Trait boldness and emotion regulation: An event-related potential investigation

Abstract

The present study sought to extend knowledge of the role of boldness, a transdiagnostic bipolar trait dimension involving low sensitivity to threat, in emotional reactivity and regulation using physiological and report-based measures. One prior study found that boldness was associated with reduced late positive potential (LPP) while passively viewing aversive images, but not during emotion regulation; a disconnect between LPP and self-reported reactivity was also observed. Here, participants (N = 63) completed an emotion regulation task in which they either passively viewed or effortfully up- or downregulated their emotional reactivity to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral pictures while EEG activity was recorded; they later retrospectively rated the success of their regulation efforts. ANOVAs examining the interactive effects of regulation instruction and boldness on LPP amplitude revealed that lower boldness (higher trait fearfulness) was associated with paradoxical increases in LPP to threat photos during instructed downregulation, relative to passive viewing, along with lower reported regulation success on these trials. Unexpectedly, similar LPP effects were observed for affective images overall, and especially nurturance photos. Although subject to certain limitations, these results suggest that individual differences in boldness play a role not only in general reactivity to aversive stimuli, as evidenced by prior work, but in the ability to effortfully downregulate emotional response.