Name: psychophysiological assessment of the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies in childhood
Uploaded: 2017-02-11T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood at JoVE.com

We thank the children and families who have participated in our studies and the research assistants of the Emotion Regulation Lab for their assistance with data collection and coding.

NOTE: The university&#39;s institutional review board approved all procedures before recruitment or data collection with human subjects began. Parents provide informed consent for children&#39;s participation, and children provide verbal (or, verbal and written if older than 7 years) assent to participate in these activities.
1. Randomly Assign Participants to Experimental Conditions
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	<li>Test the effects of two different emotions and two different emotion regulation strategy instructions against a control ...

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	<li>Stegge, H., Meerum Terwogt, M., Reijntjes, A., Van Tijen, N. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Implicit theories on the (non)expression of emotion: A developmental perspective. The sixth volume of the series biobehavioral perspectives on health and disease prevention. , (2004).</li><li>Saarni, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> The development of emotional competence. , (1999).</li><li>Graziano, P. A., Reavis, R. D., Keane, S. P., Calkins, S. 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C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Emotion+regulation+and+understanding:+Implications+for+child+psychopathology+and+therapy.">Emotion regulation and understanding: Implications for child psychopathology and therapy.</a> Clinical psychology review. 22 (2), 189-222 (2002).</li><li>Gross, J. J., John, O. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Individual+differences+in+two+emotion+regulation+processes:+implications+for+affect,+relationships,+and+well-being.">Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being.</a> Journal of personality and social psychology. 85 (2), 348 (2003).</li><li>McRae, K., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+development+of+emotion+regulation:+an+fMRI+study+of+cognitive+reappraisal+in+children,+adolescents+and+young+adults.">The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults.</a> Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 7 (1), 11-22 (2012).</li><li>Rusting, C. 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On the dynamics of online regulation of sadness using distraction and cognitive reappraisal.</a> Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 33 (11), 1518-1532 (2007).</li><li>Sheppes, G., Scheibe, S., Suri, G., Gross, J. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Emotion-regulation+choice.">Emotion-regulation choice.</a> Psychological Science. 22 (11), 1391-1396 (2011).</li><li>Davis, E. L., Levine, L. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Emotion+regulation+strategies+that+promote+learning:+Reappraisal+enhances+children's+memory+for+educational+information.">Emotion regulation strategies that promote learning: Reappraisal enhances children's memory for educational information.</a> Child Development. 84 (1), 361-374 (2013).</li><li>Rice, J. A., Levine, L. J., Pizarro, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term="Just+stop+thinking+about+it":+effects+of+emotional+disengagement+on+children's+memory+for+educational+material.">"Just stop thinking about it": effects of emotional disengagement on children's memory for educational material.</a> Emotion. 7 (4), 812 (2007).</li><li>Davis, E. L., Levine, L. J., Lench, H. C., Quas, J. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Metacognitive+emotion+regulation:+children's+awareness+that+changing+thoughts+and+goals+can+alleviate+negative+emotions.">Metacognitive emotion regulation: children's awareness that changing thoughts and goals can alleviate negative emotions.</a> Emotion. 10 (4), 498-510 (2010).</li><li>Cole, P. M., Martin, S. E., Dennis, T. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Emotion+regulation+as+a+scientific+construct:+Methodological+challenges+and+directions+for+child+development+research.">Emotion regulation as a scientific construct: Methodological challenges and directions for child development research.</a> Child development. 75 (2), 317-333 (2004).</li><li>Thompson, R. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Methods+and+measures+in+developmental+emotions+research:+Some+assembly+required.">Methods and measures in developmental emotions research: Some assembly required.</a> Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 110 (2), 275-285 (2011).</li><li>Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. 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A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Emotion+regulation:+A+theme+in+search+of+definition.">Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition.</a> Monographs of the society for research in child development. 59 (2-3), 25-52 (1994).</li><li>Beauchaine, T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Vagal+tone,+development,+and+Gray's+motivational+theory:+Toward+an+integrated+model+of+autonomic+nervous+system+functioning+in+psychopathology.">Vagal tone, development, and Gray's motivational theory: Toward an integrated model of autonomic nervous system functioning in psychopathology.</a> Development and psychopathology. 13 (02), 183-214 (2001).</li><li>Porges, S. W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+polyvagal+perspective.">The polyvagal perspective.</a> Biological psychology. 74 (2), 116-143 (2007).</li><li>Calkins, S. D., Keane, S. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cardiac+vagal+regulation+across+the+preschool+period:+Stability,+continuity,+and+implications+for+childhood+adjustment.">Cardiac vagal regulation across the preschool period: Stability, continuity, and implications for childhood adjustment.</a> Developmental psychobiology. 45 (3), 101-112 (2004).</li><li>Berntson, G. G., Cacioppo, J. T., Grossman, P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Whither+vagal+tone.">Whither vagal tone.</a> Biological psychology. 74 (2), 295-300 (2007).</li><li>Buss, K. A., Hill Goldsmith, H., Davidson, R. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cardiac+reactivity+is+associated+with+changes+in+negative+emotion+in+24-month-olds.">Cardiac reactivity is associated with changes in negative emotion in 24-month-olds.</a> Developmental Psychobiology. 46 (2), 118-132 (2005).</li><li>Calkins, S. D., Dedmon, S. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Physiological+and+behavioral+regulation+in+two-year-old+children+with+aggressive/destructive+behavior+problems.">Physiological and behavioral regulation in two-year-old children with aggressive/destructive behavior problems.</a> Journal of abnormal child psychology. 28 (2), 103-118 (2000).</li><li>El-Sheikh, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Parental+drinking+problems+and+children's+adjustment:+Vagal+regulation+and+emotional+reactivity+as+pathways+and+moderators+of+risk.">Parental drinking problems and children's adjustment: Vagal regulation and emotional reactivity as pathways and moderators of risk.</a> Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 110 (4), 499 (2001).</li><li>Hastings, P. D., Nuselovici, J. N., Utendale, W. T., Coutya, J., McShane, K. E., Sullivan, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Applying+the+polyvagal+theory+to+children's+emotion+regulation:+Social+context,+socialization,+and+adjustment.">Applying the polyvagal theory to children's emotion regulation: Social context, socialization, and adjustment.</a> Biological psychology. 79 (3), 299-306 (2008).</li><li>Porges, S. W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Physiological+regulation+in+high-risk+infants:+A+model+for+assessment+and+potential+intervention.">Physiological regulation in high-risk infants: A model for assessment and potential intervention.</a> Development and Psychopathology. 8 (01), 43-58 (1996).</li><li>Suess, P. E., Porges, S. W., Plude, D. 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T., Brand, A., Zahn-Waxler, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Regulating+sadness+and+fear+from+outside+and+within:+Mothers'+emotion+socialization+and+adolescents'+parasympathetic+regulation+predict+the+development+of+internalizing+difficulties.">Regulating sadness and fear from outside and within: Mothers' emotion socialization and adolescents' parasympathetic regulation predict the development of internalizing difficulties.</a> Development and Psychopathology. 26 (4), 1369-1384 (2014).</li><li>Kreibig, S. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Autonomic+nervous+system+activity+in+emotion:+A+review.">Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review.</a> Biological psychology. 84 (3), 394-421 (2010).</li><li>Davis, E. L., Qui&#241;ones-Camacho, L. E., Buss, K. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+effects+of+distraction+and+reappraisal+on+children's+parasympathetic+regulation+of+sadness+and+fear.">The effects of distraction and reappraisal on children's parasympathetic regulation of sadness and fear.</a> Journal of experimental child psychology. 142, 344-358 (2016).</li><li>Bluth, D., Goldman, G., Pomeroy, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Click [Motion Picture]. , (1988).</li><li>Bluth, D., Goldman, G., Pomeroy, J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Click [Motion Picture]. , (1982).</li><li>Dufihlo-Rosen, K., Lasseter, J., Eggleston, R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Short+Film+[Motion+Picture].">Short Film [Motion Picture].</a> United States: . , (2000).</li><li>Berntson, G. G., Quigley, K. S., Jang, J. F., Boysen, S. T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=An+approach+to+artifact+identification:+Application+to+heart+period+data.">An approach to artifact identification: Application to heart period data.</a> Psychophysiology. 27 (5), 586-598 (1990).</li><li>Alkon, A., Goldstein, L. H., Smider, N., Essex, M. J., Kupfer, D. J., Boyce, W. T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Developmental+and+contextual+influences+on+autonomic+reactivity+in+young+children.">Developmental and contextual influences on autonomic reactivity in young children.</a> Developmental Psychobiology. 42 (1), 64-78 (2003).</li><li>Bar-Haim, Y., Marshall, P. J., Fox, N. 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Critical Steps within the Protocol
Effectively eliciting negative emotion and instructing children to use specific emotion regulation strategies are the critical steps within the protocol.
Modifications and Troubleshooting
Film clips must be selected (and pilot tested) to be age-appropriate given the age range in question to ensure they evoke the target emotions of interest for the specified age ranges. Researchers should also take care to make...

Children experience negative emotions like sadness and fear every day. As they develop and mature, children learn regulatory strategies that allow them to manage a broad range of stressors and challenges to adapt to the world. Their emotion regulation repertoire expands, and shifts in composition from primarily behavioral strategies to include more cognitive strategies1. By the end of middle childhood, children regulate their emotions using both cognitive and behavioral strategies2. Understanding the effective regulation or management of unwanted negative feelings has become increasingly interesting to developmental scientists in recent years. This interest is driven, in part, by research linking emotion regulation processes to a host of social, emotional, and cognitive outcomes with substantial consequences for children&#39;s daily lives (e.g., academic achievement3, friendships4, and psychopathology5).
The method described here focuses on two cognitive emotion regulation strategies that have received the lion&#39;s share of empirical attention to date: reappraisal and distraction. Studies done with adults have shown that reappraisal and distraction are effective methods for alleviating emotion6,7,8,9,10,11. Reappraisal, which involves changing or reframing how one interprets an emotion or problem, has been shown to be effective in reducing the intensity of negative emotions in school-aged children12,13. Distraction, in contrast, involves changing what one is thinking about, such as when a child about to receive a vaccine thinks instead of the ice cream they will enjoy with their parent afterwards. Children can also begin to use these cognitive strategies to regulate negative emotions effectively, from as young as 5 - 6 years of age14.
The Theoretical and Practical Challenges of Studying Emotion Regulation
Emotional reactivity and regulatory processes are intertwined, bidirectional, and iterative15,16. Thus, a key conceptual challenge for developmental scientists is to identify and employ methods that meaningfully distinguish between emotion responding and regulatory processes. The approach described here takes the view of emotions as regulated (in contrast to emotions as regulating)15. Emotion regulation is defined as the process of changing an experienced emotion17 in ways that alter the intensity, duration, and/or valence of the emotion18.
Despite promising behavioral evidence that cognitive emotion regulation strategies like distraction and reappraisal reduce negative emotions14, there are many limitations to the predominant self-report or observational methodologies that constrain the conclusions that can be drawn from existing empirical studies, especially with young children. For example, self-report of emotional experience is subject to inaccuracies and demand characteristics. Although behavioral observation (e.g., of facial expressions) to index emotional responding is ostensibly more objective than self-report, observation is still subject to automatic and explicit regulatory processes that mask or hide the true experience of distress or negative emotion. To address these conceptual and methodological issues, this paper describes a method of examining the effects of emotion regulation strategies on children&#39;s subsequent psychophysiology that allows researchers to more clearly distinguish between reactivity to and active regulation of negative emotions. This experimental paradigm for eliciting negative emotions and assessing the consequences of different instructed emotion regulation strategies provides an approach that can be used with children of a wide range of ages, adolescents, or adults.
Psychophysiology Is a Non-Invasive Index of Emotion Regulation
Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) is a commonly used index of parasympathetic cardiac psychophysiology, and has emerged as a key correlate of children&#39;s emotion regulatory ability19,20. RSA is derived from the measurement of heart rate variation (controlled by efferent fibers of the vagus nerve) within the respiratory cycle21,22. High baseline RSA indicates better emotional regulation and socio-emotional competencies21, whereas lower baseline RSA is linked to negative socio-emotional outcomes23. Baseline RSA reflects the system&#39;s regulatory capacity to respond to stress, whereas changes in RSA from baseline levels under conditions of challenge (RSA reactivity) enable greater sympathetic influence and resource mobilization. This process reflects a shift away from homeostatic demands to the facilitation of sustained attention, behavioral self-regulation, and the generation of coping strategies to control affective or behavioral arousal20,26. RSA reactivity to challenging lab tasks is associated with better emotion regulatory abilities and general adaptive functioning, including less negative emotionality and risk for behavior problems and better sustained attention21,23,24,25,26,27. RSA reactivity to challenge can be described as increasing (RSA augmentation) or decreasing (RSA suppression) parasympathetic influence. The flexibility with which parasympathetic influence over the heart is regulated across contexts is thought to underlie adaptive emotion regulation.
Indeed, changes in children&#39;s RSA amplitudes during a series of challenging tasks predict their emotional regulatory skill28. RSA is responsive in emotionally challenging contexts as well. For example, RSA suppression (a decrease from baseline level to task level) is linked to experiencing fear and sadness, but augmentation (increase from baseline to task) is linked to effective regulation of emotion when sadness and fear are evoked via film clips29,30. Previous work that has capitalized on the utility of this non-invasive method for assessing in vivo emotion regulation processes has demonstrated how children&#39;s use of specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies predicted RSA reactivity while they were watching emotion-eliciting videos31. This paper describes a novel experimental paradigm that uses the physiological patterns associated with active emotion regulation to index regulatory ability, providing an innovative method to parse the experience and regulation of negative emotions.

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psychophysiological assessment of the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies in childhood

Effective regulation of emotion is one of the most important skills that develops in childhood. Research interest in this area is expanding, but empirical work has been limited by predominantly correlational investigations of children's skills. Relatedly, a key conceptual challenge for emotion scientists is to distinguish between emotion responding and emotion regulatory processes. This paper presents a novel method to address these conceptual and methodological issues in child samples. An experimental paradigm that assesses the effectiveness with which children regulate emotion is described. Children are randomly assigned to use specific emotion regulation strategies, negative emotions are elicited with film clips, and changes in subsequent psychophysiology index the extent to which emotion regulation is effective. Children are instructed to simply watch the emotion-eliciting film (control), distract themselves from negative emotions (cognitive distraction), or reframe the situation in a way that downplays the importance of the emotional event (cognitive reappraisal). Cardiac physiology, continuously acquired before and during the emotional task, serves as an objective measure of children's unfolding emotional responding while viewing evocative films. Key comparisons in patterns of obtained physiological reactivity are between the control and emotion regulation strategy conditions. Representative results from this approach are described, and discussion focuses on the contribution of this methodological approach to developmental science.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, a typical result is that instructing children to use cognitive emotion regulation strategies leads to a different pattern of RSA reactivity than simply viewing the emotional film (Control). This supports the idea that instructions to regulate negative emotion using distraction or reappraisal give rise to different patterns of physiological responding during an emotionally challenging task, given the difference in responding am...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood at JoVE.com

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

A detailed protocol for an experimental paradigm to assess the effectiveness with which children regulate emotion is described. Children are randomly assigned to use specific emotion regulation strategies, negative emotions are elicited with film clips, and changes in subsequent psychophysiology index the extent to which emotion regulation is effective.

Effective regulation of emotion is one of the most important skills that develops in childhood. Research interest in this area is expanding, but empirical ...

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Behavior

Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale

There has been a long-standing interest in the assessment of the neurobehavioral integrity of the newborn infant.  The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale ...

Stereotactic Injection of MicroRNA-expressing Lentiviruses to the Mouse Hippocampus CA1 Region and Assessment of the Behavioral Outcome

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory single-stranded RNA molecules around 22 nucleotides long that may each target numerous mRNA transcripts and dim an ...

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach

The main goal of this study was to assess the usability of a tablet-computer-based application (EmoCogMeter) in investigating the effects of age on ...

Behavioral Assessment of the Aging Mouse Vestibular System

Age related decline in balance performance is associated with deteriorating muscle strength, motor coordination and vestibular function. While a number of ...

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

The ability to recall the past allows us to report on details of previous experiences, from the everyday to the significant. Because recall memory is ...

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion ...

Ultrasound Images of the Tongue: A Tutorial for Assessment and Remediation of Speech Sound Errors

Diagnostic ultrasound imaging has been a common tool in medical practice for several decades. It provides a safe and effective method for imaging ...

Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder

This protocol offers a detailed description of a psychophysiological experiment using script-driven trauma-related imagery and standardized clinical ...

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Valid and efficient measures for assessing the quality of parent-child relationships are needed to facilitate research and evidence-based practice with ...

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice

Sexual behavior is highly species-specific. Although rodents have slightly different sexual behaviors, mice and rats have a similar sexual behavioral ...