Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions
Abstract The current study compared the effectiveness of distraction, an antecedent-focused strategy that involves diverting an individual’s attention away from affective terms, and expressive suppression, a response-focused strategy that involves inhibiting conscious emotion-expressive behavior dur...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-10-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12983-3 |
| _version_ | 1830282863616983040 |
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| author | Ping Li Wei Wang Cong Fan Chuanlin Zhu Shuaixia Li Zhao Zhang Zhengyang Qi Wenbo Luo |
| author_facet | Ping Li Wei Wang Cong Fan Chuanlin Zhu Shuaixia Li Zhao Zhang Zhengyang Qi Wenbo Luo |
| author_sort | Ping Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The current study compared the effectiveness of distraction, an antecedent-focused strategy that involves diverting an individual’s attention away from affective terms, and expressive suppression, a response-focused strategy that involves inhibiting conscious emotion-expressive behavior during an emotionally aroused state, in the regulation of high- and low-intensity unpleasant stimuli, using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixteen participants completed an emotion regulation experiment in which they passively viewed high- or low-intensity unpleasant images (view), solved a mathematical equation presented on high- or low-intensity negative images (distraction), or suppressed their emotional expression in response to high- or low-intensity unpleasant images (suppression). Their negative experiences after implementation of these strategies were rated by participants on a 1–9 scale. We mainly found that compared with expressive suppression, distraction yielded greater attenuation of the early phase of centro-parietal LPP when the participants responded to high-intensity stimuli. In the low-intensity condition, distraction, but not expressive suppression, effectively decreased the early phase of LPP. The findings suggest that expressive suppression works as early as distraction in the high-intensity condition; more importantly, distraction is superior to expressive suppression in regulating negative emotion, which is influenced by emotional intensity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:46:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7ca12cbcfc84b35a4057d3871543376 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T02:46:21Z |
| publishDate | 2017-10-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7ca12cbcfc84b35a4057d38715433762022-12-21T20:38:52ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-10-01711810.1038/s41598-017-12983-3Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative EmotionsPing Li0Wei Wang1Cong Fan2Chuanlin Zhu3Shuaixia Li4Zhao Zhang5Zhengyang Qi6Wenbo Luo7Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityResearch Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal UniversityAbstract The current study compared the effectiveness of distraction, an antecedent-focused strategy that involves diverting an individual’s attention away from affective terms, and expressive suppression, a response-focused strategy that involves inhibiting conscious emotion-expressive behavior during an emotionally aroused state, in the regulation of high- and low-intensity unpleasant stimuli, using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixteen participants completed an emotion regulation experiment in which they passively viewed high- or low-intensity unpleasant images (view), solved a mathematical equation presented on high- or low-intensity negative images (distraction), or suppressed their emotional expression in response to high- or low-intensity unpleasant images (suppression). Their negative experiences after implementation of these strategies were rated by participants on a 1–9 scale. We mainly found that compared with expressive suppression, distraction yielded greater attenuation of the early phase of centro-parietal LPP when the participants responded to high-intensity stimuli. In the low-intensity condition, distraction, but not expressive suppression, effectively decreased the early phase of LPP. The findings suggest that expressive suppression works as early as distraction in the high-intensity condition; more importantly, distraction is superior to expressive suppression in regulating negative emotion, which is influenced by emotional intensity.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12983-3 |
| spellingShingle | Ping Li Wei Wang Cong Fan Chuanlin Zhu Shuaixia Li Zhao Zhang Zhengyang Qi Wenbo Luo Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions Scientific Reports |
| title | Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions |
| title_full | Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions |
| title_fullStr | Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions |
| title_short | Distraction and Expressive Suppression Strategies in Regulation of High- and Low-Intensity Negative Emotions |
| title_sort | distraction and expressive suppression strategies in regulation of high and low intensity negative emotions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12983-3 |
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