Emotional regulation: top-down cognitive processes on emotional responses Flashcards

1
Q

What is Derrybery and Reed’s (2002) theory on attention?

A

> There is a voluntary attention system: attention control

  • to maintain focus
  • to shift attention

> Differences in ability to control attention explain attention bias

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2
Q

What did Derryberry and Reed find in their 2002 study on individual differences in control attention and people with anxiety?

A

Attention control helps limit impact of threatening information:
- inter-individual differences in self-reported attention controllability moderated the extent to which anxious people attended towards threat stimuli in a dot probe experiment

  • anxious people with high attention control were better at disengaging from threat stimuli (vs. people with low attention control)
  • > less or no attention bias
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3
Q

Which evidence supports the findings of Derryberry and Reed (2002)?

A

People exposed to trauma but with high attention control seem to develop less PTSD symptoms
vs. people with low attention control

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4
Q

Is the ability to control attention static?

Why?

A

No
- various factors play a role -> intra-individual differences

  • compensation for poor control when there is an important goal to focus on
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5
Q

What is Michael Eysenck’s view on the ability to compensate for poor control of attention (2007)?

A

It has its limits

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6
Q

Why are the limits in one’s ability to compensate for poor control of attention relevant for anxious people?

A

In situations of exceptionally demanding activities and heavily loaded cognitive ressources, or poor motivation to focus
-> people are more easily distracted by irrelevant thoughts

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7
Q

What did Berggren and colleagues find on the limits of anxious people to compensate for poor control of attention?

A

Visual search task, manipulating the cognitive load
- no cognitive load condition: no difference between participants with high and low anxiety

  • high cognitive load affected those with high anxiety, not those with low anxiety
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8
Q

How did Bernstein and Zvielli (2014) train people to enhance attention control?

A

Attention feedback awareness and control training (A-FACT)
- standard dot probe -> measure attention bias

> Told participants to balance attention between images, without being influenced by content

> To measure avoidance: showed anxiety-eliciting clips

  • participants could control presentation length
  • > index emotional recovery after a stressor

> Dot probe administered after training

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9
Q

What did Berstein and Zvielli (2014) find in their study on training attention control?

A

Training improved attention control
- ability to disengage from threatening images

  • participants showed less avoidance and quicker recovery

=> Training attention control might reduce the emotional impact of information they are exposed to

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10
Q

How can people control emotional experiences?

A
  1. Cognitive reappraisal
  2. Response-focused strategies
    - manage feelings (e.g. relaxation techniques)
  3. Expressive suppression
    - hide emotional impact
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11
Q

What is cognitive reappraisal?

A

Transform negative meaning and reduce emotional impact
-> antecedent focused (on the causes)

  • it is common
  • inter-individual differences in use of suppression or reappraisal to manage negative emotions
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12
Q

What can reappraisal sometimes depend on (Stemmler, 1997)?

A

Information given to us

Stemmler:

  • after new information was given to participants, they were able to reappraise a situation
  • > reduced their anger at a set of circumstances
  • were given excuses for experimenter’s behaviour (provocation)
  • > participants reported less physiological response and less anger
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13
Q

What did Mauss and colleagues (2007) show regarding the individual differences in the ability to use reappraisal?

A

Replication of Stemmler’s experiment
- individual differences in ability to use reappraisal influenced the extent to which participants could use excuses for experimenter’s behaviour (provocation) to down-regulate their physiological response

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14
Q

Why can reappraisal training serve people with emotional disorders?

A

Range of emotional disorders associated with inability to reappraise situations

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15
Q

What does a training in the ability to reappraise consist of?

A
  1. Identify negative thought
  2. Evaluate the appraisal’s validity
  3. Challenge negative thought (might not be true)
  4. Re-evaluate the probability that appraisal is correct
    - > improve capacity to regulate the emotional response to negative situations
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16
Q

What is the purpose and process of extinction?

A

Down-regulating emotional direct experiences

  • repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus
17
Q

Is the process of extinction similarly effective for everyone?

A

No, there are individual differences in the extent and speed with which fear extinguishes

18
Q

How does extinction reduce fear?

A

> Excitatory (fear-inducing) association remains intact after extinction, but its inhibited
- by the new association conditioned stimulus - no unconditioned stimulus, developed through extinction process

> After extinction, these 2 associations compete with one another

-> return of the fear depends on the inhibition of CS-US association

19
Q

How is extinction context-dependent?

A

If extinction takes place in different context from original conditioning context, return to this original context or some other context after extinction might evoke return of fear

20
Q

How did Vansteenwegan and colleagues (2007) show that extinction is context-dependent?

A

> Participants had specific phobia for spiders

> Context 1: spider in kitchen
- extinction process -> fear reduced

> Context 2: spider in bedroom
-> fear returns

-> Change of context evoked return of fear
-> the learning that had taken place during extinction was context-dependent
<=> rather than learning that spiders aren’t dangerous, participants seemed to have learned that spiders in kitchens aren’t dangerous

21
Q

What are the implications of the context-dependent nature of extinction?

A

Extinction learning underlies CBT for anxiety disorders

- being context-dependent, it might explain clinical relapse

22
Q

How can extinction learning be used for mental disorders?

A

> Extinction occurs in everyday life

> Prevents fear from becoming pathological

> Individual differences in extinction learning might influence emergence of anxiety disorders (e.g. PTSD)

  • > extinction learning to regulate one’s emotional responses to aversive experiences
  • potential long term consequences on a person’s mental health
23
Q

How did Lommen and colleagues (2013) use extinction learning for PTSD?
What were their results?

A

> Soldiers prior to deployment went through fear-conditioning and extinction procedure

> Upon return: test for PTSD symptoms (clinical interviews)

-> PTSD cases were those of soldiers who had difficulty extinguishing their fear prior to deployment

24
Q

What is memory re-scripting?

A

Regulating emotion by altering memories post-event

  • intentional
  • top-down
25
Q

Who developed memory re-scripting?

A

> Pierre Janet: imagery substitution with hysterical patients (1919)

> Beck: modifying visual cognitions (mental images) of negative experiences can modify the emotions they provoke

26
Q

What is the process of memory re-scripting?

A
  1. Activate memory of event
  2. Identify feelings, emotions, thoughts evoked
  3. Re-script: frame in positive or neutral context
    - or by altering event in memory so consequences are less negative
27
Q

How did Dibbets (2011) use memory re-scripting?

A

To enhance extinction learning
- negative event presented in different contexts

  • participants were given re-scripting instructions
  • > less return of fear when conditioned stimulus shown in original context
    vs. participants with no re-scripting instructions

=> Re-scripting the original conditions memory AND devaluating the unconditioned stimulus seems to prevent a return of fear

28
Q

What are the 3 functions of re-scripting?

A
  1. Update and correct memories
  2. Explore inhibited responses
  3. Explore trauma-related beliefs
29
Q

What are the two types of imagery re-scripting presented by Holmes and colleagues (2007)?

A
  1. Type A:
    - modification of memory and associated emotions and beliefs
  2. Type B
    - regulating negative emotions about oneself
    - by constructing a new positive image about one’s self
30
Q

How can imagery re-scripting be used?

A

> In PTSD
- deal with emotional response of traumatic event

> In ordinary life

  • deal with negative experiences we encounter daily, that evoke a significant emotional response
  • > modify and re-script our memory of these events to make them more positive or benign