Aspects Of Emotional Processing Research Articles

The role of emotional similarity and emotional accuracy in belonging and stress among first-generation and continuing-generation students.

Extensive research has documented the psychological, social, and academic predicament of first-generation college students. However, basic psychological mechanisms underlying the challenges experienced by these students have been understudied. Taking a cultural psychology perspective, the present research considers the role of emotional (mis)match as a key mechanism for explaining first-generation students' lowered well-being. A sample of 344 American undergraduate students completed a survey designed to measure two aspects of emotional processing: (1) Emotional Accuracy - how accurately students perceive emotional reactions of majority-culture students (continuing-generation junior and senior students who have been socialized into college culture), and (2) Emotional Similarity -how similar students' emotions are to the emotions experienced by majority-culture students. Emotional Accuracy predicted positive outcomes, in general, but was lower among first-generation students. Unexpectedly, Emotional Similarity predicted negative student outcomes. As one of the first studies addressing basic psychological mechanisms in college adjustment, these findings underscore the importance of understanding the roles that specific emotional processes play in social adjustment.

0094 Oscillatory Theta-Band Activity as a Sleep Stage Independent Measure of REM-like Activity throughout Sleep

Abstract Introduction The importance of human cortical theta-band power during REM is suggested by its association with aspects of emotional processing. Currently, this is measured first by visual-inspection of polysomnography to define REM-sleep (scored-REM) and then summing the total theta power within. However, activity attributed to scored-REM has been hypothesized to occur during some scored-NREM (“covert REM”) and total theta conflates different theta-band sources. Oscillatory theta-band activity (OTA) in the hippocampus and associated regions is the hallmark of REM-like sleep in invasive animal studies. We posit that an EEG assessment specifically targeting all-night OTA is a more accurate biomarker of theta-dependent REM functions than current methods. As a first step towards testing this hypothesis, we developed a sleep stage independent approach to isolate REM-like OTA from scalp-EEG. For validation, we compared this measure to conventional-staging and high-frequency activity. Methods Our method uses Irregular-Resampling Auto-Spectral Analysis to remove the aperiodic spectrum (a major source of theta-band power), followed by low-band power normalization to derive the relative oscillatory-theta activity (OTA). Covert REM-containing epochs were calculated based on OTA exceeding a threshold. We combined data from two in-laboratory studies resulting in a sample size of 42 healthy young adult subjects. Analyses used non-sleep restricted overnight EEG recordings from a frontal channel. Results A clear oscillatory-theta peak was observed after processing. Using all sleep stages, we found separation of OTA from total theta-band power evidenced by conventional staging (OTA: scored-REM>scored-NREM, p=0.003 vs total theta: scored-REM<scored-NREM, p<0.001) and correlation with beta-band activity (OTA: r=0.2, p<0.001 vs total theta: p=0.4). Supporting “covert REM”, OTA was present during scored-NREM (p<0.001). On average during a single sleep episode, covert REM was found in 28% of scored- NREM epochs (range=2-85%). Conclusion We developed a novel automated method for measuring REM-like oscillatory-theta activity, independent of conventional sleep staging methods. This method was used to measure REM-like activity across all sleep stages and, as reported in a companion abstract, test the hypothesis that this constitutes a better predictor of REM-dependent behavioral effects than current conventions. Support (If Any) This effort was fully supported by the Department of Defense Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP).

Childhood Maltreatment, Aspects of Emotional Processing and Borderline Personality Disorder

Childhood Maltreatment, Aspects of Emotional Processing and Borderline Personality Disorder

107 Sleep Quality and Duration Are Associated with Greater Trait Emotional Intelligence

Abstract Introduction Lack of sleep has been associated with altered connectivity between the emotion-regulating regions of the medial prefrontal cortex and the emotionally reactive structure of the amygdala. This altered brain function following insufficient sleep is believed to impair a range of emotional perception and regulation capacities. Our prior research has also shown that two nights of total sleep deprivation led to significant declines in Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) and other aspects of emotional processing and perception. Nonetheless, the extent to which general sleep quality and acute sleep duration may contribute to everyday TEI outside of laboratory conditions remains unknown. We hypothesized that poorer sleep quality and the amount of sleep obtained the night before assessment would both predict TEI scores. Methods 447 adults (18–40 yrs; 72% female) completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a question about the number of hours of sleep obtained the night before the assessment (SLEEP), as well as the Petrides Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Sleep metrics were used to predict Total TEI, and the four TEIQue factors (Wellbeing, Self-Control, Emotionality, and Sociability) using multiple linear regression. Results Both PSQI (β=-.275, p<.00001) and SLEEP (β=.130, p<.00001) each contributed uniquely to prediction of Total TEI (R2=.11, p<.00001). Wellbeing was also predicted by a combination of PSQI (β=-.272, p<.00001) and SLEEP (β=.129, p=.006). In contrast, for Self-Control, only PSQI was significantly related (β=-.296, p<.00001). Both PSQI (β=-.131, p<.007) and SLEEP (β=.103, p<.034) each contributed to Emotionality. Finally, both PSQI (β=-.126, p<.010) and SLEEP (β=.107, p<.028) each contributed to Sociability. Conclusion Greater total TEI was uniquely predicted by a linear combination of 1) better general sleep quality over the past month and 2) greater quantity of sleep the night before the assessment session. The same pattern held for all scale factors, except Self-Control, which was only related to sleep quality over the past month. Although limited by the cross-sectional nature of the data, these findings support prior work suggesting that lack of sleep alters normal emotional processing and further suggests that both long-term sleep quality and acute restriction of sleep can affect trait-like emotional domains. Support (if any):

The role of dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the processing of emotional dimensions

The ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are two major prefrontal regions that usually interact in serving different cognitive functions. On the other hand, these regions are also involved in cognitive processing of emotions but their contribution to emotional processing is not well-studied. In the present study, we investigated the role of these regions in three dimensions (valence, arousal and dominance) of emotional processing of stimuli via ratings of visual stimuli performed by the study participants on these dimensions. Twenty- two healthy adult participants (mean age 25.21 ± 3.84 years) were recruited and received anodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (1.5 mA, 15 min) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in three separate sessions with an at least 72-h interval. During stimulation, participants underwent an emotional task in each stimulation condition. The task included 100 visual stimuli and participants were asked to rate them with respect to valence, arousal, and dominance. Results show a significant effect of stimulation condition on different aspects of emotional processing. Specifically, anodal tDCS over the dlPFC significantly reduced valence attribution for positive pictures. In contrast, anodal tDCS over the vmPFC significantly reduced arousal ratings. Dominance ratings were not affected by the intervention. Our results suggest that the dlPFC is involved in control and regulation of valence of emotional experiences, while the vmPFC might be involved in the extinction of arousal caused by emotional stimuli. Our findings implicate dimension-specific processing of emotions by different prefrontal areas which has implications for disorders characterized by emotional disturbances such as anxiety or mood disorders.

Subthalamic nucleus oscillations during vocal emotion processing are dependent of the motor asymmetry of Parkinson's disease

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is involved in different aspects of emotional processes and more specifically in emotional prosody recognition. Recent studies on the behavioral effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have uncovered an asymmetry in vocal emotion decoding in PD, with left-onset PD patients showing deficits for the processing of happy voices. Whether and how PD asymmetry affects STN electrophysiological responses to emotional prosody, however, remains unknown.In the current study, local field potential activity was recorded from eight left- and six right-lateralized motor-onset PD patients (LOPD/ROPD) undergoing DBS electrodes implantation, while they listened to angry, happy and neutral voices.Time-frequency decomposition revealed that theta (2–6 Hz), alpha (6–12 Hz) and gamma (60–150 Hz) band responses to emotion were mostly bilateral with a differential pattern of response according to patient's sides-of onset. Conversely, beta-band (12–20 Hz and 20–30 Hz) emotional responses were mostly lateralized in the left STN for both patient groups. Furthermore, STN theta, alpha and gamma band responses to happiness were either absent (theta band) or reduced (alpha and gamma band) in the most affected STN hemisphere (contralateral to the side-of onset), while a late low-beta band left STN happiness-specific response was present in ROPD patients and did not occur in LOPD patients.Altogether, in this study, we demonstrate a complex pattern of oscillatory activity in the human STN in response to emotional voices and reveal a crucial influence of disease laterality on STN low-frequency oscillatory activity.

Higher trait mindfulness is associated with empathy but not with emotion recognition abilities.

Mindfulness involves an intentional and non-judgemental attention or awareness of present-moment experiences. It can be cultivated by meditation practice or present as an inherent disposition or trait. Higher trait mindfulness has been associated with improved emotional skills, but evidence comes primarily from studies on emotion regulation. It remains unclear whether improvements extend to other aspects of emotional processing, namely the ability to recognize emotions in others. In the current study, 107 participants (Mage = 25.48 years) completed a measure of trait mindfulness, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, and two emotion recognition tasks. These tasks required participants to categorize emotions in facial expressions and in speech prosody (modulations of the tone of voice). They also completed an empathy questionnaire and attention tasks. We found that higher trait mindfulness was associated positively with cognitive empathy, but not with the ability to recognize emotions. In fact, Bayesian analyses provided substantial evidence for the null hypothesis, both for emotion recognition in faces and in speech. Moreover, no associations were observed between mindfulness and attention performance. These findings suggest that the positive effects of trait mindfulness on emotional processing do not extend to emotion recognition abilities.

Autistic traits moderate relations between cardiac autonomic activity, interoceptive accuracy, and emotion processing in college students

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a key role in maintaining physiological homeostasis, and research with neurotypical and autistic individuals has found relations between cardiac autonomic responses, as well as awareness of one's cardiac responses, and social and emotional processing. The current study examined relations between cardiac autonomic activity, heartbeat perception, emotion processing, and levels of autistic traits in a group of college students. Cardiac ANS at baseline and during an emotional picture task was measured, and a heartbeat perception task was used to assess interoceptive accuracy (IA). Questionnaires then assessed autistic traits, alexithymia (difficulties processing one's own emotions), and emotion recognition. Consistent with past work, greatest heart rate deceleration was seen in response to negative images. In the overall sample, no correlations were found between cardiac ANS, IA, autistic traits, and aspects of emotion processing, but when examining individuals high and low on autistic traits separately, distinct associations were found. Within the group of participants with elevated autistic traits, greater baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was predictive of lower levels of alexithymia and autistic traits, as well as higher IA, but these associations were not seen in participants low on autistic traits. These findings suggest that variability in autistic traits in a non-autistic sample can lead to differential relations between cardiac autonomic responses, awareness of one's cardiac responses, and emotion processing.

Musicianship Enhances Perception But Not Feeling of Emotion From Others’ Social Interaction Through Speech Prosody

Music expertise has been shown to enhance emotion recognition from speech prosody. Yet, it is currently unclear whether music training enhances the recognition of emotions through other communicative modalities such as vision and whether it enhances the feeling of such emotions. Musicians and nonmusicians were presented with visual, auditory, and audiovisual clips consisting of the biological motion and speech prosody of two agents interacting. Participants judged as quickly as possible whether the expressed emotion was happiness or anger, and subsequently indicated whether they also felt the emotion they had perceived. Measures of accuracy and reaction time were collected from the emotion recognition judgements, while yes/no responses were collected as indication of felt emotions. Musicians were more accurate than nonmusicians at recognizing emotion in the auditory-only condition, but not in the visual-only or audiovisual conditions. Although music training enhanced recognition of emotion through sound, it did not affect the felt emotion. These findings indicate that emotional processing in music and language may use overlapping but also divergent resources, or that some aspects of emotional processing are less responsive to music training than others. Hence music training may be an effective rehabilitative device for interpreting others’ emotion through speech.

Oxytocin Signaling in the Central Amygdala Modulates Emotion Discrimination in Mice

Recognition of other's emotions influences the way social animals interact and adapt to the environment. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been implicated in different aspects of emotion processing. However, the role of endogenous OXT brain pathways in the social response to different emotional states in conspecifics remains elusive. Here, using a combination of anatomical, genetic, and chemogenetic approaches, we investigated the contribution of endogenous OXT signaling in the ability of mice to discriminate unfamiliar conspecifics based on their emotional states. We found that OXTergic projections from the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) to the central amygdala (CeA) are crucial for the discrimination of both positively and negatively valenced emotional states. In contrast, blocking PVN OXT release into the nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampal CA2 did not alter this emotion discrimination. Furthermore, silencing each of these PVN OXT pathways did not influence basic social interaction. These findings were further supported by the demonstration that virally mediated enhancement of OXT signaling within the CeA was sufficient to rescue emotion discrimination deficits in a genetic mouse model of cognitive liability. Our results indicate that CeA OXT signaling plays a key role in emotion discrimination both in physiological and pathological conditions.

Emotional processing in an expressive writing task on trauma

BackgroundThe current study examined expressive writing by investigating two aspects of emotional processing: depth of experiencing and order of emotional processing. Materials and methodsA sample of 110 undergraduates, who suffered traumas, were instructed to write based on differing theories of emotional processing. Participant narratives were coded for depth of emotional processing and the presence of key emotions. To assess outcome, anxiety was measured at baseline and two weeks following writing. ResultsDepth of emotional processing differed as a function of condition and writing session. Moreover, a significant negative relationship was found between changes in the depth of emotional processing and anxiety symptoms (r = −.209, p < .05), such that an increase in experiencing corresponded to a decrease in overall anxiety. ConclusionThe results suggest that writing instructions might differentially promote emotional processing over time and that promoting deepened emotional processing might facilitate reductions in anxiety.

Different aspects of emotional processes in apathy: Application of the French translated dimensional apathy scale

Apathy is a behavioural symptom that occurs in neuropsychiatric, neurological and neurodegenerative disease. It is defined as a lack of motivation and/or a quantitative reduction of goal-directed behaviour. Levy and Dubois Cerebral Cortex, 16(7), 916–928 (2006) proposed a triadic substructure of apathy and similar subtypes can be assessed using the Dimensional Apathy Scale (DAS), via the Executive, Emotional and Initiation subscales. The aim of this study was to translate the DAS in to French (f-DAS), examine its psychometric properties and the substructure of apathy using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The results showed an acceptable internal consistency reliability of the f-DAS and a similar relationship to depression as in the original DAS development study. The CFA supported a triadic dimensional substructure of the f-DAS, similar to the original DAS but suggested a more complex substructure, specifically, two further processes of the Emotional apathy dimension relating to “Social Emotional” and “Individual Emotional” aspects of demotivation. To conclude, the f-DAS is a robust and reliable tool for assessing multidimensional apathy. Further research should explore the utility of the f-DAS in patients with neuropsychiatric diseases in view of social emotional aspects in apathy.

The Effect of Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy on Fear-Related Capture of Attention in Parkinson's Disease and Essential Tremor: A Comparison to Healthy Individuals.

In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson’s disease (PD) involves significant non-motor sequelae, including disruptions in cognitive and emotional processing. Fear recognition appears to be affected both by the course of the disease and by a common interventional therapy, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS). Here, we examined if these effects extend to other aspects of emotional processing, such as attentional capture by negative emotional stimuli. Performance on an emotional attentional blink (EAB) paradigm, a common paradigm used to study emotional capture of attention, was examined in a cohort of individuals with PD, both on and off STN-DBS therapy (n=20). To contrast effects of healthy aging and other movement disorder and DBS targets, we also examined performance in a healthy elderly (n=20) and young (n=18) sample on the same task, and a sample diagnosed with Essential Tremor (ET) undergoing therapeutic deep brain stimulation of the ventral-intermediate nucleus (VIM-DBS, n=18). All four groups showed a robust attentional capture of emotional stimuli, irrespective of aging processes, movement disorder diagnosis, or stimulation. PD patients on average had overall worse performance, but this decrement in performance was not related to the emotional capture of attention. PD patients exhibited a robust EAB, indicating that the ability of emotion to direct attention remains intact in PD. Congruent with other recent data, these findings suggest that fear recognition deficits in PD may instead reflect a highly specific problem in recognition, rather than a general deficit in emotional processing of fearful stimuli.

Disentangling brain activity related to the processing of emotional visual information and emotional arousal

Processing of emotional visual information engages cognitive functions and induces arousal. We aimed to examine the modulatory role of emotional valence on brain activations linked to the processing of visual information and those linked to arousal. Participants were scanned and their pupil size was measured while viewing negative and neutral images. The visual noise was added to the images in various proportions to parametrically manipulate the amount of visual information. Pupil size was used as an index of physiological arousal. We show that arousal induced by the negative images, as compared to the neutral ones, is primarily related to greater amygdala activity while increasing visibility of negative content to enhanced activity in the lateral occipital complex (LOC). We argue that more intense visual processing of negative scenes can occur irrespective of the level of arousal. It may suggest that higher areas of the visual stream are fine-tuned to process emotionally relevant objects. Both arousal and processing of emotional visual information modulated activity within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Overlapping activations within the vmPFC may reflect the integration of these aspects of emotional processing. Additionally, we show that emotionally-evoked pupil dilations are related to activations in the amygdala, vmPFC, and LOC.

PiSCES: Pictures with social context and emotional scenes with norms for emotional valence, intensity, and social engagement.

Picture databases are commonly used in experimental work on various aspects of emotion processing. However, existing standardized facial databases, typically used to explore emotion recognition, can be augmented with more contextual information for studying emotion and social perception. Moreover, the perception of social engagement, i.e., the degree of interaction or engagement inferred between the people in target pictures, has not been measured. In this paper, we describe the development of a database comprising 203 black-and-white line drawings depicting people within various situational contexts, and normed on perceived emotional valence, intensity, and social engagement, a new construct. Analyses of ratings collected from 62 young adults (30 females, 32 males; mean age 22 years) revealed the typical quadratic relationship between valence and intensity, i.e., stimuli that are more emotionally charged, whether positively or negatively valenced, are more intense than emotionally-neutral stimuli. Moreover, the results showed significant linear and quadratic relationships between valence and social engagement ratings, indicating that emotionally-charged social scenes were perceived as more engaging than emotionally-neutral social scenes. This new database will facilitate investigations of how people perceive and interpret social and emotional information in everyday interactions, and is offered as a resource to experimenters involved in social and/or emotional processing research.

Genetic and environmental influences on emotion regulation: A twin study of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression.

Previous studies have established that personality traits related to emotionality are moderately heritable. However, the relative heritability of the strategies people use to regulate emotions is unknown. The present study compared the magnitude of additive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences on 2 commonly used emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In 743 twin pairs (1,486 twins), we replicated previous estimates of heritability of neuroticism (a2 = .41). Furthermore, cognitive reappraisal was significantly less heritable and more influenced by nonshared environment (a2 = .20; e2 = .80) than either neuroticism or suppression (a2 = .35; e2 = .65), another emotion regulation strategy. Finally, Cholesky decomposition modeling suggested that while there were common genetic and environmental influences on neuroticism, reappraisal and suppression, there were also significant nonshared environmental influences common between reappraisal and adaptive emotional functioning after controlling for neuroticism and suppression. These findings highlight that different aspects of emotional processing, even the use of different emotion regulation strategies, are differentially heritable. The importance of the nonshared environmental influences specific to reappraisal and adaptive emotional functioning speaks to the potential impact of social context, social partners, and psychosocial interventions on reappraisal habits. (PsycINFO Database Record

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial evaluating the effect of intranasal insulin on cognition and mood in individuals with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder

BackgroundCognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder (MDD) is identified as a primary therapeutic target; no current treatment is approved for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction in MDD. We examined whether intranasal insulin offered a beneficial effect across measures of cognitive function in adults with MDD. MethodsThirty-five adults (18–65 years of age: 47.09±9.89) meeting criteria for a major depressive episode as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)-IV-Treatment Revised were included in this randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design study. Subjects were not stratified based on baseline cognitive deficit. Subjects were randomized to 4 weeks of either intranasal insulin 40 International Units (IU) taken four times a day (i.e., morning, afternoon, evening, and before bed) (QID) (n=19) or placebo (n=16). ResultsNo between group differences were observed in change from baseline on total Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score (25.98±2.81), in either of the Positive or Negative subscales of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), or on a global index of neurocognition. The possibility of practice and/or carry over effect could not be excluded. Methodological refinement (e.g., stratification of subjects based on baseline cognitive deficit) may have augmented assay sensitivity. ConclusionIntranasal insulin did not demonstrate statistically significant improvements on overall mood, aspects of emotional processing, neurocognitive function, or self-reported quality of life patient reported outcomes.

Simultaneous recording of EEG and fNIRS during visuo-spatial and facial expression processing in a dual task paradigm

Emotional processing is probably the most crucial tool for orienting oneself in our everyday social life and has been considered to be highly automatic for a long time. Dual task (DT) research shows that information competing for working memory resources impairs the identification of emotional facial expressions. Effects of cognitive load in DT paradigms have been confirmed in numerous neuroimaging studies. However, interference occurring during a DT comprised of decoding emotional facial expressions and a visuo-spatial working memory task has yet to be visualized.To investigate the DT interference effect on brain areas associated not only with working memory, but also emotional and visuo-spatial processing, we recorded brain activation within the prefrontal cortex and parietal-occipital sensory areas using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalography (EEG) simultaneously. Our study consisted of N = 36 participants (27 female) performing the following tasks: a) Corsi blocks, b) identification of emotional facial expressions or c) DT comprising of tasks a) and b).We predicted higher activation of the prefrontal cortex during DT and corresponding reduced P100 and P300 amplitudes.As expected, fNIRS measurements revealed significantly higher neuronal activation within the prefrontal cortex in the DT condition. When comparing DT to the single tasks, the P100 amplitude was reduced, but the P300 amplitude did not show the expected reduction.Our findings underline that at least some aspects of emotional processing are not entirely automatic, but depend on prefrontal control and are therefore affected by cognitive load, in particular visuo-spatial working memory resources.

A cluster-based approach to selecting representative stimuli from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) database

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008) is a stimulus database that is frequently used to investigate various aspects of emotional processing. Despite its extensive use, selecting IAPS stimuli for a research project is not usually done according to an established strategy, but rather is tailored to individual studies. Here we propose a standard, replicable method for stimulus selection based on cluster analysis, which re-creates the group structure that is most likely to have produced the valence arousal, and dominance norms associated with the IAPS images. Our method includes screening the database for outliers, identifying a suitable clustering solution, and then extracting the desired number of stimuli on the basis of their level of certainty of belonging to the cluster they were assigned to. Our method preserves statistical power in studies by maximizing the likelihood that the stimuli belong to the cluster structure fitted to them, and by filtering stimuli according to their certainty of cluster membership. In addition, although our cluster-based method is illustrated using the IAPS, it can be extended to other stimulus databases.

"That pulled the rug out from under my feet!" - adverse experiences and altered emotion processing in patients with functional neurological symptoms compared to healthy comparison subjects.

BackgroundMedically unexplained movement or sensibility disorders, recently defined in DSM-5 as functional neurological symptoms (FNS), are still insufficiently understood. Stress and trauma have been addressed as relevant factors in FNS genesis. Altered emotion processing has been discussed.The present study screened different types and times of adverse experiences in childhood and adulthood in patients with FNS as well as in healthy individuals. The relationship between stress profile, aspects of emotion processing and symptom severity was examined, with the hypothesis that particularly emotional childhood adversities would have an impact on dysfunctional emotion processing as a mediator of FNS.MethodsAdverse childhood experiences (ACE), recent negative life events (LE), alexithymia, and emotion regulation style were assessed in 45 inpatients diagnosed with dissociative disorder expressing FNS, and in 45 healthy comparison subjects (HC).ResultsPatients reported more severe FNS, more (particularly emotional) ACE, and more LE than HC. FNS severity varied with emotional ACE and negative LE, and LE partially mediated the relation between ACE and FNS. Alexithymia and suppressive emotion regulation style were stronger in patients than HC, and alexithymia varied with FNS severity. Structural equation modeling verified partial mediation of the relationship between emotional ACE and FNS by alexithymia.ConclusionsEarly, emotional and accumulating stress show a substantial impact on FNS-associated emotion processing, influencing FNS. Understanding this complex interplay of stress, emotion processing and the severity of FNS is relevant not only for theoretical models, but, as a consequence also inform diagnostic and therapeutic adjustments.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12888-015-0514-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.