Abstract
Negative emotion differentiation facilitates emotion regulation. However, whether individual differences in negative emotion differentiation is associated with resting-state spontaneous emotion regulation remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the effect of individual differences in negative emotion differentiation on spontaneous emotional regulatory processes as indexed by resting electroencephalogram (EEG) indicators (e.g., frontal alpha asymmetry and theta/beta ratio). Participants (n = 40, Mage = 21.74 years, 62% women) completed a negative emotion differentiation task. Afterward, 4 min of resting EEG data were recorded. Multiple regression results showed that negative emotion differentiation significantly predicted the alpha asymmetry at electrode pairs (F4–F3 and FP2–FP1) and the theta/beta ratio at the F3 and FZ electrode sites. Individuals with high negative emotion differentiation presented more left-lateralized activations and a lower theta/beta ratio. Taken together, these results suggest that individuals with high negative emotion differentiation show enhanced spontaneous emotional regulatory functioning. Thus, we provided the first resting-state neural evidence on emotion differentiation of spontaneous emotional regulatory functioning.
Highlights
Individuals can distinguish positive from negative emotions, but find it harder to distinguish between like-valenced emotions
This study aimed to explore the effect of individual differences in negative emotion differentiation on spontaneous emotional regulatory processes as indexed by resting electroencephalogram (EEG) indicators
Given the previous evidence that some EEG-resting indicators (e.g., frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and slow/fast wave ratio) index spontaneous emotion regulation (Jackson et al, 2003; Goodman et al, 2013; Tortellafeliu et al, 2014), the present study explored the relationship between negative ED (NED) and spontaneous emotion regulation of EEG-resting indicators to provide resting-state neural evidence for their relationship
Summary
Individuals can distinguish positive from negative emotions, but find it harder to distinguish between like-valenced emotions. The ability to distinguish between different likevalenced emotions is known as emotion differentiation (ED, termed emotion granularity; Barrett et al, 2001; Kashdan et al, 2015). When identifying, labeling, or describing emotional experience, individuals with high ED tend to differentiate their emotions into fine-grained nuanced emotional categories. They report feeling angry in one situation and sad in another. Individuals with low ED tend to report their feelings in a coarse, less specific fashion, as “bad” or “good.” identifying what one is feeling provides information about emotional cause and context, which can facilitate emotion regulation. Emotion regulation can be executed in controlled or spontaneous manners.
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