scholarly journals Emotion Reactivity and Regulation in Adolescent Girls Following an Interpersonal Rejection

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Bryant Miller ◽  
Mitchell J. Prinstein ◽  
Emily Munier ◽  
Laura S. Machlin ◽  
Margaret A. Sheridan

Failures in emotion regulation, especially as a result of interpersonal stress, are implicated as transdiagnostic risk factors for psychopathology. This study examines the effects of an experimentally timed targeted interpersonal rejection on emotion reactivity and regulation in typically developing adolescent girls. Girls ( n = 33, ages 9–16 years, M = 12.47, SD = 2.20) underwent fMRI involving a widely used emotion regulation task. The emotion task involves looking at negative stimuli and using cognitive reappraisal strategies to decrease reactions to negative stimuli. Participants also engaged in a social evaluation task, which leads participants to believe a preselected peer was watching and evaluating the participant. We subsequently told participants they were rejected by this peer and examined emotion reactivity and regulation before and after this rejection. Adolescent girls evidence greater reactivity via higher self-reported emotional intensity and greater amygdala activation to negative stimuli immediately after (compared with before) the rejection. Self-reported emotional intensity differences before and after rejection were not observed during regulation trials. However, on regulation trials, girls exhibited increased prefrontal activation in areas supporting emotion regulation after compared with before the rejection. This study provides evidence that a targeted rejection increases self-report and neural markers of emotion reactivity and that girls increase prefrontal activation to regulate emotions after a targeted rejection.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison J Applebaum ◽  
Aliza A Panjwani ◽  
Kara Buda ◽  
Mia S O’Toole ◽  
Michael A Hoyt ◽  
...  

Abstract Informal caregivers (ICs) are integral to care provided to patients facing life-threatening or incurable illnesses. This responsibility causes considerable burden, as approximately one half of ICs report clinically significant symptoms of depression and/or anxiety that persist when left untreated. Psychosocial interventions containing efficacious treatment principles (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy [CBT]) show disappointing results in reducing anxiety and depression in ICs. This may reflect failure of these interventions to specifically target crucial mechanisms underlying the central feature of distress caused by the patient’s illness—notably, perseverative negative thinking (PNT). Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT) is an efficacious CBT developed to explicitly target mechanisms underlying PNT and the emotional concomitants that arise in response to stressful situations. This open trial was conducted to evaluate the acceptability and initial efficacy of ERT adapted to the experience of cancer ICs (ERT-C). Thirty-one ICs provided informed consent and completed eight weekly individual sessions of ERT-C. Participants completed self-report measures of depression and anxiety symptoms, PNT, emotion regulation deficits, and caregiver burden before and after treatment. ERT-C was well tolerated as indicated by 22 treatment completers and feedback provided in exit interviews. ICs demonstrated reduced depression and anxiety symptoms, PNT, and emotion regulation deficits with moderate to large effect sizes (Hedge’s g range: 0.36–0.92). Notably, caregiver burden was not reduced but ICs expressed more ability to confront caregiving-related challenges. Findings offer promising but preliminary support for ERT-C as a conceptual model and treatment modality for distressed cancer ICs.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Papalini S. ◽  
Michels F. ◽  
Kohn N. ◽  
Wegman J. ◽  
van Hemert S. ◽  
...  

AbstractProbiotics are microorganisms that can provide health benefits when consumed. Recent animal studies have demonstrated that probiotics can reverse gut microbiome-related alterations in anxiety and depression-like symptoms, in hormonal responses to stress, and in cognition. However, in humans, the effects of probiotics on neurocognition remain poorly understood and a causal understanding of the gut-brain link in emotion and cognition is lacking. We aimed to fill this gap by studying the effects of a probiotics intervention versus placebo on neurocognition in healthy human volunteers.We set out to investigate the effects of a multispecies probiotic (Ecologic®Barrier) on specific neurocognitive measures of emotion reactivity, emotion regulation, and cognitive control using fMRI. Critically, we also tested whether the use of probiotics can buffer against the detrimental effects of acute stress on working memory. In a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subjects intervention study, 58 healthy participants were tested twice, once before and once after 28 days of intervention with probiotics or placebo.Probiotics versus placebo did not affect emotion reactivity, emotion regulation, and cognitive control processes at brain or behavioral level, neither related self-report measures. However, relative to the placebo group, the probiotics group did show a significant stress-related increase in working memory performance after versus before supplementation (digit span backward, p=0.039, ηp2=.07). Interestingly, this change was associated with intervention-related neural changes in frontal cortex during cognitive control in the probiotics group, but not in the placebo group. Overall, our results show that neurocognitive effects of supplementation with a multispecies probiotic in healthy women become visible under challenging (stress) situations. Probiotics buffered against the detrimental effects of stress in terms of cognition, especially in those individuals with probiotics-induced changes in frontal brain regions during cognitive control.HighlightsWe ran a randomized placebo-controlled fMRI study with a multispecies probioticProbiotics did not affect neurocognitive measures of emotion and cognitive controlProbiotics did affect stress-related working memory and neural correlatesProbiotics in healthy individuals can support cognition under stress


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 1147-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hedy Kober ◽  
Jason Buhle ◽  
Jochen Weber ◽  
Kevin N Ochsner ◽  
Tor D Wager

Abstract Mindfulness training ameliorates clinical and self-report measures of depression and chronic pain, but its use as an emotion regulation strategy—in individuals who do not meditate—remains understudied. As such, whether it (i) down-regulates early affective brain processes or (ii) depends on cognitive control systems remains unclear. We exposed meditation-naïve participants to two kinds of stimuli: negative vs. neutral images and painful vs. warm temperatures. On alternating blocks, we asked participants to either react naturally or exercise mindful acceptance. Emotion regulation using mindful acceptance was associated with reductions in reported pain and negative affect, reduced amygdala responses to negative images and reduced heat-evoked responses in medial and lateral pain systems. Critically, mindful acceptance significantly reduced activity in a distributed, a priori neurologic signature that is sensitive and specific to experimentally induced pain. In addition, these changes occurred in the absence of detectable increases in prefrontal control systems. The findings support the idea that momentary mindful acceptance regulates emotional intensity by changing initial appraisals of the affective significance of stimuli, which has consequences for clinical treatment of pain and emotion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari A Lustig ◽  
Kimberly A Cote ◽  
Teena Willoughby

Abstract Study Objectives This study investigated the role of pubertal status and hormones in the association between sleep satisfaction and self-reported emotion functioning in 256 children and adolescents aged 8–15. Methods Self-report data was provided on sleep duration, sleep satisfaction, and emotion reactivity and regulation, and a saliva sample was obtained for hormone measures. A subset of children also wore an Actigraph watch to measure sleep for a week. Results Latent-class analysis revealed three classes of sleepers: Satisfied, Moderately Satisfied, and Dissatisfied. Dissatisfied sleepers reported more difficulties with emotion regulation and greater emotion reactivity than Satisfied sleepers. High difficulties with emotion regulation was associated with shorter objective sleep duration, and high emotion reactivity was associated with lower sleep efficiency. For girls, Dissatisfied sleepers reported being further through pubertal development than Satisfied sleepers. There were also significant correlations between pubertal development and shorter sleep duration and longer sleep latency in girls, and shorter and more irregular sleep in boys. Finally, pubertal development in girls was a significant moderator in the relationship between sleep satisfaction and difficulties with emotion regulation in Dissatisfied sleepers, such that being further through puberty and having unsatisfactory sleep resulted in the highest emotion regulation difficulties. Conclusions This study expands on previous literature by considering the role of sleep satisfaction and the interaction with puberty development on emotion function. Specifically, a role for pubertal development was identified in the association between unsatisfactory sleep and emotion regulation in girls.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Favre ◽  
Philipp Kanske ◽  
Haakon Engen ◽  
Tania Singer

Meditation-based mental training interventions show great benefits for physical and mental health. However, it remains unclear how different types of mental practice differentially affect emotion processing at both the neuronal and the behavioural level. In the context of the ReSource project, 332 participants underwent an fMRI scan while performing an emotion reactivity task before and after three 3-month training modules cultivating 1) attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence); 2) socio-affective skills, such as compassion (Affect); 3) socio-cognitive skills, such as theory of mind (Perspective). Only the Affect module led to a significant reduction of experienced negative affect when processing images depicting human suffering. This decrease in emotion reactivity was associated with increased activation in cognitive control and emotion-regulation regions such as lateral parietal and prefrontal brain regions. We conclude that socio-affective, but not attention- or meta-cognitive based mental training is specifically efficient to improve emotion regulation capacities when facing adversity.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Favre ◽  
Philipp Kanske ◽  
Haakon Engen ◽  
Tania Singer

Meditation-based mental training interventions show great benefits for physical and mental health. However, it remains unclear how different types of mental practice differentially affect emotion processing at both the neuronal and the behavioural level. In the context of the ReSource project, 332 participants underwent an fMRI scan while performing an emotion reactivity task before and after three 3-month training modules cultivating 1) attention and interoceptive awareness (Presence); 2) socio-affective skills, such as compassion (Affect); 3) socio-cognitive skills, such as theory of mind (Perspective). Only the Affect module led to a significant reduction of experienced negative affect when processing images depicting human suffering. This decrease in emotion reactivity was associated with increased activation in cognitive control and emotion-regulation regions such as lateral parietal and prefrontal brain regions. We conclude that socio-affective, but not attention- or meta-cognitive based mental training is specifically efficient to improve emotion regulation capacities when facing adversity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-428
Author(s):  
Jasleen Singh ◽  
Karen A. Doherty

Purpose The aim of the study was to assess how the use of a mild-gain hearing aid can affect hearing handicap, motivation, and attitudes toward hearing aids for middle-age, normal-hearing adults who do and do not self-report trouble hearing in background noise. Method A total of 20 participants (45–60 years of age) with clinically normal-hearing thresholds (< 25 dB HL) were enrolled in this study. Ten self-reported difficulty hearing in background noise, and 10 did not self-report difficulty hearing in background noise. All participants were fit with mild-gain hearing aids, bilaterally, and were asked to wear them for 2 weeks. Hearing handicap, attitudes toward hearing aids and hearing loss, and motivation to address hearing problems were evaluated before and after participants wore the hearing aids. Participants were also asked if they would consider purchasing a hearing aid before and after 2 weeks of hearing aid use. Results After wearing the hearing aids for 2 weeks, hearing handicap scores decreased for the participants who self-reported difficulty hearing in background noise. No changes in hearing handicap scores were observed for the participants who did not self-report trouble hearing in background noise. The participants who self-reported difficulty hearing in background noise also reported greater personal distress from their hearing problems, were more motivated to address their hearing problems, and had higher levels of hearing handicap compared to the participants who did not self-report trouble hearing in background noise. Only 20% (2/10) of the participants who self-reported trouble hearing in background noise reported that they would consider purchasing a hearing aid after 2 weeks of hearing aid use. Conclusions The use of mild-gain hearing aids has the potential to reduce hearing handicap for normal-hearing, middle-age adults who self-report difficulty hearing in background noise. However, this may not be the most appropriate treatment option for their current hearing problems given that only 20% of these participants would consider purchasing a hearing aid after wearing hearing aids for 2 weeks.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra J. E. Langeslag ◽  
Jan W. Van Strien

It has been suggested that emotion regulation improves with aging. Here, we investigated age differences in emotion regulation by studying modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) by emotion regulation instructions. The electroencephalogram of younger (18–26 years) and older (60–77 years) adults was recorded while they viewed neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures and while they were instructed to increase or decrease the feelings that the emotional pictures elicited. The LPP was enhanced when participants were instructed to increase their emotions. No age differences were observed in this emotion regulation effect, suggesting that emotion regulation abilities are unaffected by aging. This contradicts studies that measured emotion regulation by self-report, yet accords with studies that measured emotion regulation by means of facial expressions or psychophysiological responses. More research is needed to resolve the apparent discrepancy between subjective self-report and objective psychophysiological measures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Eschenbeck ◽  
Uwe Heim-Dreger ◽  
Denise Kerkhoff ◽  
Carl-Walter Kohlmann ◽  
Arnold Lohaus ◽  
...  

Abstract. The coping scales from the Stress and Coping Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SSKJ 3–8; Lohaus, Eschenbeck, Kohlmann, & Klein-Heßling, 2018 ) are subscales of a theoretically based and empirically validated self-report instrument for assessing, originally in the German language, the five strategies of seeking social support, problem solving, avoidant coping, palliative emotion regulation, and anger-related emotion regulation. The present study examined factorial structure, measurement invariance, and internal consistency across five different language versions: English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. The original German version was compared to each language version separately. Participants were 5,271 children and adolescents recruited from primary and secondary schools from Germany ( n = 3,177), France ( n = 329), Russia ( n = 378), the Dominican Republic ( n = 243), Ukraine ( n = 437), and several English-speaking countries such as Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, and the USA (English-speaking sample: n = 707). For the five different language versions of the SSKJ 3–8 coping questionnaire, confirmatory factor analyses showed configural as well as metric and partial scalar invariance (French) or partial metric invariance (English, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian). Internal consistency coefficients of the coping scales were also acceptable to good. Significance of the results was discussed with special emphasis on cross-cultural research on individual differences in coping.


Author(s):  
Talles Dias Orsi ◽  
Ana Lucia Ribeiro Valadares ◽  
Paula Miranda Esteves Orsi ◽  
Isabella Miranda Esteves Orsi ◽  
Alexandre Sampaio Moura

Abstract Objective To evaluate factors associated with anxiety and the effect of simulation-based training (SBT) on student anxiety, self-confidence and learning satisfaction in relation to pelvic and breast examination. Methods A longitudinal study was conducted with 4th year medical students at the Universidade José do Rosário Vellano. A 12-item, self-report questionnaire on student anxiety at performing gynecological examinations was applied before and after SBT, with answers being given on a Likert-type scale. After training, the self-confidence levels and satisfaction of the students related to the learning process were also evaluated. Results Eighty students with a mean age of 24.1 ± 4.2 years were included in the study. Of these, 62.5% were women. Pre-SBT evaluation showed that students were more anxious at performing a pelvic examination than a breast examination (2.4 ± 1.0 versus 1.7 ± 0.8, respectively; p < 0.001). The primary reason for anxiety regarding both pelvic and breast examination was fear of hurting the patient. SBT significantly reduced student anxiety (2.0 ± 0.8 versus 1.5 ± 0.5, respectively; p < 0.001). The satisfaction and self-confidence of the students were found to be high (6.8 ± 0.3 and 6.0 ± 0.9, respectively), with no difference between genders. Conclusion The use of SBT in teaching students to perform pelvic and breast examinations resulted in reduced anxiety and increased self-confidence in a group of medical students of both genders, with high levels of satisfaction in relation to the training.


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