title: Cognitive emotion regulation fails the stress test.
abstract: Cognitive emotion regulation has been widely shown in the laboratory to be an effective way to alter the nature of emotional responses. Despite its success in experimental contexts, however, we often fail to use these strategies in everyday life where stress is pervasive. The successful execution of cognitive regulation relies on intact executive functioning and engagement of the prefrontal cortex, both of which are rapidly impaired by the deleterious effects of stress. Because it is specifically under stressful conditions that we may benefit most from such deliberate forms of emotion regulation, we tested the efficacy of cognitive regulation after stress exposure. Participants first underwent fear-conditioning, where they learned that one stimulus (CS+) predicted an aversive outcome but another predicted a neutral outcome (CS-). Cognitive regulation training directly followed where participants were taught to regulate fear responses to the aversive stimulus. The next day, participants underwent an acute stress induction or a control task before repeating the fear-conditioning task using these newly acquired regulation skills. Skin conductance served as an index of fear arousal, and salivary α-amylase and cortisol concentrations were assayed as neuroendocrine markers of stress response. Although groups showed no differences in fear arousal during initial fear learning, nonstressed participants demonstrated robust fear reduction following regulation training, whereas stressed participants showed no such reduction. Our results suggest that stress markedly impairs the cognitive regulation of emotion and highlights critical limitations of this technique to control affective responses under stress.
authors: Psychology Department and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003.
authors: Candace M
authors: CM
authors: Raio
authors: Temidayo A
authors: TA
authors: Orederu
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Palazzolo
authors: Ashley A
authors: AA
authors: Shurick
authors: Elizabeth A
authors: EA
authors: Phelps
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055291:Salivary alpha-Amylases / Q000378:metabolism; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D055291:Salivary alpha-Amylases; D006854:Hydrocortisone
references: Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012 Aug;7(6):715-26
references: 21896496
references: Behav Res Ther. 2002 Aug;40(8):931-45
references: 12186356
references: Behav Neurosci. 2009 Oct;123(5):1066-75
references: 19824773
references: Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2009 May;91(4):377-81
references: 19340949
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009 May;34(4):486-96
references: 19249160
references: Endocr Rev. 2000 Feb;21(1):55-89
references: 10696570
references: Trends Cogn Sci. 2012 Mar;16(3):174-80
references: 22336729
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008 May;33(4):517-29
references: 18337016
references: J Neurosci. 2007 Aug 15;27(33):8877-84
references: 17699669
references: J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Nov 15;14(8):1215-29
references: 12495527
references: Am J Ther. 1997 Jan;4(1):34-8
references: 10423589
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 31;106(13):5035-40
references: 19289824
references: Neuron. 2011 Feb 10;69(3):563-71
references: 21315265
references: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Jun;10(6):410-22
references: 19455173
references: J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2010 Mar;32(1):68-82
references: 20622981
references: J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2002 Feb;22(1):82-5
references: 11799347
references: Emotion. 2012 Dec;12(6):1393-7
references: 22775125
references: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(3):581-97
references: 18164058
references: Am J Psychiatry. 2003 Feb;160(2):371-3
references: 12562588
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1996 Oct 29;351(1346):1445-53
references: 8941956
references: Biol Psychiatry. 2009 Jul 1;66(1):25-32
references: 19403118
references: Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Mar;15(3):132-9
references: 21273114
references: J Neurosci. 2012 Sep 26;32(39):13543-54
references: 23015444
references: Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2006 Jan;31(1):137-41
references: 16046076
references: Nat Neurosci. 2008 Aug;11(8):880-1
references: 18587392
references: Science. 2011 Nov 25;334(6059):1151-3
references: 22116887
references: Exp Brain Res. 2012 Feb;216(3):397-408
references: 22101494
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jun 5;109(23):9203-8
references: 22623532
references: Neuron. 2012 Oct 4;76(1):223-39
references: 23040817
references: Neuroscientist. 2002 Apr;8(2):132-42
references: 11954558
references: Scand J Psychol. 1983;24(4):331-4
references: 6665531
references: Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Jun;10(6):423-33
references: 19469026
references: Biol Psychol. 2012 Dec;91(3):342-8
references: 22954623
references: Brain Cogn. 2007 Dec;65(3):209-37
references: 17466428
references: Behav Neurosci. 2005 Feb;119(1):98-103
references: 15727516
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1993 Nov;65(5):861-76
references: 8246114
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Aug;85(2):348-62
references: 12916575
references: Neuron. 2008 Sep 11;59(5):829-38
references: 18786365
references: J Cogn Neurosci. 2011 Nov;23(11):3218-27
references: 21452940
references: J Neurosci. 2004 Feb 11;24(6):1385-92
references: 14960610
references: Behav Brain Res. 2011 Feb 2;217(1):215-31
references: 21055420
references: Hum Psychopharmacol. 2006 Aug;21(6):377-85
references: 16915579
references: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Mar;1251:E1-24
references: 23025352
references: J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008 Dec;95(6):1526-40
references: 19025300
references: Psychophysiology. 1975 May;12(3):268-82
references: 1153632
references: Nature. 2010 Jan 7;463(7277):49-53
references: 20010606
references: Am Psychol. 1988 May;43(5):349-58
references: 3389582
references: Nat Neurosci. 1998 Sep;1(5):349-51
references: 10196521
references: J Cogn Neurosci. 2007 Mar;19(3):468-78
references: 17335395
references: Psychol Sci. 2000 May;11(3):249-54
references: 11273412
references: Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010 Jan;35(1):136-46
references: 19710632
references: Trends Cogn Sci. 2010 Jun;14(6):268-76
references: 20493762
references: Front Behav Neurosci. 2009 Jan 15;2:5
references: 19169362
references: Psychophysiology. 1971 Sep;8(5):656-72
references: 5116830