Changing views of emotion regulation and neurobiological models of the mechanism of action of psychotherapy

Influential neurobiological models of the mechanism of action of psychotherapy attribute its success to increases of activity in prefrontal areas and decreases in limbic areas, interpreted as the successful and adaptive recruitment of controlled processes to achieve emotion regulation. In this article, we review the behavioral and neuroscientific evidence in support of this model and its applicability to explain the mechanism of action of psychotherapy. Neuroimaging studies of explicit emotion regulation, evidence on the neurobiological substrates of implicit emotion regulation, and meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies of the effect of psychotherapy consistently suggest that areas implicated in coding semantic representations play an important role in emotion regulation not covered by existing models based on controlled processes. We discuss the findings that implicate these same areas in supporting working memory, in encoding preferences and the prospective outcome of actions taken in rewarding or aversive contingencies, and show how these functions may be integrated into process models of emotion regulation that depend on elaborate semantic representations for their effectiveness. These alternative models also appear to be more consistent with internal accounts in the psychotherapeutic literature of how psychotherapy works.     

Emotion regulation in depression: Examining the role of cognitive processes

Sustained negative affect is a hallmark feature of depressive episodes. The ability to regulate emotional responses to negative events may therefore play a critical role in our understanding of this debilitating disorder. Individual differences in cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and interpretation may underlie difficulties in emotion regulation and numerous studies have identified cognitive biases and deficits that characterise depressed people. Few studies, however, have explicitly linked these biases to the difficulties in emotion regulation that are associated with depression. In this paper we discuss relations among cognitive processes and emotion regulation and review the depression literature to identify cognitive biases and deficits that may underlie maladaptive responses to negative events and mood states. Our review suggests that difficulties in the disengagement from negative material, memory biases, and deficits in cognitive control are frequently observed in depressive disorders and may be associated with the use of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, such as rumination. These biases may also be related to difficulties implementing strategies that are effective for non-depressed people, such as recall of mood-incongruent material and reappraisal. Our review also suggests, however, that empirical studies linking cognitive biases and emotion regulation in depression are still largely missing and would present an important goal for future research in this area.     

自动情绪调节：基于社会文化与神经科学的考量

情绪调节的以往研究大多聚焦于有意情绪调节,而日常生活中普遍存在的自动情绪调节却较少受到关注。与自动加工类似,自动情绪调节无需意识努力、注意分配及有意控制,使个体在阈下知觉中自动有效地调节情绪,根据发生在情绪反应产生之前或之后分为先行聚焦自动情绪调节和反应聚焦自动情绪调节,前者会产生相对适应良性后果,后者则会产生相对适应不良后果,来自神经科学的证据显示两者存在不同的神经基础,这与社会文化考量相一致。社会文化对塑造自动情绪调节起着重要作用,情绪调节的自动认知加工在不断重复的社会文化实践和规范中内化而成。     

Affective regulation in trichotillomania: Evidence from a large-scale internet survey

Trichotillomania (TTM), a repetitive hair-pulling disorder, is underrepresented in the clinical literature. The current project explores the relationship between affective regulation and disordered hair-pulling. Previous research suggests that cycles of emotional states are correlated with the disorder and may induce, reinforce, or otherwise contribute to hair-pulling behavior. We use anonymous internet survey responses from 1162 self-identified hair-pullers to address four questions about affective regulation in people with TTM: (1) Do hair-pullers experience greater difficulty “snapping out” of affective states than non-pullers? (2) Does difficulty with emotional control correlate with TTM severity? (3) Are subtypes identifiable based on the emotions that trigger hair-pulling behavior? (4) Does difficulty “snapping out” of an emotion predict whether that emotion triggers pulling behavior? The results showed a small-to-moderate relationship between affective regulation and problematic hair-pulling. In addition, individual patterns of emotion regulation were systematically related to emotional cues for hair-pulling as well as overall hair-pulling severity. These findings contribute to an understanding of the phenomenology of TTM and provide empirical support for treatments focused on affect regulation.     

Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: a dual-process framework

It is widely acknowledged that emotions can be regulated in an astonishing variety of ways. Most research to date has focused on explicit (effortful) forms of emotion regulation. However, there is growing research interest in implicit (automatic) forms of emotion regulation. To organise emerging findings, we present a dual-process framework that integrates explicit and implicit forms of emotion regulation, and argue that both forms of regulation are necessary for well-being. In the first section of this review, we provide a broad overview of the construct of emotion regulation, with an emphasis on explicit and implicit processes. In the second section, we focus on explicit emotion regulation, considering both neural mechanisms that are associated with these processes and their experiential and physiological consequences. In the third section, we turn to several forms of implicit emotion regulation, and integrate the burgeoning literature in this area. We conclude by outlining open questions and areas for future research.     

Explicit and implicit emotion regulation: A dual-process framework

It is widely acknowledged that emotions can be regulated in an astonishing variety of ways. Most research to date has focused on explicit (effortful) forms of emotion regulation. However, there is growing research interest in implicit (automatic) forms of emotion regulation. To organise emerging findings, we present a dual-process framework that integrates explicit and implicit forms of emotion regulation, and argue that both forms of regulation are necessary for well-being. In the first section of this review, we provide a broad overview of the construct of emotion regulation, with an emphasis on explicit and implicit processes. In the second section, we focus on explicit emotion regulation, considering both neural mechanisms that are associated with these processes and their experiential and physiological consequences. In the third section, we turn to several forms of implicit emotion regulation, and integrate the burgeoning literature in this area. We conclude by outlining open questions and areas for future research.     

Emotion Regulatory Strategies in Complicated Grief: A Systematic Review

Prolonged grief disorder, characterized by severe, persistent, and disabling grief, has recently been included in the International Classification of Diseases-11 (ICD-11). Emotional disturbances are central to such complicated grief responses. Accordingly, emotion regulation is assumed critical in the development, persistence, and treatment of complicated grief. Yet, a comprehensive review on this topic is lacking. We conducted a systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42017076061) searching PsycInfo, Web of Science, and PubMed to identify quantitative research examining relationships between emotion regulation and complicated grief. Sixty-four studies on 7,715 bereaved people were identified, focusing on a variety of emotion regulation strategies (i.e., experiential avoidance, behavioral avoidance, expressive suppression, rumination, worry, problem solving, cognitive reappraisal, positive thought, and mindfulness). Our synthesis showed strong evidence that experiential avoidance and rumination play a role in the persistence of complicated grief. More generally, surveys support positive associations between putative maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and complicated grief, and negative associations between putative adaptive emotion regulation strategies and complicated grief. Laboratory research yielded mixed results. Emotion regulation is critical in complicated grief, and in particular experiential avoidance and rumination form important targets in complicated grief treatments. We advise expanding current knowledge, by employing more advanced, intensive data collection methods and experiments across diverse samples. Increasing knowledge in this domain will improve clinical practice.     

自动情绪调节的神经机制及其可塑性

自动情绪调节无需意识决定、注意加工及有意控制, 改变着情绪轨迹。迄今为止, 研究仅限于证实其确能低耗高效地改变情绪过程, 尚未对其如何改变情绪过程进行研究。以自动情绪调节的神经机制作为研究对象具有可操作性, 可从行为和心理生理层面, 对自动情绪调节改变情绪过程的机制进行实验研究。研究问题包括：1)通过EEG技术检验自动情绪调节是否影响预备阶段行为反应倾向; 2)自动情绪调节对注意的注意觉醒、注意朝向和注意执行三个阶段的作用机制; 3)自动情绪调节对评价和反应的作用机制; 4)自动情绪调节的可塑性在脑活动上的体现。最终确定自动情绪调节的加工规律, 构建其预备-注意-评价-反应模型, 并为有效控制情绪紊乱和研究出高效的情绪调节干预方案提供理论和实证依据。     

Using an Emotion Regulation Framework to Understand the Role of Temperament and Family Processes in Risk for Adolescent Depressive Disorders

Although recent evidence implicates the importance of the family for understanding depressive disorders during adolescence, we still lack a coherent framework for understanding the way in which the myriad of developmental changes occurring within early adolescents and their family environments actually operate to increase adolescents’ vulnerability to, or to protect them from, the development of depressive disorders. In this review we propose a framework that places the mechanisms and processes of emotion regulation at the centre of these questions. We argue that emotion regulation can provide an organising rubric under which the role of various factors, such as adolescent and parent temperament and emotion regulation, and parental socialization of child emotion, as well as the interaction amongst these factors, can be understood to account for the role of the family in adolescents’ risk for depression. In particular, we posit that adolescent emotion regulation functions as a mechanism through which temperament and family processes interact to increase vulnerability to developing depression.     

Common mechanisms of executive attention underlie executive function and effortful control in children

Executive Function (EF) and Effortful Control (EC) have traditionally been viewed as distinct constructs related to cognition and temperament during development. More recently, EF and EC have been implicated in top‐down self‐regulation ‐ the goal‐directed control of cognition, emotion, and behavior. We propose that executive attention, a limited‐capacity attentional resource subserving goal‐directed cognition and behavior, is the common cognitive mechanism underlying the self‐regulatory capacities captured by EF and EC. We addressed three related questions: (a) Do behavioral ratings of EF and EC represent the same self‐regulation construct? (b) Is this self‐regulation construct explained by a common executive attention factor as measured by performance on cognitive tasks? and (c) Does the executive attention factor explain additional variance in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) problems to behavioral ratings of self‐regulation? Measures of performance on complex span, general intelligence, and response inhibition tasks were obtained from 136 preadolescent children (M = 11 years, 10 months, SD = 8 months), along with self‐ and parent‐reported EC, and parent‐reported EF, and ADHD problems. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that behavioral ratings of EF and EC measured the same self‐regulation construct. Cognitive tasks measured a common executive attention factor that significantly explained 30% of the variance in behavioral ratings of self‐regulation. Executive attention failed to significantly explain additional variance in ADHD problems beyond that explained by behavioral ratings of self‐regulation. These findings raise questions about the utility of task‐based cognitive measures in research and clinical assessment of self‐regulation and psychopathology in developmental samples.     

Language as context for the perception of emotion

In the blink of an eye, people can easily see emotion in another person's face. This fact leads many to assume that emotion perception is given and proceeds independently of conceptual processes such as language. In this paper we suggest otherwise and offer the hypothesis that language functions as a context in emotion perception. We review a variety of evidence consistent with the language-as-context view and then discuss how a linguistically relative approach to emotion perception allows for intriguing and generative questions about the extent to which language shapes the sensory processing involved in seeing emotion in another person's face.     

The Mind's Eye Mapped Onto the Brain's Matter

Research on visual mental imagery has been fueled recently by the development of new behavioral and neuroscientific techniques. This review focuses on two major topics in light of these developments. The first concerns the extent to which visual mental imagery and visual perception share common psychological and neural mechanisms; although the research findings largely support convergence between these two processes, there are data that qualify the degree of overlap between them. The second issue involves the neural substrate mediating the process of imagery generation. The data suggest a slight left-hemisphere advantage for this process, although there is considerable variability across and within subjects. There also remain many unanswered questions in this field, including what the relationship is between imagery and working memory and what representational differences, if any, exist between imagery and perception.     

Less is more? Effects of exhaustive vs. minimal emotion labelling on emotion regulation strategy planning

Previous research suggests that labelling emotions, or describing affective states using emotion words, facilitates emotion regulation. But how much labelling promotes emotion regulation? And which emotion regulation strategies does emotion labelling promote? Drawing on cognitive theories of emotion, we predicted that labelling emotions using fewer words would be less confusing and would facilitate forms of emotion regulation requiring more cognitively demanding processing of context. Participants (N?=?82) mentally immersed themselves in an emotional vignette, were randomly assigned to an exhaustive or minimal emotion labelling manipulation, and then completed an emotion regulation strategy planning task. Minimal (vs. exhaustive) emotion labelling promoted higher subjective emotional clarity. Furthermore, in terms of specific emotion regulation strategies, minimal emotion labelling prompted more plans for problem solving and marginally more plans for reappraisal, but did not affect plans for behavioural activation or social support seeking. We discuss implications for the cognitive mechanisms supporting the generation of emotion regulation strategies.     

Emotion regulation,autobiographical memories and life narratives

Few studies have examined the relationships between emotion regulation, autobiographical memory and autobiographical narrative despite evidence that suggests that these constructs are linked. The lack of research is likely ascribed to the specificity of the construct of emotion regulation. The present review examines this area of investigation and indicates two directions for the research: first, emotion regulation is considered to be an effect of autobiographical narratives; thus, individuals engage in the construction of a life story to regulate emotions. Second, emotion regulation is an ability that improves the processes of encoding and retrieving memories. The results of this research are presented, and the potential developments are discussed in terms of the relations among these three constructs.     

Trait self-control and beliefs about the utility of emotions for initiatory and inhibitory self-control

How do people with high trait self-control achieve their success? This research aimed to investigate beliefs about emotion utility as a potential mechanism. Specifically, because beliefs about the utility of emotions predict emotion regulation and successful performance, we investigate the hypothesis that trait self-control influences beliefs about the utility of emotions for self-control. Two preregistered studies examined whether beliefs about the utility of emotions in everyday self-control situations varied depending on the person (trait self-control) and the situation (initiatory or inhibitory self-control). Our key finding was that people considered positive emotions more useful for self-control than negative emotions. This effect was also moderated by situational and individual factors, such that positive emotions were considered especially useful by participants with high trait self-control and in situations requiring initiatory self-control (with the opposite effect for negative emotions). This research suggests a potential role for instrumental emotion regulation in self-control success.     

Emotion Regulation and Stress

This paper examines the similarities and differences between emotion regulation and stress coping and reviews research that suggests that the association between emotion regulation and stress may be explained by the common neural structures. Developmental changes related to emotion regulation and stress are also discussed. Overall, the research suggests that individuals vary in their ability to regulate emotions and cope with stress, and these abilities may differ across age. Little is known, however, about the factors that influence individual differences in emotion regulation and stress coping. We suggest that behavioral genetic designs may be an important avenue for future research. Such research would indicate the extent to which variation in emotion regulation and stress are due to genetic and/or environmental influences and further the extent to which common genetic and/or environmental factors explain the links between emotion regulation and stress.     

Emotion in Schizophrenia: Where Feeling Meets Thinking

Our understanding of the nature of emotional difficulties in schizophrenia has been greatly enhanced by translational research over the past two decades. By incorporating methods and theories from affective science, researchers have been able to discover that people with schizophrenia exhibit very few outward displays of emotion but report experiencing strong feelings in the presence of emotionally evocative stimuli or events. Recent behavioral, psychophysiological, and brain imaging research has pointed to the importance of considering the time course of emotion in schizophrenia. This work has shown that people with schizophrenia have the ability to experience emotion in the moment; however, they appear to have difficulties when anticipating future pleasurable experiences, and this perhaps affects their motivation to have such experiences. While advancements in our understanding of emotional experience and expression in individuals with schizophrenia have been made, these developments have led to a new collection of research questions directed at understanding the time course of emotion in schizophrenia, including the role of memory and anticipation in motivated behavior, translating laboratory findings to the development of new assessment tools and new treatments targeting emotional impairments in people with this disorder.     

Emotion processing and regulation in women with morbid obesity who apply for bariatric surgery

Emotional eating, the tendency to eat when experiencing negative affect, is prevalent in morbid obesity and may indicate that ways to deal with emotions are disturbed. Our aim was to compare emotion processing and regulation between 102 women with morbid obesity who apply for bariatric surgery and 102 women from the general population (control group) and to examine in the group with morbid obesity the association of emotion processing and regulation with emotional eating. The group with morbid obesity reported higher scores on difficulty identifying feelings (alexithymia, p?=?0.002) and suppression of emotions (p?=?0.003) than the control group. In the women with morbid obesity, more negative affect and a higher difficulty identifying feelings were correlated with more emotional eating (r?=?0.36 and r?=?0.35, p?<?0.001). Our study suggests that negative emotions and unhealthy emotion processing may play a role in emotional eating, and it indicates the possible relevance of emotion processing and emotional regulation as initiating or perpetuating mechanisms in morbid obesity.     

Are Specific Emotion Regulation Strategies Differentially Associated with Posttraumatic Growth Versus Stress?

Extremely few studies have examined emotion regulation strategies as predictors of posttraumatic growth (PTG). This study aimed to examine several specific emotion regulation strategies, along with meaning making, as predictors of PTG, as opposed to posttraumatic distress. Participants were 107 adult women who had experienced a very stressful or traumatic event within the past 3 years and completed questionnaires measuring emotion regulation, meaning making, distress, and PTG. Emotion suppression positively predicted distress, but not PTG. Meaning making positively predicted PTG and negatively predicted distress. Bootstrapped mediation models showed that emotional processing has a significant indirect effect on PTG and distress through its effect on meaning making. Results indicate that researchers should pay closer attention to emotional processes involved in etiological models of PTG. It might also be helpful to examine specific emotion regulation strategies, as these can point to ways to help people navigate recovery from trauma.     

Metaphor and music emotion: Ancient views and future directions

Music is often described in terms of emotion. This notion is supported by empirical evidence showing that engaging with music is associated with subjective feelings, and with objectively measurable responses at the behavioural, physiological, and neural level. Some accounts, however, reject the idea that music may directly induce emotions. For example, the ‘paradox of negative emotion’, whereby music described in negative terms is experienced as enjoyable, suggests that music might move the listener through indirect mechanisms in which the emotional experience elicited by music does not always coincide with the emotional label attributed to it.Here we discuss the role of metaphor as a potential mediator in these mechanisms. Drawing on musicological, philosophical, and neuroscientific literature, we suggest that metaphor acts at key stages along and between physical, biological, cognitive, and contextual processes, and propose a model of music experience in which metaphor mediates between language, emotion, and aesthetic response.