Cognitive Reappraisal Strategies Research Articles

Increased Amygdala Activity Associated With Cognitive Reappraisal Strategy in Functional Neurologic Disorder.

Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy to reduce the impact of affective stimuli. This regulation could be incomplete in patients with functional neurologic disorder (FND) resulting in an overflowing emotional stimulation perpetuating symptoms in FND patients. Here we employed functional MRI to study cognitive reappraisal in FND. A total of 24 FND patients and 24 healthy controls employed cognitive reappraisal while seeing emotional visual stimuli in the scanner. The Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) was used to evaluate concomitant psychopathologies of the patients. During cognitive reappraisal of negative IAPS images FND patients show an increased activation of the right amygdala compared to normal controls. We found no evidence of downregulation in the amygdala during reappraisal neither in the patients nor in the control group. The valence and arousal ratings of the IAPS images were similar across groups. However, a subgroup of patients showed a significant higher account of extreme low ratings for arousal for negative images. These low ratings correlated inversely with the item “anxiety” of the SCL-90-R. The increased activation of the amygdala during cognitive reappraisal suggests altered processing of emotional stimuli in this region in FND patients.

The Emotion of Fear: Its Experience in Situations Involving Animals, Accidents, and Violence and Its Regulation by the Cognitive Reappraisal Strategy

AbstractIn the present study, the experience of fear in various stimulus situations (involving animals, accidents, and violence) and its regulation by the cognitive reappraisal strategy in 46 psychology students was analyzed. The students self‐assessed their experience of fear via questionnaires and a computerized task. In the questionnaires, the intensity of the experience of fear in everyday situations and the frequency of cognitive reappraisal strategy use were measured. In the computer application, photos eliciting fear were presented under two conditions: the first involved experiencing the photos and the continuation of this experience, while the second involved experiencing the photos followed by the use of the cognitive reappraisal strategy. The results confirm differences between the various stimulus situations. When measured with the questionnaires, the most intense fear was reported in situations involving accidents, whereas violence triggered the most intense fear while experiencing the photos. When the students continued to experience a photo, their experience of fear intensified significantly, but when they regulated their experience using cognitive reappraisal, their fear decreased. However, the intensity of the regulated fear was not connected to the frequency of the everyday use of cognitive reappraisal, as reported in the questionnaire. The study confirms the importance of contextual factors when experiencing and regulating fear.

Functional specificity of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in positive reappraisal: A single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Neuroimage studies have yielded evidence for a correlation between the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and a specific type of cognitive reappraisal strategy, positive reappraisal. However, evidence is still lacking for a direct relation. We used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the left VLPFC at different time points to investigate the functional specificity of the left VLPFC in the success of positive reappraisal and the timing at which the left VLPC was involved in positive reappraisal. Fifteen participants engaged in a baseline experiment and in TMS experiments. All participants successfully reduced their negative emotional ratings using positive reappraisal in the baseline experiment. In the TMS experiments, participants performed the same task as in the baseline experiment but single-pulse TMS was applied over the left VLPFC at 300 ms or/and 3,300 ms after stimulus onset, as well as over the vertex as a control stimulation. Valence ratings of negative stimuli increased (unpleasantness reduction) when participants reappraised negative stimuli with TMS stimulation over the left VLPFC, regardless of the timing of the stimulation at 300 ms or/and at 3,300 ms after the stimulus onset, relative to the vertex stimulation and the baseline experiment. Our study provided evidence of the functional specificity of the left VLPFC in regulation of negative emotions using positive reappraisal. The left VLPFC was believed to be involved in different stages of positive reappraisal. The prominent facilitation effect of TMS over the left VLPFC makes it possible to consider potential applications in clinical practice for mood disorders.

INSPIRED but Tired: How Medical Faculty's Job Demands and Resources Lead to Engagement, Work-Life Conflict, and Burnout.

BackgroundPast research shows that physicians experience high ill-being (i.e., work-life conflict, stress, burnout) but also high well-being (i.e., job satisfaction, engagement).ObjectiveTo shed light on how medical faculty’s experiences of their job demands and job resources might differentially affect their ill-being and their well-being with special attention to the role that the work-life interface plays in these processes.MethodsQualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze interviews from 30 medical faculty (19 women, 11 men, average tenure 13.36 years) at a top research hospital in Canada.FindingsMedical faculty’s experiences of work-life conflict were severe. Faculty’s job demands had coalescing (i.e., interactive) effects on their stress, work-life conflict, and exhaustion. Although supportive job resources (e.g., coworker support) helped to mitigate the negative effects of job demands, stimulating job resources (e.g., challenging work) contributed to greater work-life conflict, stress, and exhaustion. Thus, for these medical faculty job resources play a dual-role for work-life conflict. Moreover, although faculty experienced high emotional exhaustion, they did not experience the other components of burnout (i.e., reduced self-efficacy, and depersonalization). Some faculty engaged in cognitive reappraisal strategies to mitigate their experiences of work-life conflict and its harmful consequences.ConclusionThis study suggests that the precise nature and effects of job demands and job resources may be more complex than current research suggests. Hospital leadership should work to lessen unnecessary job demands, increase supportive job resources, recognize all aspects of job performance, and, given faculty’s high levels of work engagement, encourage a climate that fosters work-life balance.

Yoga an effective strategy for self-management of stress-related problems and wellbeing during COVID19 lockdown: A cross-sectional study.

This cross-sectional research aims to study the effect of yoga practice on the illness perception, and wellbeing of healthy adults during 4-10 weeks of lockdown due to COVID19 outbreak. A total of 668 adults (64.7% males, M = 28.12 years, SD = 9.09 years) participated in the online survey. The participants were grouped as; yoga practitioners, other spiritual practitioners, and non-practitioners based on their responses to daily practices that they follow. Yoga practitioners were further examined based on the duration of practice as; long-term, mid-term and beginners. Multivariate analysis indicates that yoga practitioners had significantly lower depression, anxiety, & stress (DASS), and higher general wellbeing (SWGB) as well as higher peace of mind (POMS) than the other two groups. The results further revealed that the yoga practitioners significantly differed in the perception of personal control, illness concern and emotional impact of COVID19. However, there was no significant difference found for the measure of resilience (BRS) in this study. Yoga practitioners also significantly differed in the cognitive reappraisal strategy for regulating their emotions than the other two groups. Interestingly, it was found that beginners -those who had started practicing yoga only during the lockdown period reported no significant difference for general wellbeing and peace of mind when compared to the mid- term practitioner. Evidence supports that yoga was found as an effective self- management strategy to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, and maintain wellbeing during COVID19 lockdown.

Being Mindful at University: A Pilot Evaluation of the Feasibility of an Online Mindfulness-Based Mental Health Support Program for Students.

University study can be a life period of heightened psychological distress for many students. The development of new preventive and intervention programs to support well-being in university students is a fundamental challenge for mental health professionals. We designed an 8-week online mindfulness-based program (eMBP) combining a face-to-face approach, text, audio, video components, and support psychotherapy principles with a unique intensive reminder system using the Facebook Messenger and Slack applications in two separate runs (N = 692). We assessed the program’s effect on mindful experiencing, perceived stress, emotion regulation strategies, self-compassion, negative affect, and quality of life. The results of the presented pilot study confirmed that eMBP is a feasible and effective tool in university students’ mental health support. The students who completed the eMBP reported a reduction of perceived stress with a large effect size (pη2 = 0.42) as well as a decrease of negative affect experience frequency and intensity (pη2 = 0.31), an increase of being mindful in their life (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire subscales:pη2 = 0.21, 0.27, 0.25, 0.28, 0.28), and a higher rate of self-compassion (pη2 = 0.28) with a medium effect size. A small effect size was found in the frequency of using a cognitive reappraisal strategy (pη2 = 0.073). One new result is the observation of an eMBP effect (pη2 = 0.27) on the decrease in attributed importance to the quality-of-life components replicated in two consecutive runs of the program. The study affirms that mindfulness-based interventions can be effectively delivered in an eHealth form to university students.

COGNITIVE SELF-REGULATION STRATEGIES AND RESILIENCE IN PATIENTS WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS

Background: Medical, economic, socio-demographic, psychological consequences of T2DM justify the need for the development of an interdisciplinary program of clinical and psychological support of patients with T2DM. Aim. This paper aims to study cognitive self-regulation strategies and resilience in patients with T2DM taking into account the duration of the disease, its perception as a severe threat, as well as analysis of the correlation between cognitive self-regulation strategies and resilience components, to clarify the targets of psychotherapeutic interventions in T2DM patients. Materials and methods: An experimental study has been conducted. The study involved 30 patients with a clinical diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (ICD-10 code E11). The clinical psychological method has been used in the study namely psychodiagnostic (controlled, partially standardized) interview and the analysis of medical documentation. The experimental psychological method involves the use of psychodiagnostic techniques: the Adult’s Resilience test, the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Cognitive Representations of Illness Questionnaire, the Types of Attitude toward Disease technique. For statistical analysis, the following methods have been used: descriptive statistics, comparative statistics (Mann–Whitney criteria, Spearman's rank correlation method). All calculations were performed using the StatSoft STATISTICA 10.0 software package for Windows. Results. It has been revealed that the cognitive representation transforms according to the disease duration and its perception as a severe threat. In T2DM patients, the structural organization of resilience alters with increasing duration of disease. Components of resilience (persistence, self-efficacy, internal locus of control, family and social relationships, spirituality) contribute to cognitive reappraisal of the aversive nature of T2DM. The targets of psychotherapeutic interventions in patients with T2DM are reduction of helplessness-hopelessness construct and an increase of acceptance cognition; transformations of the structure of cognitive representations and cognitive reappraisal strategies occur through increasing links with the components of resilience. Conclusion: cognitive representations about T2DM and components of resilience transform in patients as the disease develops. With an increase in the duration of T2DM, the cognitive helplessness construct remains stable. It has been found that groups of patients with a perception of T2DM as a severe and moderate threat significantly differ both in the components of cognitive perceptions and in the valence of cognitive reevaluation. The targets of psychotherapeutic interventions in patients with type 2 diabetes are formulated.

Are Emotion Regulation Strategies Impacted By Executive Functions? An Experimental Study

The ability to exert influence on our emotions play a significant role in the attainment of our goals. To have control over when and how we experience emotions are thought to be impacted by higher cognitive processes such as executive functions. However, there is inadequate research to support this notion. Hence, we examined the relationship between executive functions – updating, shifting and inhibition – and emotion regulation strategies – cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We predicted that higher updating would positively relate to cognitive reappraisal, while inhibition would positively relate to expressive suppression. We further hypothesized that shifting would positively relate to both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Participants completed updating, shifting and inhibition tasks. Then they used expressive suppression or cognitive reappraisal strategies in response to unpleasant pictures, accompanied with physiological recording. Faster updating was associated with a larger heart rate deceleration during reappraisal. Inhibition was associated with a more frequent use of suppression. Overall, these data confirm the idea that a higher level of executive functions is partially related to the efficient application of emotion regulation strategy. As to other physiological measures, although typical patterns of emotional responding were observed, they did not correlate with the executive function measures during emotion regulation

Social Media Activities, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Their Interactions on People's Mental Health in COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the general population’s life worldwide. People may spend more time on social media because of policies like “work at home”. Using a cross-sectional dataset collected through an online survey in February 2020, in China, we examined (1) the relationships between social media activities and people’s mental health status and (2) the moderation effect of emotional-regulation strategies. The sample included people aged ≥18 years from 32 provinces and regions in China (N = 3159). The inferential analyses included a set of multiple linear regressions with interactions. Our results showed that sharing timely, accurate, and positive COVID-19 information, reducing excessive discussions on COVID-19, and promoting caring online interactions rather than being judgmental, might positively associate with the general public’s psychological well-being. Additionally, the relationships between social media activities and psychological well-being varied at different emotion-regulation strategy levels. Adopting the cognitive reappraisal strategy might allay the adverse relationships between certain social media activities and mental health indicators. Our findings expanded the theory of how social media activities can be associated with a human being’s mental health and how it can interact with emotion-regulation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Influence of Cognitive Reappraisal and Distraction Strategy on Relieving Negative Affect: Using Intrapersonal Regulation and Interpersonal Regulation

The Influence of Cognitive Reappraisal and Distraction Strategy on Relieving Negative Affect: Using Intrapersonal Regulation and Interpersonal Regulation

Training negative connectivity patterns between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and amygdala through fMRI-based neurofeedback to target adolescent socially-avoidant behaviour

Social anxiety is prevalent in adolescence. Given its role in maintaining fears, reducing social avoidance through cognitive reappraisal may help attenuate social anxiety. We used fMRI-based neurofeedback (NF) to increase ‘adaptive’ patterns of negative connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the amygdala to change reappraisal ability, and alter social avoidance and approach behaviours in adolescents. Twenty-seven female participants aged 13–17 years with varying social anxiety levels completed a fMRI-based NF training task where they practiced cognitive reappraisal strategies, whilst receiving real-time feedback of DLPFC-amygdala connectivity. All participants completed measures of cognitive reappraisal and social approach-avoidance behaviour before and after NF training. Avoidance of happy faces was associated with greater social anxiety pre-training. Participants who were unable to acquire a more negative pattern of connectivity through NF training displayed significantly greater avoidance of happy faces at post-training compared to pre-training. These ‘maladaptive’ participants also reported significant decreases in re-appraisal ability from pre to post-training. In contrast, those who were able to acquire a more ‘adaptive’ connectivity pattern did not show these changes in social avoidance and re-appraisal. Future research could consider using strategies to improve the capacity of NF training to boost youth social-approach behaviour.

Electroencephalogram characteristics under successful cognitive reappraisal in emotion regulation

Cognitive reappraisal is an important strategy for emotion regulation. Studies show that even healthy people may not be able to implement this strategy successfully, but the underlying neural mechanism behind the behavioral observation of success or failure of reappraisal is unclear. In this paper, 28 healthy college students participated in an experiment of emotional regulation with the cognitive reappraisal strategy. They were asked to complete the cognitive psychological questionnaires before the experiment. Their behavioral scores and scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were collected simultaneously during the experiment. We divided all the subjects into two groups, according to the statistical test of valence scores. Then we analyzed their questionnaires, early event-related potential (ERP) components N200, P200, and late positive potential (LPP), and calculated the correlation between the valence score and the amplitude of LPP. The results showed that, in both groups, compared with negative-watching, the reappraisal induced larger N200 and P200 components and there were two modulation patterns ("increase" and "decrease") of the reappraisal effect on the amplitude of early LPP (300-1 000 ms after stimulus onset). Moreover, correlation analysis showed that significant positive correlation between two differences in the successful group, i.e., the greater difference in the valence scoresin between reappraisal and negative-watching, the greater difference in the amplitude of early LPP between reappraisal and negative-watching; but no such effect was found in the failure group. These results indicated that, whether reappraisal was successful or not, no significant effect on early ERP components was found; and there were different patterns of the reappraisal effect on early LPP. The difference between successful and failure groups was mainly reflected in early LPP, that is, the EEG characteristics and behavioral scores of successful group were significantly positively correlated. Furthermore, the small sample analysis showed that this correlation only existed in the pattern of "increase". In the future, more research of this modulation mode is necessary in order to find more stable EEG characteristics under successful cognitive reappraisal in emotion regulation.

Sex-related differences in brain dynamism at rest as neural correlates of positive and negative valence system constructs

ABSTRACT Clinical anxiety and depression are the most prevalent mental illnesses, likely representing maladaptive expressions of negative valence systems concerned with conditioned responses to fear, threat, loss, and frustrative nonreward. These conditions exhibit similar, striking sex/gender-related differences in onset, incidence, and severity for which the neural correlates are not yet established. In alarge sample of neurotypical young adults, we demonstrate that intrinsic brain dynamism metrics derived from sex-sensitive models of whole-brain network function are significantly associated with valence system traits. Surprisingly, we found that greater brain dynamism is strongly positively correlated to anxiety and depression traits in males, but almost wholly decoupled from traits for important cognitive control and reappraisal strategies associated with positive valence. Conversely, intrinsic brain dynamism is strongly positively coupled to drive, novelty-seeking and self-control in females with only rare or non-significant directional negative correlation with anxiety and depression traits. Our results suggest that the dynamic neural correlates of traits for valence, anxiety and depression are significantly different in males/men and females/women. These findings may relate to the known sex/gender-related differences in cognitive reappraisal of emotional experiences and clinical presentations of anxiety and depression, with potential relevance to gold standard therapies based on enhancing cognitive control strategies.

Mindfulness in primary school children as a route to enhanced life satisfaction, positive outlook and effective emotion regulation

BackgroundMindfulness programmes as a potential avenue of enhancing pupil wellbeing are beginning to show great promise. However, research concerning the effectiveness of mindfulness training for primary aged school children (7–11 years of age) has been neglected.MethodsBuilding on methodological limitations of prior research, this study employed an active controlled design to assess the longer term wellbeing and emotion regulation outcomes after a 6 week mindfulness programme (Living Mindfully Programme, UK), for a group of school children aged between 9 and 10. The programme was delivered by class teachers as part of their normal curriculum entitlement. One hundred and eight children took part from across three schools in North East of England. Participants formed a treatment group (n = 64), active control (n = 19) and wait list control (n = 25). Self-report measures of wellbeing, mindfulness and emotion regulation were collected at pre and post training as well as at 3 months follow up.ResultsReliable findings, judged by medium to large effect sizes across both post intervention, follow-up and between both controls, demonstrated enhancement in a number of domains. Immediately after training and follow up, when compared with the wait list control, children who received mindfulness training showed significant improvements in mindfulness (d = .76 and .77), Positive Outlook (d = .55 and .64) and Life Satisfaction (d = .65 and 0.72). Even when compared to an active control, the effects remained although diminished reflecting the positive impact of the active control condition. Furthermore, a significant positive relationship was found between changes in mindfulness and changes in cognitive reappraisal.ConclusionsTaken together, this study provides preliminary evidence that the Living Mindfully Primary Programme is feasibly delivered by school staff, enjoyed by the children and may significantly improve particular components of wellbeing. Importantly, higher levels of mindfulness as a result of training may be related to effective emotional regulatory and cognitive reappraisal strategies.

Use of linguistic distancing and cognitive reappraisal strategies during emotion regulation in children, adolescents, and young adults.

Regulating one's emotions is an important psychological skill at all ages. Cognitive reappraisal-changing the meaning of a stimulus to alter its emotional impact-is an effective emotion regulation technique. Prior work shows that adults spontaneously reduce their use of present tense verbs and first-person singular pronouns (e.g., I, me, mine) when engaging in cognitive reappraisal, a linguistic shift that is thought to track increased psychological distance. Here, we investigated whether such linguistic distancing during emotion regulation varied across age. Participants aged 10 to 23 (N = 112) spoke aloud their thoughts and feelings while completing a classic cognitive reappraisal task. Participants' verbal responses were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for linguistic distancing, compliance with reappraisal instructions, and use of 8 different reappraisal strategies identified by prior researchers. Results replicated prior work in a developmental sample: Reappraisal decreased negative affect and increased linguistic distancing, and stronger linguistic distancing during reappraisal was associated with more successful emotion regulation. Contrary to hypotheses, we found no age differences in linguistic distancing or reappraisal success, even after excluding trials on which participants did not comply with reappraisal instructions. However, reappraisal strategy use varied across age. Use of the changing circumstances and separating oneself (i.e., distancing) strategies increased across age whereas changing consequences use decreased across age. Additionally, in adolescence, challenging reality use was elevated and problem-solving use was reduced compared to other ages. Results suggest that linguistic distancing during emotion regulation is stable from age 10 to 23 but use of cognitive reappraisal strategies differs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Repeated transcranial direct current stimulation of dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex improves executive functions, cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation, and control over emotional processing in borderline personality disorder: A randomized, sham-controlled, parallel-group study

BackgroundBorderline personality disorder (BPD) is primarily characterized by deficient emotion regulation. Impaired cognitive control over negative emotions is central to emotion dysregulation in BPD. Respective executive dysfunctions are associated with hypoactivation of prefrontal regions, and consecutive alterations of fronto-limbic network functionality. Here, we investigated the effect of increasing activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) with repeated transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on (1) executive dysfunctions and (2) whether improving cognitive control affects emotion dysregulation and emotional processing in BPD. MethodsThirty-two patients diagnosed with BPD were randomly assigned to active stimulation (N = 16) or sham stimulation (N = 16) group in a randomized, sham-controlled, parallel-group design. They received 10 sessions of active (2 mA, 20 min, anodal left- cathodal right DLPFC) or sham tDCS over 10 days. Major executive functions, emotion regulation strategies, and emotional processing of the patients were assessed before and immediately after the intervention. ResultsThe active stimulation group showed a significant improvement in major executive function domains. Importantly, cognitive reappraisal strategy of emotion regulation and several factors of emotional processing involved in the control of emotion significantly improved in the active stimulation group after the intervention. Factors related to emotional expression were, however, not affected. LimitationsThe single-blind design, absence of follow-up measures, and the intrinsically limited focality of tDCS are limitations of this study. ConclusionsIncreasing activity of the DLPFC improves executive functioning in BPD and improves ´cognitive control over negative emotions. Cognitive control interventions could be a potential, symptom-driven therapeutic approach in BPD.

Neural characteristics of cognitive reappraisal success and failure: An ERP study.

IntroductionCognitive reappraisal, an important strategy of emotion regulation, can change emotional experience and attention to emotional information. However, not all individuals can deploy reappraisal strategies successfully. In the current study, we investigated event‐related potential (ERP) characteristics of reappraisal success and of reappraisal failure.MethodsTwenty‐six participants were divided into the success group or the failure group based on self‐report ratings of how successful they were in reducing their response to negative images using cognitive reappraisal strategy. All participants viewed 30 neutral images and 30 negative images which they were asked to just watch, and 30 negative stimuli that they were asked to reappraise, while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded.ResultsThe success group reported a significant reduction in the unpleasantness of negative images than the failure group in the negative‐reappraisal condition. The ERP data indicated that two time windows differentiated between the success and failure groups. In 200–300 ms, P200 was significantly more positive to the negative‐watch condition relative to both negative‐reappraisal and neutral conditions in the failure group, while no difference was observed in the success group. In 300–5,000 ms, cognitive reappraisal led to increased late positive potential (LPP) relative to negative‐watch in the early and middle latency windows (300–3,100 ms) in both groups; in the late latency window (3,100–5,000 ms), the reappraisal success group showed the LPP amplitude to the negative‐reappraisal stimuli to be more positive than to the negative‐watch stimuli, while no difference was found in the reappraisal failure group.ConclusionOur study provided direct evidence that different neurophysiological features were associated with reappraisal success and failure while engaging in the reappraisal of negative stimuli. This result will contribute to better understanding of the neural mechanism of emotion regulation in emotional disorders (i.e., depression and anxiety).

Regulation of negative emotions through positive reappraisal and distancing in high-trait-anxious women

BackgroundPositive reappraisal and distancing are two distinct cognitive reappraisal strategies for emotion regulation. Critically however, research examining the impact of elevated trait anxiety on cognitive reappraisal has often conflated these strategies. Thus, the present study investigated whether high-trait-anxious (HTA) women can effectively utilize positive reappraisal and distancing to regulate emotional responses to negative stimuli. MethodsTwenty-six HTA women and twenty-seven low-trait-anxious (LTA) women were investigated in a self-generated reappraisal paradigm. Subjective measures of emotional regulation and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants were instructed to passively view neutral or negative pictures, or to reinterpret negative pictures in a positive way (positive reappraisal) or a detached and unemotional way (distancing). ResultsHTA women, as compared to LTA women, reported smaller reductions in negative affect after positive reappraisal and smaller reductions in emotional arousal after distancing. Though ERP data did not reveal corresponding differences in the centro-parietal late positive potential during emotion regulation, data did reveal HTA women exhibited enhanced recruitment of cognitive control during positive reappraisal and greater preparatory processing before engaging in distancing. LimitationsFuture research should examine the generalizability of the present results in clinical anxiety individuals, male sample and other reappraisal strategies. ConclusionsOverall, HTA women appeared to recruit more cortical resources, suggestive of compensatory mechanisms, to achieve a similar performance as LTA women when engaging in positive reappraisal and distancing strategies to regulate negative emotions. Therefore, the findings demonstrate that HTA women are characterized by the inefficient implementation of positive reappraisal and distancing strategies.

More habitual physical activity is linked to the use of specific, more adaptive cognitive reappraisal strategies in dealing with stressful events.

Physical activity may improve stress resilience and well‐being. However, specific links to individuals' coping abilities with stressful events are sparse. This study tested whether individuals reporting more physical activity in daily life showed a higher capacity for cognitive reappraisal in dealing with potential stressors. Ninety‐eight participants reported their regular physical activity in the Freiburger Questionnaire on Physical Activity and completed a maximum performance test of their inventiveness in generating reappraisals for situations depicting real‐life stressors. The latter provides scores for overall cognitive reappraisal capacity (quantity of ideas) and preference for specific cognitive reappraisal strategies (quality of ideas; positive reinterpretation; problem‐oriented, de‐emphasizing reappraisals). Additionally, participants' anxious and depressive dispositions and general creative abilities were assessed. Results showed no association between time spent on physical activities per week and total quantity of generated reappraisal ideas. However, a higher degree of physical activity was specifically linked to a greater relative preference for the reappraisal strategy of positive reinterpretation. Opposite associations emerged for the strategy of de‐emphasizing reappraisals. The findings support the notion of more adaptive cognitive reappraisal use in more physically active individuals and may advance research on interrelationships between physical activity and cognitive and affective functions implicated in stress management.

Alleviating knowledge contribution loafing among engineering designers by ethical leadership: the role of knowledge-based psychological ownership and emotion regulation strategies

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how ethical leadership alleviates knowledge contribution loafing among engineering designers through the mediating effect of knowledge-based psychological ownership and the moderating effect of emotion regulation strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a questionnaire survey to obtain 344 valid sample from engineering designers and uses partial least squares-structural equation modeling to analyze data.FindingsThe results demonstrate that ethical leadership is a key factor to alleviate knowledge contribution loafing. Knowledge-based psychological ownership is a main factor causing knowledge contribution loafing and mediates the influence of ethical leadership on knowledge contribution loafing. Furthermore, cognitive reappraisal (a response-focused emotion regulation strategy) moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and knowledge contribution loafing, and the effect of ethical leadership on knowledge contribution loafing is stronger when cognitive reappraisal is high.Practical implicationsEngineering design organizations may inspire ethical leadership and pay attention to psychological state of designers. Leaders may help designers overcome knowledge-based psychological ownership by the influence of ethical leadership. During the process of knowledge interaction, designers may adopt cognitive reappraisal strategy consciously.Originality/valueThis study addresses the knowledge gap that ethical leadership affects knowledge contribution loafing with knowledge-based psychological ownership as the intermediary. This study also advances the literature on leadership and emotion regulation and extends the scope of social learning theory in knowledge management domain through examining the moderate role of emotion regulation strategies.