaction with Self-related processes (studies 1 and 3), executive functions (studies 2 and 4) or interoceptive abilities (study 4). Results suggest that fictional reappraisal is an efficient strategy to down-regulate the emotional experience, encompassing the subjective and objective aspects of the emotional response. Although emotions are modulated by Self-referential processes, no interaction with fictional reappraisal was reported. Instead, the evidence suggests that executive and interoceptive skills play a role in the effectiveness of fictional reappraisal as an implicit emotion regulation strategy. These findings are discussed in the context of their importance for fundamental affective science, their clinical implications, as well as scientific leads for a science of the sense of reality

Questa tesi descrive una modalità parsimoniosa di organizzare l'ampia evidenza prodotta in questi ultimi anni nel campo della salute mentale digitale. A tal fine, viene presentato il framework DIU (D per diffusione, I per miglioramento e U per comprensione). Questo quadro teorico è applicato al campo specifico della regolazione delle emozioni (ER) per i disturbi emotivi. L’obbiettivo è quello di fornire una descrizione dell'attuale cambiamento della psicopatologia e evidenziare il ruolo della ER come meccanismo di cambiamento transdiagnostico e transteorico. A tal fine, viene fornita una revisione di tutti gli sviluppi esistenti in ciascuna delle categorie del quadro DIU. Ogni sezione propone nuovi risultati empirici che mostrano come le terapie digitali possano aiutare a migliorare l'ER nei disturbi emotivi. Per realizzare tali contributi empirici, sono stati utilizzati svariati disegni di ricerca e diverse soluzioni statistiche a seconda dei diversi contesti in cui gli studi sono stati condotti. Nel complesso, questa tesi stimola la discussione su alcuni degli attuali dibattiti nell’area della psicologia clinica e suggerisce risposte teoriche ed empiriche al fine di migliorare il campo.
This dissertation describes a way of organising parsimoniously the ample existing evidence that has been produced along these years in the field of digital mental health. For that purpose the DIU framework is presented. That is, D for dissemination, I for improvement and U for understanding. This framework is applied to the specific field of emotion regulation in emotional disorders. In that sense, it presents a description of the current psychopathological transformation in order to outline the role of emotion regulation (ER) as a transdiagnostic and transtheorical mechanism of change. A review of all the existing developments in each of the categories of the DIU framework are described. Each section presents novel empirical results that show how digital interventions may serve to improve ER in emotional disorders. These empirical contributions used a variety of research designs and statistical solutions depending on the different contexts in which the studies were conducted. Overall, this dissertation boosts the discussion concerning some of the current debates in clinical psychology and suggests theoretical and empirical answers in order to improve the field.

Questa tesi descrive una modalità parsimoniosa di organizzare l'ampia evidenza prodotta in questi ultimi anni nel campo della salute mentale digitale. A tal fine, viene presentato il framework DIU (D per diffusione, I per miglioramento e U per comprensione). Questo quadro teorico è applicato al campo specifico della regolazione delle emozioni (ER) per i disturbi emotivi. L’obbiettivo è quello di fornire una descrizione dell'attuale cambiamento della psicopatologia e evidenziare il ruolo della ER come meccanismo di cambiamento transdiagnostico e transteorico. A tal fine, viene fornita una revisione di tutti gli sviluppi esistenti in ciascuna delle categorie del quadro DIU. Ogni sezione propone nuovi risultati empirici che mostrano come le terapie digitali possano aiutare a migliorare l'ER nei disturbi emotivi. Per realizzare tali contributi empirici, sono stati utilizzati svariati disegni di ricerca e diverse soluzioni statistiche a seconda dei diversi contesti in cui gli studi sono stati condotti. Nel complesso, questa tesi stimola la discussione su alcuni degli attuali dibattiti nell’area della psicologia clinica e suggerisce risposte teoriche ed empiriche al fine di migliorare il campo.
This dissertation describes a way of organising parsimoniously the ample existing evidence that has been produced along these years in the field of digital mental health. For that purpose the DIU framework is presented. That is, D for dissemination, I for improvement and U for understanding. This framework is applied to the specific field of emotion regulation in emotional disorders. In that sense, it presents a description of the current psychopathological transformation in order to outline the role of emotion regulation (ER) as a transdiagnostic and transtheorical mechanism of change. A review of all the existing developments in each of the categories of the DIU framework are described. Each section presents novel empirical results that show how digital interventions may serve to improve ER in emotional disorders. These empirical contributions used a variety of research designs and statistical solutions depending on the different contexts in which the studies were conducted. Overall, this dissertation boosts the discussion concerning some of the current debates in clinical psychology and suggests theoretical and empirical answers in order to improve the field.

Psychology
Ph.D.
Research has supported the efficaciousness of mindfulness-based interventions on depression and general psychological well-being (Teasdale et al., 2000). Thus, researchers are beginning to examine the specific mechanisms of mindfulness's salutary effects (Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, & Freedman, 2006). As mindfulness has been increasingly linked to enhanced emotional awareness and emotion regulation (Nielsen & Kaszniak, 2006; Chambers Gullone, & Allen, 2009), the specific act of objectively labeling affective experience has been proposed as an emotion regulation mechanism of mindfulness. Research has linked emotion regulation pathways in the brain with experimental tasks of affect labeling in individuals with high trait mindfulness (Creswell, Way, Eisenberger, & Lieberman, 2007). The aim of this study was to examine affect labeling as an emotion regulation mechanism of mindfulness in the context of well-established cognitive models of depression. Specifically, the study investigated whether individuals asked to label facial stimuli with affective labels recovered from a negative mood more quickly, and with more emotional granularity, than those in a control condition. One hundred and forty-nine Temple University undergraduates completed measures of mood, emotion regulation, and cognitive style prior to a negative mood priming task and were randomly assigned to one of two labeling conditions: affect labeling or gender labeling (control). Emotion dysregulation proved to be an important predictor of affective response to the mood induction. Specifically, emotion dysregulation was positively associated with negative affect, and negatively associated with positive affect, preceding and following the mood induction. However, contrary to study hypotheses, HLM analyses indicated that speed and specificity of affective recovery did not differ across experimental condition; thus, affect labeling was not associated with more adaptive emotional regulation. In addition, cognitive styles and mindfulness failed to moderate the relationship between affect labeling and affective recovery in the expected direction. However, greater trait mindfulness was associated with less negative affective responses to the mood induction. Implications of study findings, strengths and limitations of the study, as well as future directions are discussed.
Temple University--Theses

Objective: Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been found to exhibit emotional regulation difficulties. However, much remains to be learned about the specific neural mechanisms that underlie such difficulties. This study aimed to use eye tracking to investigate the mechanisms underlying emotional regulation difficulties in individuals with PTSD. Method: A total of 87 trauma-exposed mothers (34 PTSD positive and 53 non-PTSD controls) completed an eye tracking assessment in which pupillary dilation in response to emotionally valenced stimuli was measured. The participants also completed two self-report measures of emotional regulation. Results: The PTSD group exhibited increased pupillary dilation to positively valenced stimuli compared to the trauma-exposed, non-PTSD group. In contrast, there was no difference between the two groups using self-report measures of emotional regulation. Additionally, there were no associations between self-report measures and pupillary response to emotionally valenced stimuli. Conclusion: The findings may reflect impaired parasympathetic nervous system processes in individuals with PTSD. The finding that eye tracking, but not emotional regulation questionnaires, differentiated the groups may reflect the point that self-report measures are biased by an individual's ability and willingness to respond. These findings need to be followed up with additional experiments to delineate parasympathetic and other mechanisms involved in underpinning emotional regulation difficulties in PTSD.

Objective: Emerging theory and research suggest that self-compassion promotes the practice of health behaviors, and implicates self-regulation as an explanatory factor. However, previous investigations focused only on behavior intentions or health risk behaviors, and did not investigate the role of emotions. This study expands on this research using a small-scale meta-analysis approach with our own data sets to examine the associations of self-compassion with a set of health-promoting behaviors, and test the roles of high positive affect and low negative affect as potential explanatory mechanisms. Method: Fifteen independent samples (N = 3,252) with correlations of self-compassion with the frequency of self-reported health-promoting behaviors (eating habits, exercise, sleep behaviors, and stress management) were meta-analyzed. Eight of these samples completed measures of positive and negative affect. Results: Self-compassion was positively associated with the practice of health-promoting behaviors across all 15 samples. The meta-analysis revealed a small effect size (average r = .25; p < .001) of self-compassion and health behaviors, with low variability. Tests of the indirect effects of self-compassion on health behaviors through positive and negative affect with multiple mediator analyses revealed small effects for each. Separate meta-analyses of the indirect effects (IE) were significant for positive (average IE = .08; p < .001) and negative affect (average IE = .06; p < .001), and their combined indirect effects (average IE = .15; p < .0001). Conclusion: Self-compassion may be an important quality to cultivate for promoting positive health behaviors, due in part to its association with adaptive emotions.

Os mecanismos de coping em crianças são um construto que tem sido definido e estudado de variadas formas por diferentes autores. Faz parte do conceito de autorregulação das emoções e envolve os conceitos psicológicos relacionados à competência social, habilidades e autorregulação do comportamento. A investigação não é conclusiva, existindo diversas perspetivas em relação aos mecanismos de coping tendo em conta o género e qual a relação do nível socioeconómico da família. De igual forma, a investigação aponta em diversos sentidos em relação aos mecanismos de coping e às habilidades cognitivas e sociais das crianças. A presente investigação pretende compreender se existem diferenças na forma como as crianças de quatro anos lidam com diferentes situações tendo em conta o género e o nível socioeconómico da família, tendo em consideração as suas habilidades cognitivas e sociais e o nível de escolaridade dos pais. Os nossos participantes são crianças de quatro anos de idade que frequentam uma creche em Miami no estado da Florida nos Estados Unidos da América. O material usado foi o Ages and Stages Questionnaire, o Ages and Stages Social emotional Questionnaire, o Voluntary Prekindergaraten Assessment, as Coping Cards, o Socio-Demographic Questionnaire e Emotions with Emojis Lesson. Quanto ao procedimento foram entregues os consentimentos informados aos pais e explicado os procedimentos. Logo a seguir a devolução dos consentimentos informados, foram aplicadas as provas e questionários as crianças e analisado os resultados. Os resultados deste estudo não demonstram diferenças de género estatisticamente significativas nos mecanismos de coping que as crianças usam. Isto pode ser devido a ferramenta utilizada ou a idade da amostra. Investigações futuras poderão focar-se na construção de uma ferramenta de avaliação adaptada para a população específica deste projeto. Existem diferenças significativas positivas entre os resultados do VPK Oral Language assessment e o coping focado nas emoções e uma correlação negativa entre o VPK Oral Language assessment e o coping focado nos problemas. A par, o coping como construto, deverá ser operacionalizado para incluir os conceitos de emoção e coping focado no problema, assim como estratégias de abordagem e evitamento.
Coping mechanisms in children is a construct that has been defined and studied several ways by different authors. It is part of the concept of self-regulation of emotions and it involves the complex psychological concepts related to social competence, skills and behavior management. There are mixed findings regarding the mechanisms children use in coping with regards to gender and with regards to the family’s social-economic status. There are also mixed findings regarding coping mechanisms and children’s cognitive and social abilities. Most studies only include children in middle childhood or the ages after preschool and before adolescence. The few studies that have included preschool age children have done so for the 5 and six year olds but minimal attention has been paid to four year olds and how they cope. The studies have also been done using a variety of tools, but no one has had consistent results regarding problem or emotion focused coping. This research project tried to answer if there are differences in the way four year old children cope taking into consideration their gender, cognitive and social abilities and their parents’ level of schooling. It used the Age and Stages questionnaire, the Ages and Stages Social Emotional questionnaire, the Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Assessment tool, a socio-demographic questionnaire and the Coping Cards tool. Results of this project have yielded no statistically significant differences in coping mechanisms children use. This could be due to the fact that the instrument to assess coping strategy was created for a culturally, linguistically and socio-economic population different than the one used in this project. Future research needs to be focused in creating an assessment tool tailored for this project’s specific population. There is a statistically significant positive correlation between the VPK Oral Language scores and children’s emotion focused coping. There is also a statistically significant negative correlation between the VPK Oral Language scores and children’s problem focused coping. Furthermore, the construct of coping needs to be operationalized to include the concepts of emotion and problem focused coping, and approach and avoidance strategies.

The general aim of the present dissertation was to investigate the association between childhood neglect experiences and psychological well-being in young adults using an “individual by context” framework (Cicchetti, 1993; Rutter, 2014; Sameroff, 2014), understanding the individual and contextual characteristics that amplify or attenuate the response to childhood neglect experiences and contribute to young adulthood well-being. There is consistent evidence for consequences of the childhood maltreatment and neglect in terms of psychopathology (Comacchio et al., 2019; Vonderlin et al., 2018), but there is more to learn about how this form of early adversity affects later psychological health and well-being (Greenfield & Marks, 2010; Kia-Keating et al., 2011). A growing body of research indicates variability in psychological functioning following trauma, with some individuals exhibiting substantial psychopathology (Humphreys et al., 2020) and displaying a particularly low level of quality of life (Weber et al., 2016), and others appearing relatively unaffected (e.g., Cicchetti, 2010; McNally, 2003), nor necessarily developing psychiatric disorders. Therefore, studying the association between childhood neglect experiences and adult psychological well-being is important to analyse the processes of adaptation and to guide the development of treatment and prevention programs (Guterman, 2004; Herrenkohl, 2011; Klika & Herrenkohl, 2013). In particular, the dissertation attempts to understand the interplay between specific dimensions of childhood emotional neglect (e.g., severity), individual characteristics (e.g., emotional characteristics and environmental sensitivity trait), and contextual environments (e.g., family, community and friends as supportive and enriching context factors) in order to understand pathways of adults’ adaptation and psychological well-being after neglectful experiences during childhood. Overall, the thesis is composed by four studies which covering the following main issues: 1) the multi-dimensional measurement of the childhood maltreatment construct; 2) the magnitude of the association between childhood neglect forms and well-being in adulthood; 3) the mediational role of emotional mechanisms involved in the association between childhood emotional neglect severity and psychological well-being; 4) the moderation role of the individual trait of sensory processing sensitivity and contextual resilience factors in the association between childhood emotional neglect and adults’ psychological well-being. In particular, the First Chapter focused on the psychometric definition of the childhood maltreatment construct. The study has the general aim of analyzing the psychometric properties of the revised version of Childhood Trauma Questionnaire including the Witnessed Family Violence construct in a sample of 733 Italian university students (86,2% females) (M age=19,75; SD=1,76). We have identified the second-order structure as the most appropriate model to define the factorial structure of the revised CTQ scale in the Italian context. The high-ordered construct of childhood maltreatment resulted defined by the 6 specific forms that are: witnessed family violence, emotional neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect. In the second, third and fourth chapters we decided to focus our attention on childhood neglect, which is the forms of childhood maltreatment with the highest prevalence (Clément et al., 2016; Stoltenborgh et al., 2013; Vanderminden et al., 2019). Although childhood neglect is the most prevalent form and involves also, but not only, chronic and severe situations, remains the form of childhood maltreatment that has received the least attention among researchers (Mennen et al., 2010; Stoltenborgh et al., 2013). This is because, over the years, empirical studies on the topic have focused much more attention on the more direct forms of sexual and physical abuse. In particular, in the Second Chapter we presented a systematic review and meta-analysis about the association between childhood neglect experiences and well-being in adolescence and adulthood, evaluating how this can vary according to the forms emotional, physical, and in relation to the age of participants. The current study was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & PRISMA Group, 2009) across five databases (Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC), from 1930 to October 2021. Starting from 5116 articles, we excluded duplicates from subsequent searches and settled on 2286 articles. By reviewing the titles and abstracts, and following exclusion criteria, we omitted another 2158 articles. The full text articles assessed for eligibility were 128. 106 articles were further excluded according to exclusion criteria. Finally, 27 effects were included in the meta-analysis, resulting from 16 articles. The meta-analysis showed a negative medium effect size d = - 0.51, (95% CI [- 0.62, - 0.41]), p < .001 meaning that the more a person suffered of neglect the less he/she perceived well-being. Findings revealed the moderator role of age (QM = 18.84, p < 0.001), showing that young adults report stronger effect size (d = - 0.69, p < 0.001) as compared to studies with adults (d = -0.34, p < 0.001). Besides, results showed that emotional neglect seems to have a higher impact on well-being (d = - 0.6, p < 0.05) than physical (d = - 0.51, p = 0.1) or childhood neglect (d = - 0.35, p < 0.01). In the Third Chapter we presented a mediational study. Starting from the findings of the systematic review and meta-analysis, we decided to focus on the emotional neglect form, in order to better understand the processes involved in the association between emotional neglect and psychological well-being. In particular, the study analysed the role of individual differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between emotional neglect and relational well-being, considering the severity level of these traumatic childhood experiences. We think crucial considering neglect severity rather than simply dichotomizing samples into neglected and non-neglected when examining the impact of these experiences on development, health and well-being. This because the processes involved for those who have experienced neglect at a severe level are different from those who have experienced low levels of such experiences. Furthermore, the current study was aimed to understand whether the results are uniquely associated with emotional neglect experiences, controlling for multi-type maltreatment experiences. Participants were 375 Italian university students (84% females) (age: M=19.87; SD=1.92). Findings underlined that reduced self-awareness and lack of emotional confidence are the core mechanisms of emotion regulation that specifically mediate the relationship between childhood emotional neglect experiences and low levels of relational well-being in young adulthood. However, they act differently with respect to the levels of severity of such experiences. Emotional confidence is the most compromised mechanism among those who have experienced low levels of emotional neglect and emotional awareness is the most compromised mechanism among those who have experienced more severe levels of these traumatic experiences. In the Fourth chapter we presented a moderation study. Specifically, the study aims to investigate the moderating role of environmental sensitivity and contextual resilience in the association between childhood emotional neglect and psychological well-being in 737 university students (M=19.81; SD=1.91, 87% female). Results provided support for a three-way interaction model, with environmental sensitivity and contextual resilience moderating the impact of childhood emotional neglect on relational well-being in young adulthood (B = .37, SE = .11, p< .001). Among those who experienced severe levels of childhood emotional neglect, young adults high in environmental sensitivity were more susceptible to the positive impact of supportive contexts, presenting higher levels of relational well-being compared to those low in environmental sensitivity. In the Final chapter we discuss about the main results, strengths and limits of the four studies and we will discuss implications and future directions.

Growing bodies of research suggests associations between regular physical activity (PA) and emotional health. One promising mechanism of this association is a cognitive process called cognitive control. Emerging evidence links regular PA to better cognitive control in young adult populations (e.g., Themanson, Pontifex & Hillman, 2008; Winneke et al., 2011). However, almost no research has examined associations between regular PA and cognitive control task performance with emotionally-charged stimuli. Such tasks have the potential to help detect cognitive benefits of regular PA and may more effectively elicit cognitive processes related to emotional functioning than do emotionally-neutral tasks. The current study investigated whether cognitive control is a mechanism that links regular PA and emotional functioning in young adults, particularly when emotional processing in incorporated. In other words, cognitive control, particularly in the face of emotional distractors, was expected to mediate the association between regular PA and emotional health. Participants in this study comprised 115 young adults from an undergraduate population who responded to self-report measures of PA level and emotional functioning, completed neutral and emotional cognitive control tasks, and participated in a fitness assessment. Bootstrapping to assess indirect effects revealed that contrary to hypotheses, performance on neutral and emotional cognitive control tasks did not mediate the association between PA level and emotional functioning. Regular PA was not associated with better neutral or emotional cognitive control, nor did it relate significantly to emotional functioning. Further, neither neutral nor emotional cognitive control showed a relationship with emotional functioning. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia
According to Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2007), empathic and prosocial behaviours became possible through the arising of the myelinated vagus nerve in the mammalian autonomic nervous system, which plays a major role in the regulation of heart rate variability (HRV). High-frequency (HF) component of HRV constitute an index of cardiac vagal control. This study aims to examine how perceived empathy varies as a function of sex; how heart rate (HR) varies as a function of valence of a marital interaction task and sex; and, mostly, if perceived empathy is associated with HF, since both are associated with emotion regulation. Thirty heterosexual couples aged between 22 and 62 years old participated in this study. Women scored significantly higher in several of the empathy self-report measures used. Subjects showed significantly greater HR in the negative period compared to the positive period, and no effect of sex was found. In males, significant and positive associations between some empathy measures and HF were found. These findings suggest that empathy might not only be associated with vagal regulation of HF, but also with the subjects’ visceral perception, which is more accurate in men. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.
Segundo a Teoria Polivagal (Porges, 2007), os comportamentos empáticos e pró-sociais tornaram-se possíveis aquando do surgimento do nervo vago mielinizado no sistema nervoso autónomo dos mamíferos, que desempenha um papel fundamental na regulação da variabilidade da frequência cardíaca (VFC). A componente de alta frequência (AF) da VCF constitui um índice do controlo vagal cardíaco. Este estudo pretende avaliar de que forma a empatia varia em função do sexo, de que forma a frequência cardíaca (FC) varia em função da valência de uma tarefa de interação conjugal e do sexo e, sobretudo, avaliar se a empatia está associada à componente AF, dada a associação de ambas à regulação emocional. Participaram neste estudo trinta casais com idades compreendidas entre os 22 e os 62 anos. As mulheres apresentaram scores mais elevados do que os homens em algumas medidas de empatia. Os sujeitos apresentaram FC significativamente mais elevadas no período negativo, comparativamente ao positivo, não tendo havido efeito do sexo. Nos homens, foram encontradas correlações positivas significativas entre medidas de empatia e a AF. Estes resultados sugerem que a empatia poderá estar não só associada à regulação vagal da FC, mas também à perceção visceral, que é mais precisa nos homens. Implicações destes resultados e sugestões para investigações futuras são discutidas.

博士
國立陽明大學
神經科學研究所
97
Self-regulating negative emotions associated with distress improves mental and physical well-being. Loss of the capacity creates psychopathological risk. Gonadotropic hormones play an important role in the regulation emotion connects women health and stress regulation base on the gondola hormones regulate the affective arousal response via hypothalamic-pituitary–adrenal (HPA) circuitry. The left and right anterior regions of the brain comprise two separate neural systems underlying dealing with approach and withdrawal (promotion vs. prevention) motivation, respectively. The EEG/MEG frontal asymmetry pattern appears in response to positive and negative stimuli and also fulfills regulatory functions, as well as representing the aspects of emotion. First, the study examined the interrelationship between resting frontal alpha asymmetry and human menstrual cycle. Second, the study documents behavioral evidence from the facial emotional recognition investigation. This study found that the trait/baseline alteration of frontal alpha asymmetry pattern can serve a sub-clinical correlation (or signature) for the hormonal modulation effect on dynamic brain organization across the menstrual cycle. The shift of asymmetric lateralization of PFC baseline activity pinpoints a possible emotional regulation of negative affection (Kline, Blackhart, and Williams, 2007). By using the emotional Go/NoGo task, sections 3 of this study examed the state PFC responses of different menstrual phases during fear facial stimulation. Our results identified the evoked magnetic field activity in the time window 200-300ms (M1) and 300-450ms (M2) after stimulus onset demonstrated significant interactions between hemispheric side and menstrual phase. Notably, a significant association between the anxiety score and the left PFC activation was observed in MC phase. The region of the brain used for coping with stress shifts to the opposite side during a woman's period. This change may help women cope with the hormonal maelstrom occuring in their bodies without experiecning major behavioral changes. Section 4 of this study utilized the standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography method (sLORETA) to reconstruct brain activity for analytical emotional precessing related to the fear NoGo task. The entire signaling in brain is complicated. This study displayed the subregions of PFC that are significantly related to menstruation related anxiety; including the left superior frontal/temporal gyrus (BA 6/38), left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47) and right occipital cuneus (BA 18). The study also found that females have a wide variety of emotion-regulation strategies that involving contrasting activation of the parietal-occipital/attention neuronal network across menstrual cycle. Previous studies indicated that the attention is primarily determined by the motivational significance of stimuli and refined link a probability modulation with different menstrual cycle in this current study. Our study revealed a plastic resilience of functional organization of human brain and a dynamic automaticity of inter-hemispheric synergism for possible adaptive regulation under the aversive confrontation in accordance with hormonal fluctuation during the menstrual cycle.

Chronic stress is a major problem in organisations and police are at particular risk due to regular exposure to traumatic stressors on the job. This research was initiated by the New South Wales Police Force (NSWPF) to address this problem. It focuses on the development and evaluation of resilience-training programs. Resilience training aims to equip participants with coping skills that can help them to “bounce back from adversity” and be resilient. Key research questions included: Can a brief training course enhance the long-term resilience of police recruits and prevent future psychological injuries? What is the most appropriate resilience training design? What factors are related to better outcomes for resilience training? Drawing on a broad literature review covering stress, policing, coping, emotion regulation, developmental psychopathology and occupational health psychology, we designed a resilience-training program that was universal (to be provided to all officers), preventative (designed to prevent future injuries), and targeted to address transdiagnostic factors that were related to the development of a range of stress-related pathology (especially PTSD and depression). The program was informed by an understanding of risk and protective mechanisms that shape the impact of stressors together with the literature on stress interventions. In order to reduce experiential avoidance and promote coping flexibility, the program incorporated content from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The research program involved three studies. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted with recruits at the NSWPF Academy while study 3 was conducted with 3rd year psychology students. The program design was updated between the studies to address issues that were identified, and to explore study-specific hypotheses. In line with the existing literature, in study 1 we found that the targeted mechanisms of change accounted for a large amount of variance in the mental health outcome measures indicating that the intervention was directed at important factors that serve to build resilience. However, findings of high levels of attrition, poor training engagement and poor knowledge retention demonstrated problems with training transfer. Program changes were made to address these problems in study 2, with an emphasis on motivating practice through coaching calls and a focus on stages of change. Key findings were that participants who practised the skills during the coaching period experienced significant reductions in stress, t(14) = 3.25, p < .01, PTSD symptoms, t(14) = 2.46, p < .05, and a significant increase in mindfulness, t(14) = -3.05, p < .01. Study 3 built on studies 1 and 2 with a particular focus on homework, stages of change and the replacement of coaching calls with performance aids (in the form of both a Smartphone App and traditional workbook). There were some promising findings, with improvements across time, including a reduction in experiential avoidance, t(53) = -2.01, p = .05, and increases in values progress, t(53) = 2.06, p < .05, and instrumental support , t(53) = 2.09, p < .05. The participants’ change pathway was found to significantly moderate the impact of the training program on practice amount, F(2,49) = 7.17, p < .05, anxiety, F(2, 49) = 4.04, p < .05, perceived stress, F(2,49) = 3.95, p < .05, resilience, F(2,49) = 6.05, p < .01, values progress, F(2,49) = 4.10, p < .05, with the biggest improvements in wellbeing mainly found for participants who were already in an action stage of change for stress management, followed by participants who moved into progress. While practice method was not found to impact on well-being scores, it was found to impact practice quality, t(35.11) = -2.65, p < .05. In conclusion, it appears as if a brief training course can have positive outcomes but more work needs to be done to investigate long-term resilience; the resilience training design needs to be focused on the core constructs of coping and emotion regulation, protective mechanisms and training transfer; and better outcomes are achieved when the training motivates participants to progress along the stages of change and practice the skills. While there is more work to be done the research outlined in this thesis has contributed to moving resilience training forward.

Чорна Л. Л. Вплив властивостей темпераменту на вибір механізмів психологічного захисту : кваліфікаційна робота магістра спеціальності 053 «Психологія» / наук. керівник О. М. Грединарова. Запоріжжя : ЗНУ, 2021. 84 с.
UA : Робота викладена на 84 сторінки, 3 таблиці, 5 рисунків, 4 додатка. Перелік посилань включає 64 джерела. Об’єкт дослідження – механізми психологічного захисту особистості. Тенденції швидкого розвитку сучасного життя створюють багато напружених ситуацій, які негативно впливають на людину та відображаються в її свідомості та поведінці. Для подолання емоційної напруги людина змушена більш інтенсивно використовувати засоби психологічного захисту. Психологічний захист, який формується в загальній структурі особистості у вигляді певних наборів механізмів психологічного захисту визначає суб’єктивний комфорт в усіх ситуаціях напруженості, забезпечуючи послаблення емоційної напруги. Механізми психологічного захисту використовуються особистістю для розв’язання внутрішніх та зовнішніх конфліктів, уникнення тривожності, негативних переживань та допомагають їй пристосуватися до мінливих умов середовища. Механізми психологічного захисту не є вродженими – вони формуються при соціалізації людини з дорослішанням і залежать від саморегуляції, попереднього досвіду, світогляду, темпераменту, індивідуально-психологічних особливостей та емоційної саморегуляції людини. Наукова новизна полягає у розширенні розуміння впливу емоційної саморегуляції, як регулятивгого чинника на використання механізмів психологічного захисту особистостю.
EN : The work is presented on 84 pages, 3 tables, 5 figures, 4 appendices. The list of links includes 64 sources. The object of research - the mechanisms of psychological protection of the individual. Trends in the rapid development of modern life create many tense situations that negatively affect a person and are reflected in his consciousness and behavior. To overcome emotional tension, a person is forced to use more intensive means of psychological protection. Psychological protection, which is formed in the general structure of the individual in the form of certain sets of mechanisms of psychological protection determines the subjective comfort in all situations of tension, providing relief from emotional tension. Psychological defense mechanisms are used by the individual to resolve internal and external conflicts, avoid anxiety, negative experiences and help him adapt to changing environmental conditions. Mechanisms of psychological protection are not innate - they are formed during the socialization of a person with adulthood and depend on self-regulation, previous experience, worldview, temperament, individual psychological characteristics and emotional self-regulation. Scientific novelty is to expand the understanding of the impact of emotional self-regulation as a regulatory factor in the use of mechanisms of psychological protection of the individual.

A depressão é uma das perturbações psicológicas mais prevalentes à qual tem sido dada especial atenção nos últimos anos, pela sua incidência, e custos psicossociais associados. Neste sentido, este estudo teve como principal propósito analisar a relação/papel das estruturas relacionais e da regulação emocional cognitiva na sintomatologia depressiva em estudantes universitários, considerado um grupo de risco ao desenvolvimento desta perturbação. Para a concretização deste estudo recorreu-se a instrumentos e medidas de autorresposta, nomeadamente a um Questionário Sociodemográfico, ao Questionário de Experiências em Relações Próximas – Estruturas Relacionais (ERP-ER), ao Questionário de Regulação Emocional Cognitiva (QREC) e à Escala de Ansiedade, Depressão e Stress (EADS- 21), na qual apenas se utilizou a subescala de depressão, numa amostra constituída por 246 estudantes universitários com idades compreendidas entre os 17 e os 53 anos (M=21.72). Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que as relações de vinculação ansiosa se relacionam positivamente com a sintomatologia depressiva tal como os mecanismos de regulação emocional cognitivos mal adaptativos, e que o género masculino apresentou índices de sintomatologia depressiva mais elevados comparativamente com o género feminino. A vinculação ansiosa, a culpabilização dos outros e a auto-culpabilização revelaram ser preditores significativos de sintomatologia depressiva, tendo sido a auto-culpabilização a estratégia de regulação emocional cognitiva que apresentou maior contribuição preditiva. Estes resultados, ainda que preliminares, contribuem para um melhor entendimento dos fatores que podem estar implicados em quadros depressivos.
Depression is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders to which has been given special attention in recent years, it’s incidence and associated psychosocial costs. In this study had as it’s main purpose to analyze the relationship / role of relational structures and cognitive emotion regulation in depressive symptoms in college students, considered a risk group for the development of this disorder. To achieve this study resorted to instruments and self answer measures, including a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Relationship Structure Questionnaire of the Experiences in Close Relationships - Revised (ERP-ER), the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire and (QREC) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (EADS-21), in which only used the subscale of depression in a sample of 246 college students aged 17 to 53 years (M=21.72). The results showed that the attatchment relationships anxious are positively related to depressive symptoms as the mechanisms of emotional regulation maladaptive cognitive, and that the males have higher levels of depressive symptoms compared to females. The anxious attachment, the blame others and self-blame were found to be significant predictors of depressive symptoms, having been self-blame cognitive emotion regulation strategy with the highest predictive contribution. These results, although preliminary, contribute to a better understanding of the factors that may be implicated in depressive disorders.

Les états mentaux réfèrent à la qualité de la capacité d’un individu à élaborer mentalement et à s’ouvrir à son expérience subjective dans l’ici et maintenant. Les divers états mentaux varient quant à la disponibilité des ressources représenta-tionnelles et affectives pouvant être activées afin d’organiser l’expérience vécue, ainsi que dans leur utilisation de stratégies défensives et d’autorégulation. La présente thèse avait pour objectifs 1) d’approfondir l’évaluation des états mentaux par le développement et la validation d’un instrument pratique, le Mental States Task (MST), développé afin d’évaluer différentes qualités d’états mentaux et 2) d’investiguer les propriétés psychiques et les répercussions des différents états mentaux. Le premier article avait pour but de valider le MST. La première partie de l’article est consacrée à la validation du MST dans sa version francophone, et la deuxième partie porte sur la traduction et la validation du MST dans sa version anglophone. Les résultats fournissent des indices convaincants de validité et de fidélité, ainsi qu’une valeur prédictive adéquate. Le MST semble représenter de façon conforme autant les états mentaux de bas niveau que de haut niveau selon le continuum de réflexivité. De fait, les états mentaux de bas niveau et de haut niveau ont été respectivement associés à un large spectre de construits négatifs/immatures et positifs/matures. De plus, chaque état mental évalué par le MST semble posséder des propriétés particulières relativement aux processus mentaux et émotionnels utilisés pour traiter l’expérience. Le second article avait pour objectif d’approfondir l’étude de la valeur prédictive du MST par le biais de l’évaluation des coûts psychiques engendrés par les différentes qualités d’états mentaux—coûts présumés dépendant des ressources représentationnelles disponibles et du type de stratégies de régulation utilisées. Les résultats suggèrent que les états mentaux de bas niveau génèrent des coûts énergétiques plus élevés, ayant pour répercussion d’entraîner subséquemment un effet de déplétion du moi. Inversement, les états mentaux de haut niveau engendrent de moindres coûts, protégeant contre un état subséquent de déplétion du moi. Le MST s’est avéré être un outil efficace d’évaluation des répercussions énergétiques occasionnées par les divers états mentaux.
Mental states refer to the quality of one’s capacity to mentally elaborate and open up to his/her subjective experience in the here-and-now moment. Mental states differ relatively to the availability of the representational and affective resources triggered in order to organize the experience, and in the type of defensive and self-regulatory strategies used. The aims of this thesis were 1) to deepen the evaluation of mental states through the creation and validation of a practical measure, the Mental States Task (MST), in order to evaluate differences in quality of mental states, and 2) to investigate the psychic properties and repercussions of the different mental states. The goal of the first article was to validate the MST. The first part of this article was dedicated to the validation of the French version of the MST, and the second part to the translation and validation of its English version. Results provide convincing evidence of validity and reliability, as well as an adequate predictive value with respect to a large range of related concepts, in both its French and English versions. The MST appears to well represent both low- and high-level mental states according to the reflective continuum, which were found to be linked to a large range of negative/immature and positive/mature constructs, respectively. In addition, each mental state measured by the MST appears to have particular characteristics relative to the mental and emotional processes used to deal with the experience. The purpose of the second article was to deepen the investigation of the predictive value of the MST, through the evaluation of the psychic costs generated by the different qualities of mental states—the costs presumably depending on the representational resources available and the regulatory strategies used. Results suggest that using low-level mental states generates higher energetic costs, resulting in a subsequent ego-depletion effect. Conversely, high-level mental states generate fewer costs, protecting from a subsequent ego-depletion effect. The MST appeared to be an efficient tool in the assessment of the energetic repercussions produced by the different mental sates.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
In Chapter 1, I describe social competence, task competence and self-protection in an organisational context. In Chapter 2, I review key self theories and relate them to the self-competence construct. In Chapter 3, I review the research on self-competence to show that there is a need for a construct of social competence and self-protection. I discuss the limitations of three self-competence theories: Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory, Williams and Lillibridge’s (1992) self-competence theory and Tafarodi & Swann’s (1995) self-competence/self-liking theory. In Chapter 4, I present my selfcompetence model. I raise the research questions and specify my hypotheses. In Chapter 5, I describe the construction of Social and Task Competence Scale. I present evidence of the reliability and factor structure of the Social and Task Competence Scale. I concluded that scale revisions were needed. In Chapter 6, I present evidence of the reliability, factor structure and predictive validity of the revised Social and Task Competence Scale and Self-Protection Scale. I describe the results of an experiment that investigated the interaction of task setting, social competence, task competence and selfprotection. I concluded that the measures predicted performance. In Chapter 7, I investigate the factor structure and reliability of the revised Social and Task Competence Scale and revised Self-Protection Scale. I provide evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of these measures with reliable measures of self-competence, selfesteem, self-monitoring, personality and social desirability. In Chapter 8, I investigate the factor structure and reliability of the Social and Task Competence Scale and Self-Protection Scale after final revisions and show that these measures are acceptable for use in scientific research. I present evidence of their convergent validity with a valid andreliable measure of emotional intelligence, and describe experimental results that supported the hypothesised relationships between perceived task difficulty, social competence, task competence and self-protection and task performance. In Chapter 9, I discuss the implications of my research for self-competence theory, self-regulation and self-esteem and the prediction of social and task performance in organisations.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
In Chapter 1, I describe social competence, task competence and self-protection in an organisational context. In Chapter 2, I review key self theories and relate them to the self-competence construct. In Chapter 3, I review the research on self-competence to show that there is a need for a construct of social competence and self-protection. I discuss the limitations of three self-competence theories: Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory, Williams and Lillibridge’s (1992) self-competence theory and Tafarodi & Swann’s (1995) self-competence/self-liking theory. In Chapter 4, I present my selfcompetence model. I raise the research questions and specify my hypotheses. In Chapter 5, I describe the construction of Social and Task Competence Scale. I present evidence of the reliability and factor structure of the Social and Task Competence Scale. I concluded that scale revisions were needed. In Chapter 6, I present evidence of the reliability, factor structure and predictive validity of the revised Social and Task Competence Scale and Self-Protection Scale. I describe the results of an experiment that investigated the interaction of task setting, social competence, task competence and selfprotection. I concluded that the measures predicted performance. In Chapter 7, I investigate the factor structure and reliability of the revised Social and Task Competence Scale and revised Self-Protection Scale. I provide evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of these measures with reliable measures of self-competence, selfesteem, self-monitoring, personality and social desirability. In Chapter 8, I investigate the factor structure and reliability of the Social and Task Competence Scale and Self-Protection Scale after final revisions and show that these measures are acceptable for use in scientific research. I present evidence of their convergent validity with a valid andreliable measure of emotional intelligence, and describe experimental results that supported the hypothesised relationships between perceived task difficulty, social competence, task competence and self-protection and task performance. In Chapter 9, I discuss the implications of my research for self-competence theory, self-regulation and self-esteem and the prediction of social and task performance in organisations.