Emotional Reactivity Research Articles

Daily-life reactivity and emotion regulation in children with social anxiety disorder

Prominent models of adult social anxiety disorder emphasize the role of hyperreactivity and emotion regulation (ER) difficulties. However, it is unclear whether these factors are relevant in childhood, a critical period for the development of this disorder. We used ecological momentary assessment with mobile phones to assess daily-life emotional reactivity and use and effectiveness of ER strategies in children aged 10–13 years. We compared three groups: Social anxiety disorder (n = 29), clinical controls with mixed anxiety disorders (n = 27) and healthy controls (n = 31). We also investigated long-term effects of ER on trait social anxiety 12 months later. Hierarchical linear modelling revealed higher emotional reactivity and more use of suppression in children with social anxiety disorder compared to clinical and healthy controls. Contrary to our expectations, children with social anxiety disorder reported more use of avoidance and reappraisal compared to clinical, but not healthy, controls. The groups did not differ in subjective effectiveness of ER strategies. Use of suppression, avoidance, and rumination each predicted an increase in social anxiety 12 months later. Taken together, our results extend previous findings from lab and questionnaire studies and illustrate the role of maladaptive ER for child social anxiety disorder.

Relational turbulence during family transitions: a lifespan perspective and roadmap for future research

ABSTRACT This essay answers recent calls to explore the application of Relational Turbulence Theory (RTT) within family relationships (Knobloch, L. K., Solomon, D. H., Theiss, J. A., & McLaren, R. M. [2018]. Relational turbulence theory: Understanding family communication during times of change. In Engaging theories in family communication [pp. 255–266]. Routledge). Although family relationships are perceived to be contextually distinct from romantic partnerships given the perceived involuntary nature of these relationships, we argue relational turbulence manifests in family members’ relational experiences and communication processes, at multiple levels of family systems, and across various types of family transitions that evoke the experiences of relational uncertainty, interdependence processes, biased cognitions, emotional reactivity, polarizing communication, and relational turbulence among various members of the family system. In this essay, we present a roadmap for research that both integrates existing insights and suggests lines of future inquiry regarding relational turbulence in families.

Sentient libraries: empowering user expeditions with emotional artificial intelligence

Purpose The study aims to forecast emotional artificial intelligence’s (EAI) trajectory in libraries, provide actionable implementation recommendations and outline potential research paths. It seeks to establish ethical benchmarks, considering emotional well-being alongside informational needs. Understanding EAI in libraries becomes pivotal, envisioning libraries as empathetic, user-centric spaces. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a multifaceted approach, intertwining comprehensive literature analysis, illustrative case studies and forward-thinking assessments. It combines foundational knowledge from various academic sources, integrating real-world examples of EAI implementations in library settings. The methodology goes beyond observational analysis, scrutinizing ethical quandaries and societal impacts. It comprehensively explains EAI’s role while delineating guidelines for responsible integration and future exploration. Findings Integrating emotional intelligence (EI) enhances resource curation, fosters inclusive virtual learning environments and elevates continuous service enhancement in libraries. It allows tailored recommendations, emotionally perceptive virtual assistants and adaptive responses to diverse emotional needs, reshaping libraries into empathetic spaces. Research limitations/implications Ethical considerations pose significant challenges, especially regarding privacy, security and fair usage of EAI. Libraries must mitigate biases and ensure equitable emotional services. Adapting to diverse emotional needs within library services requires a delicate balance between empathetic approaches and upholding ethical standards. Practical implications EAI revolutionizes user experiences, offering personalized, engaging interactions while ensuring ethical, inclusive library environments. Implementing EAI requires navigating biases and ethical complexities, demanding continuous refinement and using user-focused strategies. Social implications Integrating EAI redefines the library’s role, transforming libraries into emotionally perceptive hubs catering to users’ intellectual and emotional needs. It emphasizes fairness, trust and ethical conduct in providing empathetic, inclusive services. Originality/value This research pioneers the integration of EI in libraries, offering insights into ethical frameworks, bias mitigation and user-centric approaches. It envisions libraries as empathetic, responsive spaces, enriching lives through emotional understanding and responsiveness.

The role of environmental sensitivity in the experience and processing of emotions: implications for well-being.

Several theories suggest that people differ significantly in their environmental sensitivity, defined as the capacity to perceive and process information about the environment. More sensitive people, who make up between 25% and 30% of the population, are not only more negatively affected by adverse experiences but also benefit disproportionately from positive ones, in line with differential susceptibility theory. Heightened emotional reactivity has been identified as one of the key markers of sensitivity. However, the current understanding of the relationship between sensitivity and the experience and processing of emotions remains limited. In the current paper we propose a new conceptual framework for the multiple ways in which environmental sensitivity may impact on different aspects of the experience and processing of emotions. This includes heightened perception of emotions, increased emotional reactivity, as well as the important role of emotion regulation for the well-being of highly sensitive people. In addition, we also consider rearing experiences in shaping sensitivity and emotion regulation. The reviewed empirical studies largely support the conceptual model but more research is needed to explore the dynamics between sensitivity and emotions further. Finally, we discuss several implications for well-being before making a case for the inclusion of individual differences in environmental sensitivity in affective science. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.

Misophonia reactions in the general population are correlated with strong emotional reactions to other everyday sensory-emotional experiences.

Misophonic experiences are common in the general population, and they may shed light on everyday emotional reactions to multi-modal stimuli. We performed an online study of a non-clinical sample to understand the extent to which adults who have misophonic reactions are generally reactive to a range of audio-visual emotion-inducing stimuli. We also hypothesized that musicality might be predictive of one's emotional reactions to these stimuli because music is an activity that involves strong connections between sensory processing and meaningful emotional experiences. Participants completed self-report scales of misophonia and musicality. They also watched videos meant to induce misophonia, autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) and musical chills, and were asked to click a button whenever they had any emotional reaction to the video. They also rated the emotional valence and arousal of each video. Reactions to misophonia videos were predicted by reactions to ASMR and chills videos, which could indicate that the frequency with which individuals experience emotional responses varies similarly across both negative and positive emotional contexts. Musicality scores were not correlated with measures of misophonia. These findings could reflect a general phenotype of stronger emotional reactivity to meaningful sensory inputs. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.

Emotional reactivity and past self-injurious behavior moderate the association between trauma exposure and fearlessness about death.

As suicide remains a global public health concern, recent work has sought to characterize mechanisms underlying the transition from suicidal ideation to action. Acquired capability for suicide, or fearlessness about death, has been identified as one key factor underlying this transition; however, understanding how this capability emerges remains limited. This study sought to extend previous work on the correlates of fearlessness about death by examining its relationship with painful and provocative events and emotional reactivity. We tested the extent to which trait emotional reactivity and past self-injurious behavior moderated the relationship between assaultive trauma exposure and fearlessness about death in a diverse sample of 273 community adults (aged 18-55, M/SD = 32.77/10.78). A three-way interaction emerged, such that among individuals with heightened emotional reactivity and a history of self-injurious behavior (suicide attempt or non-suicidal self-injury), assaultive trauma was associated with increased fearlessness about death. In contrast, among adults with low emotional reactivity and a history of self-injurious behavior, assaultive trauma was associated with reduced fearlessness about death. Results suggest that emotional reactivity may be a key dispositional factor that influences how trauma exposure and self-injurious behavior impact fearlessness about death.

Elevated unanticipated acoustic startle reactivity in dyslexia.

People with dyslexia, a neurodevelopmental disorder of reading, are highly attuned to the emotional world. Compared with their typically developing peers, children with dyslexia exhibit greater autonomic nervous system reactivity and facial behaviour to emotion- and empathy-inducing film clips. Affective symptoms, such as anxiety, are also more common in children with dyslexia than in those without. Here, we investigated whether the startle response, an automatic reaction that lies at the interface of emotion and reflex, is elevated in dyslexia. We measured facial behaviour, electrodermal reactivity (a sympathetic nervous system measure) and emotional experience in response to a 100 ms, 105 dB unanticipated acoustic startle task in 30 children with dyslexia and 20 comparison children without dyslexia (aged 7-13) who were matched on age, sex and nonverbal reasoning. Our results indicated that the children with dyslexia had greater total facial behaviour and electrodermal reactivity to the acoustic startle task than the children without dyslexia. Across the sample, greater electrodermal reactivity during the startle predicted greater parent-reported anxiety symptoms. These findings contribute to an emerging picture of heightened emotional reactivity in dyslexia and suggest accentuated sympathetic nervous system reactivity may contribute to the elevated anxiety that is often seen in this population.

Shared and distinctive brain networks underlying trait and state rumination

Although trait and state rumination play a central role in the exacerbation of negative affect, evidence suggests that they are weakly correlated and exert distinct influences on emotional reactivity to stressors. Whether trait and state rumination share a common or exhibit distinct neural substrate remains unclear. In this study, we utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) combined with connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to identify neural fingerprints associated with trait and state rumination. CPM identified distinctive functional connectivity (FC) profiles that contribute to the prediction of trait rumination, primarily involving FC within the default mode network (DMN) and the dorsal attention network (DAN) as well as FC between the DMN, control network (CN), DAN, and salience network (SN). Conversely, state rumination was predominantly associated with FC between the DMN and CN. Furthermore, the predictive features of trait rumination can be robustly generalized to predict state rumination, and vice versa. In conclusion, this study illuminates the importance of both DMN and non-DMN systems in the emergence and persistence of rumination. While trait rumination was associated with stronger and broader FC than state rumination, the generalizability of the predictive features underscores the presence of shared neural mechanisms between the two forms of rumination. These identified connectivity fingerprints may hold promise as targets for innovative therapeutic interventions aimed at mitigating rumination-related negative affect.

"There is No Help:" Caregiver Perspectives on Service Needs for Adolescents and Adults with Profound Autism.

The underrepresentation of individuals with profound autism (who require 24/7 access to care) in autism research has resulted in limited knowledge about their service needs and a lack of evidence-based practices tailored to those needs. This study explored caregiver perspectives on service needs, barriers to accessing care, and treatment priorities to guide treatment development and improvement of service delivery. A sequential mixed-methods design integrated quantitative survey data (n = 423; Mage = 18.89years; 26.7% female) with qualitative interviews (n = 20) with caregivers of adolescents and adults with profound autism. Quantitative findings indicated regular socialization opportunities were the most frequently endorsed unmet service need (60.3% of caregivers), followed by primary health care with autism-trained staff (59.3%), social skills instruction (55.8%), life skills instruction (51.3%), and behavioral support (47.3%). Higher likelihood of needing social activity groups was associated with elevated emotional reactivity, higher language level, minoritized ethnicity, and lower household income. Greater need for specialized primary health care was associated with lower income, while the need for social and life skills instruction was associated with increased age and elevated dysphoria. Qualitative analysis identified 10 themes that converged and expanded quantitative findings by highlighting a pervasive shortage of individualized, goal-oriented services, common barriers to care, and the priority of developing centralized treatment settings that coordinate care throughout adulthood. This study identified pressing service needs for adolescents and adults with profound autism in the United States. These insights are crucial for improving the accessibility and quality of clinical care.

First impressions: Do faces with scars and palsies influence warmth, competence and humanization?

A glance is enough to assign psychological attributes to others. Attractiveness is associated with positive attributes ('beauty-is-good' stereotype). Here, we raise the question of a similar but negative bias. Are people with facial anomalies associated with negative personal characteristics? We hypothesized that biases against faces with anomalies arise because of negative stereotypes (less warmth and competence) and forms of dehumanization (animalistic and mechanistic). We enrolled 1493 mTurk participants (N = 1306 after exclusion) to assess 31 traits of photographed people using 60 pairs of photographs of the same person before and after plastic surgery. Half anomalous faces had a scar and the other half had a palsy. To calculate warmth and competence, we conducted a principal components analysis of the 31 attributes. Animalistic dehumanization was assessed by averaging reverse-scored ratings corresponding to moral sensibility and rationality/logic, and mechanistic dehumanization by averaging across reverse-scored ratings corresponding to emotional responsiveness and interpersonal warmth. We found that both kinds of anomalous faces were seen as less warm, competent and were dehumanized. Our findings suggest that an 'anomalous-is-bad' stereotype generalizes regardless of the aetiology of the anomaly. This effect may be related to a reverse halo effect, that is, the horn effect.

The effects of acute versus repeated cannabidiol administration on trauma-relevant emotional reactivity: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Despite the widespread use and perceived efficacy of cannabidiol (CBD) as an anxiolytic, few controlled studies have evaluated the effects of CBD on anxiety-relevant indications, and only one has done so in the context of trauma-related symptoms. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature. Participants were 42 trauma-exposed individuals (Mage = 23.12 years, SDage = 6.61) who endorsed elevated stress. They were randomly assigned to take 300 mg of oral CBD or placebo daily for 1 week. Acute (i.e., following an initial 300 mg dose) and repeated (i.e., following 1 week of daily 300 mg dosing) effects of CBD were evaluated in relation to indicators of anxious arousal (i.e., anxiety, distress, heart rate) in response to idiographic trauma script presentation. The results of the current study suggest that relative to placebo, 300 mg CBD did not significantly reduce anxiety, B = 13.37, t(37) = 1.71, p =.096, d = 0.09, Bayes factor (BF10) = 0.54; distress, B = 15.20, t(37) = 1.31, p =.197, d = 0.07, BF10 = 0.51; or heart rate, B = -1.09, t(36) = -0.32, p =.755, d = 0.02, BF10 = 0.29, evoked by idiographic trauma script presentation in the context of acute or repeated administration. These data suggest that CBD may not effectively reduce trauma-relevant emotional arousal; however, more work is needed to confidently assert such claims due to the small sample size. The current study extends the groundwork for additional studies in this important area.

Emotional Awareness Is Correlated With Ambulatory Heart Rate Variability: A Replication and Extension.

In healthy volunteers, a positive association has previously been observed between emotional awareness (EA), the ability to identify and describe emotional experiences in oneself and others, and resting heart rate variability (HRV), which is dominated by vagus nerve activity. The current study aimed to investigate the EA-HRV association across multiple assessments in a "real-world" ambulatory context in patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS) who are at genetic risk for sudden cardiac death. Participants (157 LQTS patients; Mean Age = 35.1, SD Age = 10.4; 115 women) completed the levels of emotional awareness scale (LEAS) on one occasion, which served as our measure of EA. In an ecological momentary assessment study involving 10 assessments per day over 3 days, multiple 5-minute ECG assessments (mean = 24.6, SD = 5.1) were obtained in each patient using a Holter monitor, from which high-frequency HRV (HF-HRV) was computed on each occasion. There was a significant positive association between LEAS scores and HF-HRV controlling for biobehavioral covariates. We also detected a similar inverse relation between EA and mean heart rate. These findings suggest that, in patients with a well-defined genetic risk for ventricular arrhythmia and sudden death, the ability to experience emotions in a complex and differentiated way covaries with greater parasympathetic influences on the heart. These findings are consistent with the overlapping neural substrates of EA and HRV and their common contribution to adaptive emotional responding, consistent with the Neurovisceral Integration Model.

Resilience, Emotional Reactivity, Positive Attachment and Alienation among Adolescents of Indian Origin Residing in Australia

Resilience, Emotional Reactivity, Positive Attachment and Alienation among Adolescents of Indian Origin Residing in Australia

Racism and alcohol-related problems among Black adults: The role of negative emotionality to experiencing racism

IntroductionAlthough Black Americans tend to consume less alcohol than non-Hispanic/Latine White Americans, Black Americans who do drink alcohol appear at especially high risk for negative alcohol-related problems. This alcohol-based health disparity indicates a need to identify psycho-sociocultural factors that may play a role in drinking and related problems to inform prevention and treatment efforts. Minority stress-based models posit that stressors such as racism increase negative emotions, which may be associated with using substances such as alcohol to cope with negative emotions. Yet, little research has directly assessed emotional reactions to racism and whether it plays a role in drinking-related behaviors. MethodParticipants were 164 Black American undergraduates at a racially/ethnically diverse university who endorsed current alcohol use 18–48 (M = 21.7, SD = 4.3). Participants completed an online survey regarding their experiences with racism and alcohol-related behaviors. ResultsExperiencing more frequent racism was related to greater negative emotions experienced in response to racism (i.e., negative emotional reactivity to racism) and alcohol-related problems. More frequent racism was related to more alcohol-related problems via the sequential effects of negative emotional reactivity to racism and coping motivated drinking. ConclusionsThese data indicate that the experience of negative emotions that occur after experiencing racism and attempts to cope with those negative emotions by consuming alcohol play important roles in drinking behaviors among Black Americans.

The seeds of change: Antecedent variables and their impact in building grit and resilience through outdoor adventure education.

This study examines the impact of Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) on developing grit and resilience in adolescents. Focusing on a United States-based sample collected in 2015, it explores how antecedent variables such as age and gender influence these outcomes, integrating the PERMA model of well-being to investigate underlying mechanisms. The research employed a cross-sectional design with 350 participants aged 14-18 from various OAE courses. Data collection involved pre/post surveys assessing grit and resilience as experiences through mastery, relatedness, and emotional reactivity. The study utilized established inventories for grit and the Resilience Scales for Children and Adolescents. Findings revealed significant grit, mastery, and relatedness increases following the OAE program. Participants demonstrated enhanced perseverance and passion toward goals, increased sense of mastery, and better relational dynamics. However, emotional reactivity scores remained largely unchanged. Notably, the impact of these programs varied based on participants' gender and socioeconomic status, indicating differential effects across demographic groups. The study suggests that OAE programs effectively foster grit and resilience in adolescents, with varying impacts based on demographic factors. It highlights the necessity for inclusive and adaptive program designs that cater to diverse participant needs. The results contribute valuable insights to the field of youth development, emphasizing the role of OAE in enhancing key psychological traits essential for adolescents' growth and adaptation.

Inhibition in the emotional Hayling task: can hypnotic suggestion enhance cognitive control on a prepotent negative word?

ABSTRACT Recent studies suggest that instrumental hypnosis is a useful experimental tool to investigate emotional and language processing effects. However, the capacity of hypnotic suggestions to intervene during the response inhibition of emotional words remains elusive. This study investigated whether hypnotic suggestion can improve the inhibition of prepotent negative word responses in an emotional Hayling sentence completion task. High-suggestible participants performed a computerised emotional Hayling task. They were first asked to select the appropriate words ending highly predictable sentences among two propositions (initiation part), and then to select the filler words that did not end the sentences correctly (inhibition part). Half of the expected final words had a negative emotional valence, while the other half was neutral. The task was performed in a control condition (without suggestion) and with a hypnotic suggestion to decrease emotional reactivity. The results revealed that hypnotic suggestion (compared to the control condition) hastened response times on negative final words in the inhibition part, showing that hypnotic suggestion can enhance cognitive control over prepotent negative word responses in a sentence completion task. We suggest that this modulation stems from a reduction in the emotional relevance of the final words caused by the hypnotic suggestion.

MEDIC: Development and validation of a new instrument to assess emotional reactivity to medical stimuli in a representative community sample of adults

To support investigation of the etiology and psychophysiology of medical traumatic stress, we developed a standardized set of emotionally-salient medical images, called the ‘MEDical Image Collection’ (MEDIC), for use in neuroimaging or psychological research. This study aimed to establish internal consistency, test re-test reliability, and congruent validity of the image set. A representative sample of 300 adults in the United States were recruited via research recruitment platform, Prolific. Participants rated 124 images depicting medical stimuli on one of two dimensions: emotional arousal (i.e., how strongly an evoked emotion is felt) or affective valence (i.e., how positive or negative the evoked emotion is). Sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, including experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, were also assessed. To assess test re-test reliability, a subset (n = 200) rated the images on the same dimension a second time, 3 months later. The MEDIC image set was found to: (a) elicit a range of emotional arousal and valence ratings, (b) have excellent inter-rater reliability, (c) moderate test-retest reliability, and (d) good face validity. Results indicate the new MEDIC 124-image set is a reliable and valid instrument, enabling researchers to provide context-specific and emotionally-salient stimuli to individuals when studying affective responses in relation to health and medicine.

The growth of problematic media use over early childhood: Associations with long-term social and emotional outcomes

Problematic media use (PMU) tends to be related to significant social, emotional, and behavioral problems throughout life. Little research, however, has examined the development of PMU during early childhood, where media habits begin to form. The current longitudinal study examines the growth of PMU across early childhood (between 2.5 and 5.5 years of age) with a focus on predictors and outcomes (social, emotional, and parenting) of the intercept and slope of PMU over time. Participants (N = 269 children and their parents; 4.9% Asian American, 8.2% Black, 21% Hispanic or Latino, 63% White, 7% Mixed or Other race) completed questionnaires assessing PMU, media parenting, parental warmth and connection, and child social and emotional problems. Results indicated slight overall increases in PMU from ages 2.5 to 5.5. Emotional reactivity, aggression, and overall TV time predicted initial levels of PMU. Additionally, initial levels of PMU were related to social and emotional problems four years later. An increasing trajectory of PMU was associated with later aggression in childhood, even when controlling for initial levels of aggression. Implications for parents and prevention efforts aimed at reducing PMU are discussed.

Proprioception, Emotion and Social Responsiveness in Children with Developmental Disorders: An Exploratory Study in Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy and Different Neurodevelopmental Situations.

Proprioception has long been linked with emotional dysregulation in neurotypical adults. Neuropediatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and cerebral palsy (CP) are distinct entities and yet both present with deficits and challenges in sensory processing and the regulation of emotions. This study aimed to explore the relationship between proprioception and emotional-social performance in children and to compare proprioception and emotional-social performance in different underlying neurodevelopmental conditions. For this purpose, this cross-sectional study included 42 children with ASD, 34 children with CP and 50 typically developing peers. Proprioceptive acuity, proprioceptive reactive behavior as well as emotion regulation and social responsiveness were assessed. The results show a significant correlation between proprioceptive deficits and emotional difficulties in this pediatric sample, with distinct proprioceptive impairment patterns according to the underlying neurological disorder. Children with CP showed significant emotional knowledge deficits, while children with ASD predominantly showed challenges in social responsiveness. These data thus suggest a differentiated impact of proprioception on emotional-social performance in neurodevelopmental disorders and highlight proprioception as a potential therapeutic target for balancing emotion regulation in children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Estradiol modulates changes in effective connectivity in emotion regulation networks

Hormonal changes in ovarian hormones like estradiol (E2) during the menstrual cycle affect emotional processes, including emotion recognition, memory, and regulation. So far, the neural underpinnings of the effect of E2 on emotional experience have been investigated using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional connectivity. In the present study, we examined whether the intrinsic network dynamics at rest (i.e., directed effective connectivity) related to emotion regulation are (1) modulated by E2 levels and (2) linked to behavioral emotion regulation ability. Hence, 29 naturally cycling women participated in two resting-state fMRI scans in their early follicular phase after being administered a placebo or an E2 valerate, respectively. Emotion regulation ability was assessed using a standard emotion regulation task in which participants were asked to down-regulate their emotions in response to negative images. The regions of two functionally predefined neural networks related to emotional down-regulation and reactivity were used to investigate effective connectivity at rest using spectral dynamic causal modelling. We found that E2, compared to placebo, resulted in changes in effective connectivity in both networks. In the regulation network, prefrontal regions showed distinct connectivity in the E2 compared to the placebo condition, while mixed results evolved in the emotional reactivity network. Stepwise regressions revealed that in the E2 condition a connection from the parietal to the prefrontal cortex predicted regulation ability. Our results demonstrate that E2 levels influence effective connectivity in networks underlying emotion regulation and emotional reactivity. Thus, E2 and its potential modification via hormonal administration may play a supporting role in the treatment of mental disorders that show a dysregulation of emotions.