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No prior study has examined the two most prominent response-focused regulation strategies (suppression and exaggeration) using a within-subjects design. Utilizing this design allows for a direct comparison of physiological patterns and cognitive impairment associated with such efforts. One hundred and nine participants were asked to view a series of three films, each preceded by a 10-second instructional slide which indicated the regulation strategy they were to perform (natural-watch, exaggerate, or suppress). Exaggeration was associated with increased sympathetic activation as indicated by an increase in galvanic skin conductance level (GSL) and shortened pre-ejection period (PEP). Suppression, much like the natural-watch condition, was associated with greater sympathetic withdrawal (i.e., decreased GSL, longer PEP). Both suppression and exaggeration led to reduced memory for the emotional movie, with exaggeration causing more impairment than suppression. Results suggest that exaggeration and suppression not only have very different behavioral manifestations, but physiological outcomes as well when utilized during a sad context. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Emotional well-being depends in part on affect modulation. The present study extends research on emotion regulation by assessing the physiological and cognitive effects of a novel response-focused regulation strategy, termed "expressive dissonance." Expressive dissonance refers to the incongruence between an emotional state (e.g., sadness) and a behavioral expression (e.g., a smile). Fifty-five participants watched a series of sad film clips in which they were asked to either naturally watch or express the opposite of what they were feeling. Results suggest that persons using the expressive dissonant strategies evidenced greater sympathetic arousal and performed worse on subsequent memory tasks than persons in the natural-watch conditions.

Resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was assessed among 111 adult participants. These individuals were then asked to watch a positive or negative affective film in either a natural manner or while exaggerating their facial response. Facial reactions to the film were video-recorded and subsequently rated in terms of facial affect. Participants also self-reported the valence of their emotional experience. Results from regression analyses revealed that persons with low resting RSA behaviorally evidenced a more negative facial response to the negative film under natural-watch conditions. Low RSA individuals were also less able to modulate (i.e., amplify) their facial response to the negative film. In terms of self-report measures, persons in the exaggerate condition reported more positive affect to the positive film than did those in the natural-watch condition. Results suggest that cardiac vagal control is inversely associated with negative facial expression but positively associated with facial regulation ability to negative stimuli.