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This study aimed to examine the actual effect of down-regulation on the emotional consequences in adolescents with trait anxiety. A total of 19 adolescents with high trait anxiety (HTA) and 19 with low trait anxiety (LTA) participated in the experiment. Participants were tested for their down-regulating emotion performance in the Reactivity and Regulation-Image Task. Participants' real-time physiological responses were recorded, and their emotional arousal consequence were also subjective evaluated. The effect of arousal on down-regulation of negative emotions in the HTA group was no significantly smaller than that of the LTA group. Meanwhile, the HTA group had significantly higher percent change in autonomic consequences than the LTA group during and after the task. This study suggests that adolescents with HTA could effectively down-regulate their emotional arousal. The impairment of deliberate emotion regulation of high trait anxious adolescents is not reflected in the arousal but in physiological responses, which may continue to exist after the end of the task. This study extends to actual "Online" emotion regulation, finding that HTA adolescents are sensitive on physiological level, helping explain some differences in previous findings, and provide theoretical support for future studies using physiological indicators or increasing regulation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Fear is associated with perceptual biases. People who are afraid of spiders perceive spiders as larger than people without this fear. It is yet unclear, however, whether this effect can be influenced by using implicit (non-deliberate) emotion regulation (ER) processes and explicit (deliberate) ER strategies, such as reappraisal and suppression. Method: This study examined the link between implicit and explicit ER and size estimation among women afraid of spiders. After performing an implicit ER (cognitive control) task, participants rated the size and valence of spiders, wasps and butterflies shown in pictures. Participants' tendency to use reappraisal and suppression was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results: Results showed no effect of implicit ER on size and valence ratings. A greater tendency to use reappraisal was linked to reduced negative feelings on seeing the pictures of spiders. Greater use of suppression, however, was linked to increased size estimation of the spider stimuli. Discussion: These results highlight the role of ER in perceptual biases and offer avenues for future ER-based treatments for specific phobias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents' contributions to their children's emotion regulation during adolescence has been a relatively understudied interpersonal context of development, even though parents' roles as sources of social and emotional learning persist from childhood into adolescence and the complexity of teens' lives grows during this time. This study aims to investigate the differential predictive utility of qualities and behaviors in interparental and parent–teen relationships during adolescence for predicting youths' development of intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation over a 13-year period. To assess these hypotheses, data were obtained from a longitudinal, multi-method, multi-informant study of 184 adolescents (107 Caucasian, 53 African American, and 24 mixed/other ethnicity; median family income of USD 40,000–60,000/year in 1999, equivalent to about USD 75,000–112,000/year when accounting for inflation) and their parents. The results provide support for a differential pattern of prediction; qualities of interparental relationships in early adolescence were significant predictors of young adult interpersonal emotion regulation, whereas behaviors in interparental and parent–teen relationships in late adolescence were significant predictors of both young adult positive intra- and interpersonal emotion regulation. Notably, some father-reported relationship predictors during late adolescence had unexpected relations with later intrapersonal emotion regulation. The results are discussed in terms of the helpfulness of these specific relationship factors during each part of adolescence for supporting positive intra- and interpersonal emotional regulation development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ths paper I outline my development over fifty years as a therapist, researcher and theorist. I started with empathy as a core helping process seeing it as a moment-bymoment information processing aid as well as a provision of the curative effects of human understanding. Over the years I added a focus on emotion as central to change, and proposed a number of necessary distinctions that needed to be made when working with emotion and concluded that one of the best ways to change emotion was with another emotion. In addition to my focus on moment by moment process I saw that identification of in-session experiential states and case formulation went beyond just being in the moment and helped provide more focus to an essentially phenomenologically based experiential approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk and protective factors for psychiatric illnesses are linked to distinct structural and functional changes in the brain. Further, the prevalence of these factors varies across sexes and genders, yet the distinct and joint effects of sex and gender in this context have not been extensively characterized. This suggests that risk and protective factors may map onto the brain and uniquely influence individuals across sexes and genders. Here, we review how specific risk (childhood maltreatment, the COVID-19 pandemic, experiences of racism), and protective factors (social support and psychological resilience) distinctly influence the brain across sexes and genders. We also discuss the role of sex and gender in the compounding effects of risk factors and in the interdependent influences of risk and protective factors. As such, we call on researchers to consider sex and gender when researching risk and protective factors for psychiatric illnesses, and we provide concrete recommendations on how to account for them in future research. Considering protective factors alongside risk factors in research and acknowledging sex and gender differences will enable us to establish sex- and gender-specific brain-behavior relationships. This will subsequently inform the development of targeted prevention and intervention strategies for psychiatric illnesses, which have been lacking. To achieve sex and gender equality in mental health, acknowledging and researching potential differences will lead to a better understanding of men and women, males and females, and the factors that make them more vulnerable or resilient to psychopathology. Plain English summary: Exposure to different environments and distinct lived experiences for individuals across the sexes and genders have unique effects on mental wellbeing, brain structure, and function. These differences in outcomes arise from interdependent effects of biology and socio-culture and can be challenging to separate. This review describes sex- and gender-specific effects of negative and positive environmental experiences, known as risk and protective factors. Specifically, we review current sex- and gender-specific findings for childhood maltreatment, the COVID-19 pandemic, experiences of racism, social support, and resilience. Risk and protective factors, and sex and gender have bidirectional influences, and our review outlines their dynamic, interconnected and intersectional nature. Including sex and gender as a variable of interest will enable us to capture specific effects that may have previously gone undetected. More broadly, implementing the outlined considerations will lead to more inclusive and representative research that can deliver robust findings and meaningfully propel the field forward. Highlights: Unique effects of sex and gender on brain and behavior necessitate the investigation of these factors as a variable of interest in research. Protective factors should be considered alongside risk factors for a more holistic understanding of mental wellbeing. Investigating sex and gender influences will help detect findings that would have otherwise been overlooked. Risk factors, protective factors, sex, and gender all have bidirectional influences on each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion-related disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, eating, substance and some personality disorders) include some of the most common, burdensome, and costly diseases worldwide. Central to many, if not all of these disorders, may be patterns of rigid or inflexible emotion responses. Indeed, theorists point to emotion in-flexibility as a potential cause or maintaining factor in emotion-related diseases. Despite the increasing prominence of emotion inflexibility in theories of affective disease, a comprehensive review of the developing empirical literature has not yet been conducted. Accordingly, this review will examine the three dominant lines of inquiry assessing emotion flexibility. These include: (1) the capacity to use and vary deliberate emotion regulation strategies, (2) the context sensitivity of spontaneous emotional responses, and (3) flexibility in the appraisal of emotional events and experiences. Moreover, current evidence suggests that each of these three lines of research may converge to suggest the interplay of two key biological dimensions in emotion inflexibility, threat sensitivity, and cognitive control, known to be impaired in patients with affective disorders. In short, this developing body of work suggests a path by which future research could explicate and even exploit the ties between emotion inflexibility and affective disease, contributing to the development of improved models of risk, assessment, and intervention, with broad implications for psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to clarify the association between suboptimal health status and health-related productivity loss among primary healthcare workers in China. Material and Methods: A field questionnaire survey was conducted with a multistage sampling among primary healthcare workers. The data on sub-health and health-related productivity loss were collected using the Sub-health Measurement Scale Version 1.0 and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire: General Health, respectively. Ordinary least squares regression was used to evaluate the association of the suboptimal health and health-related productivity loss. Subgroup analyses were performed by occupation (physician and nurse). Results: Front-line primary healthcare workers (N = 1709) from 31 provinces in China responded to the survey. Of all participants, 73.43% experienced suboptimal health. The status of being in physical suboptimal health (Coef. = 0.050, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.031,0.070]) and mental suboptimal health (Coef. = 0.040, p < 0.001, 95% CI = [0.020,0.059]) status exerted significant effect on the extent of health-related productivity loss among primary healthcare workers in China. Nurses in social adaptation suboptimal health status (Coef. = 0.030, p = 0.027, 95% CI = [0.003,0.057]) had significant effect on health-related productivity loss. Conclusion: The prevalence of suboptimal health is high among the respondents. Providing support for primary healthcare workers from bio-psycho-social aspects is an effective measure to promote their occupational health and improve their productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, the study aimed to investigate the relationship between work–family conflict (time-based, strain-based and behavior-based) and project manager abusive supervision in the presence of mediating mechanism and boundary condition. Time-lagged data were collected from 235 respondents working on construction projects to examine the proposed relationships by utilizing regression analysis. Findings indicated that the dimensions of work–family conflict had a positive significant relationship with abusive supervision and negative relationship with project commitment. Additionally, project commitment mediated the relationships and psychological resilience were found to alleviate the negative influence of work–family conflict on project commitment. Surprisingly, the results delineated that strain-based work–family conflict have more pronounced influence in instigating abusive supervision. This study is unique as it broadens the empirical research on work–family conflict and more particularly negative supervisor behavior in the project context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impaired executive functions (EF) have been found within various mental disorders (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders) as described in DSM-5. However, although impaired EF has been observed within several categories of mental disorders, empirical research on direct relations between EF and broader dimension of psychopathology is still scarce. Therefore, in the current investigation we examined relations between three EF performance tasks and self-reported dimensions of psychopathology (i.e., the internalizing, externalizing, and thought disorder spectra) in a combined dataset of patients with a broad range of mental disorders (N = 440). Despite previously reported results that indicate impaired EF in several categories of mental disorders, in this study no direct relations were found between EF performance tasks and self-reported broader dimensions of psychopathology. These results indicate that relations between EF and psychopathology could be more complex and non-linear in nature. We evaluate the need for integration of EF and dimensional models of psychopathology and reflect on EF as a possible transdiagnostic factor of psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This review considers the impact of deliberate emotion regulation on aggression, by integrating findings from recent emotion regulation research with a contemporary model of aggressive behavior, the General Aggression Model. First, it considers how individuals who under-regulate anger and other emotions may be more likely to behave aggressively in an attempt to repair, terminate, or avoid uncomfortable emotional states. Second, it explores how over-regulation of emotion may lead to aggressive behavior by increasing negative affect, reducing inhibitions against aggression, compromising decision making processes, diminishing social networks, increasing physiological arousal and hindering the resolution of difficult situations. Finally, it reviews three skills thought to underlie deliberate emotion regulation: emotional awareness, emotional acceptance and proficiency in a variety of emotion regulation strategies. Treatment encompassing all of these skills may improve an individual''s ability to regulate difficult emotion states more adaptively and thereby lessen aggressive behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although a great deal of research addresses the neural basis of deliberate and intentional emotion-regulation strategies, less attention has been paid to the neural mechanisms involved in implicit forms of emotion regulation. Behavioural research suggests that romantically involved participants implicitly derogate the attractiveness of alternative partners, and the present study sought to examine the neural basis of this effect. Romantically committed participants in the present study were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while indicating whether they would consider each of a series of attractive (or unattractive) opposite-sex others as a hypothetical dating partner both while under cognitive load and no cognitive load. Successful derogation of attractive others during the no cognitive load compared to the cognitive load trials corresponded with increased activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and posterior dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (pDMPFC), and decreased activation in the ventral striatum, a pattern similar to those reported in deliberate emotion-regulation studies. Activation in the VLPFC and pDMPFC was not significant in the cognitive load condition, indicating that while the derogation effect may be implicit, it nonetheless requires cognitive resources. Additionally, activation in the right VLPFC correlated with participants' level of relationship investment. These findings suggest that the RVLPFC may play a particularly important role in implicitly regulating the emotions that threaten the stability of a romantic relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Individuals frequently have to regulate their emotions, especially negative ones, to function successfully. However, deliberate emotion regulation can have significant costs for the individual. Are there less costly ways to achieve emotion regulatory goals? In two studies, we test the hypothesis that more automatic types of emotion regulation might provide the benefits of deliberate emotion regulation without the costs. Study 1 introduces a priming technique that manipulates automatic emotion regulation. Using this priming technique, we show that relative to priming emotion expression, priming emotion control leads to less anger experience in response to a laboratory anger provocation. Study 2 examines the experiential and physiological consequences of automatic emotion regulation. Results suggest that relative to priming emotion expression, priming emotion control reduces negative emotion experience without maladaptive cardiovascular responding. Together, these findings suggest that automatic emotion regulation may provide an effective means of controlling powerful negative emotions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People frequently have to control their emotions to function in life. However, mounting evidence suggests that deliberate emotion regulation often is costly. This presents a dilemma: Is it better to let emotions go or to pay the price of exerting costly control? In two studies, the authors explore whether emotion regulatory processes associated with implicit positive evaluation of emotion regulation might provide the benefits of successful emotion regulation without the costs. In Study 1, the authors introduce a measure of implicit evaluation of emotion regulation (ER-IAT). Study 2 examined whether this measure is associated with actual emotional responses to an anger provocation. It was found that greater ER-IAT scores were associated with lesser anger experience, fewer negative thoughts, lessened self-reported effortful emotion regulation, and an adaptive pattern of cardiovascular responding. These findings suggest that implicit positive evaluation of emotion regulation is associated with successful, automatic, and physiologically adaptive down-regulation of anger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mood-incongruency effects in autobiographical recall have been conceptualized as a function of the emotion regulation through which the content and the phenomenology of the autobiographical memories serve to repair negative moods. Arguing that negative mood automatically activates mnemonic emotion regulation, in the present study we examined how negative emotions guide the subsequent spontaneous and instructed recall and whether distinct phenomenological patterns are observed in mnemonic regulation of sadness and anger. After participants watched video clips for sadness, anger, or happiness, they reported first any event that comes to their mind (spontaneous recall), then an event that specifically makes them happy (instructed recall). We found the changes in the phenomenology of the reported events was different for sadness and anger groups. While more robust changes were observed for sadness earlier in the spontaneous recall with higher phenomenological ratings than the anger group, in the instructed recall the difference disappeared, suggesting for the relatively late-onset compensation in the anger group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately measuring children's emotion reactivity and regulation is important both for advancing theoretical understanding of child development and for identifying and monitoring children who have difficulties with emotional competence. Children have a uniquely important perspective on their own internal experiences of emotion reactivity and regulation that may differ from observers. However, there are few child-report measures of emotion reactivity and regulation. The goal of the present study was to develop and assess the psychometric properties of a child self-report measure of emotion reactivity and regulation (Youth Emotions Scale; YES) for elementary school-aged children. Examination of psychometric properties in a sample of 277 children (5 to 12 years old) oversampled for risk for emotional difficulties indicated good validity and reliability. Factor analyses indicated two theory-consistent factors (Reactivity and Emotion Regulation Strategies), both of which showed convergent and concurrent validity based on parent and child self-report of related constructs. This scale has both clinical and research utility, as having a brief measure of both emotion reactivity and regulation can aid clinicians and researchers in attaining relevant information without overtaxing children with multiple long measures. Future research should explore psychometric properties of the YES across different samples with different characteristics; if its validity continues to be supported, clinicians and researchers can utilize the YES to capture children's internal experiences of emotion reactivity and regulation in treatment and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Emotion regulation is an important part of optimising performance and successful goal pursuit in practice-based tasks such as making music. Musicians may regulate their own emotions during the course of their musical practice in order to improve their performance and ultimately attain their practice-related goals. The specific emotions they target may depend upon their personality traits but may also relate to the nature of their goal orientation, and the interaction between the two. This study investigates whether the emotions desired by musicians in their musical practice were dependent on their personality traits and Mastery goal orientation (the desire to master musical and technical skills). Methods: Via an online questionnaire, 421 musicians completed a personality scale and answered questions relating to their mastery practice goals. They also completed emotion scales indicating how strongly they desired to increase or decrease the intensity of specific emotions when practicing. Results: Overall, musicians preferred to up-regulate positive rather than negative emotions [paired t(420) = 58.13, p < 0.001]. Bayesian Mixed Effects models showed that personality traits affected musicians’ desire to regulate specific emotions. For example, higher levels of Agreeableness predicted greater desire to increase positive but not negative emotions, whereas Extraversion predicted greater desire to increase anger [Est. = 0.05, SE = 0.03, Odds (Est. > 0) = 43.03] but not positive emotions. The inclusion of Mastery goal orientation either amplified or mitigated these effects in several cases, and also introduced new trait-emotion relationships. Findings confirm a general hedonic principle underlying the emotions musicians desired in their musical practice. However, predicted by personality traits, musicians also sometimes sought to increase the intensity of unpleasant emotions. Discussion: These findings complement existing research that suggests that some Mastery-oriented musicians may seek an emotional state consisting of both positive and negative emotions. This and future studies on this topic may contribute to a better understanding of individual differences in emotion regulation ability as a potential aspect of individualised musical practice strategies [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptualizations and operational definitions of psychological resilience vary across resilience neuroimaging studies. Data on the neural features of resilience among healthy individuals has been scarce. Furthermore, findings from restingstate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were inconsistent across studies. This systematic review summarized resting-state fMRI findings in different modalities from various operationally defined resilience in a mentally healthy population. The PubMed and MEDLINE databases were searched. Articles that focused on resting-state fMRI in relation to resilience, and published before 2022, were targeted. Orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula and amygdala, were reported the most from the 19 included studies. Regions in emotional network was reported the most from the included studies. The involvement of regions like amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex indicated the relationships between emotional processing and resilience. No common brain regions or neural pathways were identified across studies. The emotional network appears to be studied the most in association with resilience. Matching fMRI modalities and operational definitions of resilience across studies are essential for meta-analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the emotion regulation literature, the amount of neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal led the impression that the same top-down, control-related neuralmechanisms characterize all emotion regulation strategies. However, top-down processes may coexist with more bottom-up and emotion-focused processes that partially bypass the recruitment of executive functions. A case in point is acceptance-based strategies. Method: To better understand neural commonalities and differences behind different emotion regulation processes, in the present study, we applied the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) method to perform a meta-analysis on fMRI studies investigating task-related activity of reappraisal and acceptance. Both increased and decreased brain activity was taken into account in the contrast and conjunction analysis between the two strategies. Results: Results showed increased activity in left-inferior frontal gyrus and insula for both strategies, and decreased activity in the basal ganglia for reappraisal, and decreased activity in limbic regions for acceptance. Discussion: These findings are discussed in the context of a model of common and specific neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that support and expand the previous dual-routes models. We suggest that emotion regulation may rely on a core inhibitory circuit, and on strategy-specific top-down and bottom-up processes distinct for different strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of reappraising negative events to reduce negative emotional responses has been widely acknowledged. However, most neuroimaging studies have explored the neural mechanisms of deliberate and intentional reappraisal, while little is known about the neural correlates of reappraisal that occurs outside of one's awareness. Electrophysiological studies suggest that precedent neutral descriptions could implicitly reduce neural responses to unpleasant images. To investigate the neural mechanism underlying implicit reappraisal, functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted on 25 participants while they passively viewed unpleasant images that were previously neutrally/positively or negatively described. Increased activity in prefrontal areas including the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and temporal cortex, and decreased activation in the amygdala was observed—similar to the pattern reported in deliberate emotion regulation—when unpleasant images were preceded by neutral/positive versus negative descriptions. Functional connectivity analysis revealed significant negative couplings between prefrontal regions and the amygdala. These findings suggest that implicit reappraisal recruits prefrontal regions to change semantic representations in the temporal cortex, in turn modulating the emotional response of the amygdala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to test the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between teachers' emotional labor strategies (i.e., deep acting, hiding emotions, and faking emotions) and teachers' self-efficacy (TSE). Additionally, due to a scarcity of the empirical research on teachers' stable individual differences that can explain teachers' emotion regulation and motivation, the role of teachers' dispositional affectivity (i.e., positive affectivity – PA and negative affectivity – NA) in predicting individual differences in teachers' use of emotional labor strategies and TSE was examined. A large sample of 3010 Croatian teachers (82% female) with varying years of teaching experiences (M = 15.28, SD = 10.50) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. The results showed that TSE and hiding emotions were reciprocally related to each other even after controlling for dispositional affectivity – hiding emotions at Time 2 was related to lower levels of TSE at Time 3 and vice versa. Next, PA positively predicted TSE at both Time 2 and Time 3, but negatively hiding and faking emotions at Time 2. In addition, PA positively predicted deep acting only at Time 2. In contrast, NA positively predicted surface acting at Time 2 and Time 3, and negatively TSE, but only at Time 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

P. 3, 2020, Sep 28 with permission from the author and from Elsevier via STM guidelines" The mind body medicine stress to resilience ratio One can think of overexposure to stress without sufficient resources ( I toxic stress i ) in terms of what might be called the mind body medicine ratio of stress to resilience [[39]] (See Fig. It is the threat stress of separation from any one of these 4 attachments that activates the amygdala in a turbulence of attachment uncertainty and can lead to the stress response and neurogenic neuroinflammation with eventual intolerance of this uncertainty and expulsion from the hormetic stress zone into the toxic stress zone. When mired in this chronic innate pro-inflammatory state, there will be increasing vulnerability to stress acceleration and allostatic loading that pushes the individual outside the hormetic stress zone and into toxic stress setting the stage for stress-related NCDs and viral illnesses (e.g., coronaviruses) as well as to I inflammaging i with accelerated biological aging [[34], [128]]. Mind body approaches, representing attachment solutions to life's separation challenges, join hormetic stress (mild intermittent tolerable separation stress) and healthy lifestyle approaches (sleep hygiene, exercise and low glycemic diet) in enhancing stress resilience and stress rejuvenescence. In the context of the inverted U-shaped curve, each level from mitochondria to ER to cell to brain as organ to organism to community of organisms will exemplify self-similarity in the effects of stress experienced (normal, tolerable and toxic) and the stress resilience enjoyed at each particular systems level. [Extracted from the article]

This article assesses the cool–hot executive function (EF) framework during childhood. First, conceptual analyses suggest that cool EF (cEF) is generally distinguished from hot EF (hEF). Second, both EFs can be loaded into different factors using confirmatory factor analyses. Third, the cognitive complexity of EF is similar across cEF tasks, and the cognitive complexity of cEF is similar to hEF tasks. Finally, neuroimaging analysis suggests that children activate the lateral prefrontal regions during all EF tasks. Taken together, we propose that the cool–hot framework is a useful, though not definitive way of characterizing differences in EF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a high prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its lasting impacts on individuals, particularly women, very little is known about how IPV may impact the brain. IPV is known to frequently result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this overview of literature, we examined literature related to neuroimaging in women with IPV experiences between the years 2010–2021. Literature overview A total of 17 studies were included in the review, which is organized into each imaging modality, including magnetic resonance imaging (structural, diffusion, and functional MRI), Electroencephalography (EEG), proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (pMRS), and multimodal imaging. Research has identified changes in brain regions associated with cognition, emotion, and memory. Howeverto date, it is difficult to disentangle the unique contributions of TBI and PTSD effects of IPV on the brain. Furthermore, experimental design elements differ considerably among studies. The aim is to provide an overview of existing literature to determine commonalities across studies and to identify remaining knowledge gaps and recommendations for implementing future imaging studies with individuals who experience IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional awareness supports emotion regulation. Psychologists have children "color in feelings" to assess emotional awareness, yet whether this relates to emotion regulation is unknown. The present study used a novel coloring task examining behaviors related to coloring in and dictating emotions to assess children's (N = 95) emotional awareness. Furthermore, it was tested whether performance on this task predicted emotion regulation. Children's coloring behaviors indicating physiological emotional awareness predicted better emotion regulation. Results may inform the use of emotional awareness tasks in community and clinical settings. Findings also suggest that physiological emotional awareness may be a more salient clinical target in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionFear is associated with perceptual biases. People who are afraid of spiders perceive spiders as larger than people without this fear. It is yet unclear, however, whether this effect can be influenced by using implicit (non-deliberate) emotion regulation (ER) processes and explicit (deliberate) ER strategies, such as reappraisal and suppression.MethodThis study examined the link between implicit and explicit ER and size estimation among women afraid of spiders. After performing an implicit ER (cognitive control) task, participants rated the size and valence of spiders, wasps and butterflies shown in pictures. Participants’ tendency to use reappraisal and suppression was assessed using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire.ResultsResults showed no effect of implicit ER on size and valence ratings. A greater tendency to use reappraisal was linked to reduced negative feelings on seeing the pictures of spiders. Greater use of suppression, however, was linked to increased size estimation of the spider stimuli.DiscussionThese results highlight the role of ER in perceptual biases and offer avenues for future ER-based treatments for specific phobias.

Background: Research reported prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among prisoners varies between countries, with most studies based on Western samples. The trajectory of symptoms has also been controversial. Trauma can affect prisoners' emotions and their emotional regulation tends to be maladaptive.Aims: To examine changes in PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity among prisoners in China over time and to determine whether anger and self-concealment predicts later distress.Method: In a longitudinal, prospective study, sentenced men in one prison in China were asked to complete a demographic page and several self-rating scales: the Post-traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, the General Health Questionnaire-28, the Clinical Anger Scale and the Self-Concealment Scale at baseline and at 6 and 12 months after the initial assessment.Results: More than half of the 496 participating men were diagnosed with PTSD. For those completing the scales at each evaluation, PTSD-DS scores were significantly lower at baseline than at the 6-month and 1-year assessments. No significant differences were found between the two follow-up scores. There was no significant difference in psychiatric comorbidity between the three phases. At the cross-sectional level, after controlling for age and education level, PTSD, anger and self-concealment were associated with psychiatric comorbidity. At the prospective level, anger predicted PTSD 6 months and 1 year later. Self-concealment predicted psychiatric comorbidity over time.Conclusions: Among these prisoners the prevalence of chronic PTSD was far higher than in general population estimates. Early identification of aspects of coping styles is likely to help predict disorder trajectory and inform interventions. Early signs of anger were indicative of the chronic severity of trauma reactions, while the intention to hide distress was related to other later mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affective technology offers exciting opportunities to improve road safety by catering to human emotions. Modern car interiors enable the contactless detection of user states, paving the way for a systematic promotion of safe driver behavior through emotion regulation. We review the current literature regarding the impact of emotions on driver behavior and analyze the state of emotion regulation approaches in the car. We summarize challenges for affective interaction in the form of technological hurdles and methodological considerations, as well as opportunities to improve road safety by reinstating drivers into an emotionally balanced state. The purpose of this review is to outline the community's combined knowledge for interested researchers, to provide a focussed introduction for practitioners, raise awareness for cultural aspects, and to identify future directions for affective interaction in the car. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theories propose moderate (compared to high or no) stressor exposure to promote emotion regulation capacities. More precisely, stressful situations are expected to serve as practice opportunities for cognitive reappraisal (CR), that is, the reinterpretation of a situation to alter its emotional impact. Accordingly, in this study, we expect an inverted U‐shaped relationship between exposure to daily hassles and performance in a CR task, that is, best reappraisal ability in individuals with a history of moderate stressor exposure. Participants (N = 165) reported the number of daily hassles during the last week as indicator of stressor exposure and completed the Script‐based Reappraisal Test (SRT). In the SRT, participants are presented with fear‐eliciting scripts and instructed to either downregulate negative affect via reappraisal (reappraisal‐trials) or react naturally (control‐trials). Two measures indicate CR ability: (1) reappraisal effectiveness, that is, the difference between affective ratings in reappraisal‐ and control‐trials and (2) reappraisal inventiveness, that is, the number of valid and categorically different reappraisal thoughts. Multiple regression analyses revealed positive linear, but not quadratic, relationships of exposure to daily hassles and both indicators of CR ability. Potential benefits of stressor exposure for emotion regulation processes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Deliberate emotion regulation modifies execution of goal directed movements. [•] Emotion regulation strategies were used during an emotional image viewing protocol. [•] Participants completed a goal-directed, targeted pinch task upon image offset. [•] Reaction time, rate of force production, and accuracy measures were recorded. [•] Emotion regulation modified reaction time, rate of force, and force accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and selfidentified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child's externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most females experience at least one traumatic event in their lives, but not all develop PTSD. Despite considerable research, our understanding of the key factors that constitute risk for PTSD among females is limited. Previous research has largely focused on sex differences, neglecting within group comparisons, thereby obviating differences between females who do and do not develop PTSD following exposure to trauma. In this systematic review, we conducted a search for the extent of existing research utilizingmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine neurobiological differences among females of all ages, with and without PTSD. Only studies of females who met full diagnostic criteria for PTSD were included. Fifty-six studies were selected and reviewed. We synthesized here findings from structural MRI (sMRI), functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC MRI) studies, comparing females with and without PTSD. A range of biopsychosocial constructs that may leave females vulnerable to PTSD were discussed. First, the ways timing and type of exposure to trauma may impact PTSD risk were discussed. Second, the key role that cognitive and behavioral mechanisms may play in PTSD was described, including rumination, and deficient fear extinction. Third, the role of specific symptom patterns and common comorbidities in female-specific PTSD was described, as well as sex-specific implications on treatment and parenting outcomes. We concluded by identifying areas for future research, to address the need to better understand developmental aspects of brain alterations, the differential impact of trauma types and timing, the putative role of neuroendocrine system in neurobiology of PTSD among females, and the impact of social and cultural factors on neurobiology in females with PTSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ineffective use of adaptive cognitive strategies (e.g., reappraisal) to regulate emotional states is often reported in a wide variety of psychiatric disorders, suggesting a common characteristic across different diagnostic categories. However, the extent of shared neurobiological impairments is incompletely understood. This study, therefore, aimed to identify the transdiagnostic neural signature of disturbed reappraisal using the coordinate‐based meta‐analysis (CBMA) approach. Following the best‐practice guidelines for conducting neuroimaging meta‐analyses, we systematically searched PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science databases and tracked the references. Out of 1,608 identified publications, 32 whole‐brain neuroimaging studies were retrieved that compared brain activation in patients with psychiatric disorders and healthy controls during a reappraisal task. Then, the reported peak coordinates of group comparisons were extracted and several activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analyses were performed at three hierarchical levels to identify the potential spatial convergence: the global level (i.e., the pooled analysis and the analyses of increased/decreased activations), the experimental‐contrast level (i.e., the analyses of grouped data based on the regulation goal, stimulus valence, and instruction rule) and the disorder‐group level (i.e., the analyses across the experimental‐contrast level focused on increasing homogeneity of disorders). Surprisingly, none of our analyses provided significant convergent findings. This CBMA indicates a lack of transdiagnostic convergent regional abnormality related to reappraisal task, probably due to the complex nature of cognitive emotion regulation, heterogeneity of clinical populations, and/or experimental and statistical flexibility of individual studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to regulate one's emotions is foundational for healthy development and functioning in a multitude of domains, whereas difficulties in emotional regulation are recognized as a risk factor for a range of adverse outcomes in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Caregivers play a key role in cultivating the development of emotion regulation through coregulation, or the processes by which they provide external support or scaffolding as children navigate their emotional experiences. The vast majority of research to date has examined coregulation in the context of caregiver–child dyads. In this paper, we consider emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level processes that unfold within and across multiple family subsystems and explore how triadic and whole family interactions may contribute to the development of children's emotion regulation skills. Furthermore, we will examine the implications of a family-centered perspective on emotion regulation for prevention of and intervention for childhood emotional and behavioral disorders. Because emotion regulation skills undergo such dramatic maturation during children's first several years of life, much of our focus will be on coregulation within and across the family system during early childhood; however, as many prevention and intervention approaches are geared toward school-aged children and adolescents, we will also devote some attention to later developmental periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emotional reactions of athletes in sports competitions are not only fascinating to the spectators, but also illustrate that emotions are transmitted to the outside world, thus suggesting that they are not just intrapersonal processes. From a metacognitive perspective it is important to understand why these reactions occur and how they affect sports performance. In this study the antecedents and consequences of outward emotional reactions were explored using a naturalistic qualitative video-assisted procedure. Twelve German table tennis players were video-recorded during competitive matches in their regular season. Subsequently, based on the footage, self-confrontational interviews were conducted focusing on the antecedents and consequences of outward emotional reactions. The analysis revealed several factors related to whether or not outward emotional reactions were displayed, ranging from more malleable (e.g., state-like psychological states) to less malleable (e.g., trait-like factors). In addition, the analysis revealed how outward emotional reactions have performance-related effects on one's own mental state (e.g., one's concentration) and on the psychological state of the opponent (e.g., the opponent's confidence). The present findings suggest that it is important to create an awareness of antecedents of outward emotional reactions in athletes in order to improve the use of psychological skills by athletes to control their emotional responses. In addition, the results point to the importance of the behavioural component of emotions in the emotion-performance relationship, as various intra- and interpersonal consequences that interact with the consequences of the purely subjective emotion experience were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Women's experiences of sexual violence can be not only psychologically and physically traumatizing but may also have lasting effects on brain functions, including cognitive control relating to the inhibition and processing of emotion. Thus, the purpose of this pilot study is to explore underlying neural correlates of sexual violence's impact on cognitive control in women. Methods: Thirty women (aged 21–30 years) participants underwent a quantitative survey along with an affect-congruent Go-NoGo task. Prefrontal activity was monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, a portable neuroimaging technology. An analysis of variance tested for main effects of the condition (Go versus NoGo), group (sexual violence versus no prior sexual violence), and potential interactions. Results: Fifteen of 30 women reported a history of childhood (n = 5) and/or adult (n = 12) sexual violence. Those with sexual violence histories reported significantly higher depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as increased impulsivity compared to their peers. Behavioral performance did not differ between the groups; however, functional near-infrared spectroscopy data revealed a significant (group × condition) interaction in Optodes 13 and 16. Women with histories of sexual violence had a significantly lower response during the "NoGo" condition and a heightened response during the "Go" condition, in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Conclusion: These results suggest altered prefrontal cortical activity during cognitive processing in women with a history of sexual violence, showing hypoactivity during response inhibition and hyperactivity to the positive stimuli. These findings have strong translational promise for innovative assessment and prevention of untoward effects among women with sexual violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical expertise does not have a clear definition and is often culturally associated with power, authority, prestige, and case number rather than more objective proxies of excellence. Multiple models of expertise progression have been proposed including the Dreyfus model, however, they all currently require subjective evaluation of skill. Recently, efforts have been made to improve the ways in which surgical excellence is measured and expertise is defined using artificial intelligence, video recordings, and accelerometers. However, these aforementioned methods of assessment are still subjective or indirect proxies of expertise, thus uncovering the neural mechanisms that differentiate expert surgeons from trainees may enhance the objectivity of surgical expertise validation. In fact, some researchers have already suggested that their neural imaging-based expertise classification methods outperform currently used methods of surgical skill certification such as the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery (FLS) scores. Such imaging biomarkers would not only help better identify the highest performing surgeons, but could also improve residency programs by providing more objective, evidence-based feedback and developmental milestones for those in training and perhaps act as a marker of surgical potential in medical students. Despite the potential advantages of using neural imaging in the assessment of surgical expertise, this field of research remains in its infancy. This systematic review identifies studies that have applied neuromonitoring in assessing surgical skill across levels of expertise. The goals of this review are to identify (1) the strongest neural indicators of surgical expertise, (2) the limitations of the current literature on this subject, (3) the most sensible future directions for further study. We found substantial evidence that surgical expertise can be delineated by differential activation and connectivity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) across multiple task and neuroimaging modalities. Specifically, novices tend to have greater PFC activation than experts under standard conditions in bimanual and decision-making tasks. However, under high temporal demand tasks, experts had increased PFC activation whereas novices had decreased PFC activation. Common limitations uncovered in this review were that task difficulty was often insufficient to delineate between residents and attending. Moreover, attending level involvement was also low in multiple studies which may also have contributed to this issue. Most studies did not analyze the ability of their neuromonitoring findings to accurately classify subjects by level of expertise. Finally, the predominance of fNIRS as the neuromonitoring modality limits our ability to uncover the neural correlates of surgical expertise in non-cortical brain regions. Future studies should first strive to address these limitations. In the longer term, longitudinal within-subjects design over the course of a residency or even a career will also advance the field. Although logistically arduous, such studies would likely be most beneficial in demonstrating effects of increasing surgical expertise on regional brain activation and inter-region connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caregivers play a central role in promoting emotion regulation throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence. However, there are no existing psychometric measures to assess how parents assist children in employing emotion regulation strategies for negative emotions. We therefore developed the Parental Assistance with Child Emotion Regulation (PACER) Questionnaire to assess the degree to which parents assist their children in their use of ten different regulation strategies. In this paper, we describe the development of the PACER and examine its psychometric properties (N = 407 parents of children ages birth to 17 years). In so doing, we also use the PACER to comprehensively explore the links between parent-assisted emotion regulation and indices of parent and child stress, symptomatology, and attachment. Confirmatory factor analyses of the PACER items supported its intended ten-factor structure (corresponding to ten specific regulation strategies), which was invariant across different child age and sex categories. PACER scale scores had excellent internal consistency and generally acceptable test–retest reliability over a one-week period. Convergent validity was established via correlations between PACER scales and indices of parental emotion sensitivity, expressivity, and regulation, as well as parents' perception of the efficacy of their assistance with children's execution of emotion regulatory strategies. Lower parental facilitation of stereotypically adaptive emotion regulatory strategies was associated with higher child internalizing and externalizing problems and with poorer parent–child relationship quality. Overall, these findings suggest that the PACER may be a useful tool for the assessment of parental assistance with child emotion regulation across development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) is the frontline treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), one-third of patients are treatment non-responders. To identify neural markers of treatment response to TF-CBT when participants are reappraising aversive material. Methods: This study assessed PTSD patients (n = 37) prior to TF-CBT during functional magnetic brain resonance imaging (fMRI) when they reappraised or watched traumatic images. Patients then underwent nine sessions of TF-CBT, and were then assessed for symptom severity on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale. FMRI responses for cognitive reappraisal and emotional reactivity contrasts of traumatic images were correlated with the reduction of PTSD severity from pretreatment to post-treatment. Results: Symptom improvement was associated with decreased activation of the left amygdala during reappraisal, but increased activation of bilateral amygdala and hippocampus during emotional reactivity prior to treatment. Lower connectivity of the left amygdala to the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, and right insula, and that between the left hippocampus and right amygdala were also associated with symptom improvement. Conclusions: These findings provide evidence that optimal treatment response to TF-CBT involves the capacity to engage emotional networks during emotional processing, and also to reduce the engagement of these networks when down-regulating emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]