INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 05 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120) Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry \| Addiction/Dependence \| Stress/Coping \| Emotional/Social Processes Final Abstract #73 Inhibitory control outside of emotional contexts may not support the upward spiral model of mindful positive emotion regulation Kaitlyn Schodt, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States Bruce Smith, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States Category: Emotion Regulation Keyword 1: anxiety Keyword 2: inhibitory control Objective: Many mindfulness intervention researchers point to improvements in executive functions as a possible mechanism explaining the emotion regulation benefits of mindful meditation. A leading mindfulness theory, mindfulness-to-meaning theory, suggests that the ability to inhibit habitual responses to stressors may facilitate adaptive emotion regulation strategies. More specifically, the ability to inhibit a habitual tendency to focus on the negative aspects of stressors may allow an individual to decenter (to gain psychological distance from a stressor) and thereby be able to reappraise the stressor in a positive light, as a meaningful learning experience. These processes are part of the upward spiral model of mindful positive emotion regulation, and we aimed to test this model in a sample of individuals with preexisting difficulties with cognitive emotion regulation. Among chronic worriers, we tested if greater performance-based inhibitory control was associated with more adaptive use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in response to stressors. In addition, we tested if this relationship was explained by greater use of decentering. Participants and Methods: Adults (N = 64) with clinically elevated worry symptoms completed performance-based and self-report measures at baseline as part of a larger intervention study, including measures of inhibitory control (Sustained Attention to Response Task, SART; commission errors), positive and negative emotion regulation (Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, CERQ; positive reappraisal and catastrophizing subscales), and decentering (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-15, FFMQ-15; nonreactivity subscale). We conducted mediation analyses using linear regression. Results: First, we did not observe a significant total effect of inhibitory control on either positive (β = .18, p = .146) or negative (β = .01, p = .912) emotion regulation strategies. In addition, the relationship between inhibitory control and decentering was also non-significant (β = -.02, p = .869). Because there were no significant total effects to mediate, we did not proceed to test the indirect effect of decentering as a mediator of the relationship between inhibitory control and cognitive emotion regulation. Conclusions: Although the SART is one of the most commonly used performance-based executive function measures in mindfulness research, we did not find evidence of its relationship to other central mindfulness constructs to support a leading mindfulness theory. Outside of the general limitations of this study (e.g., cross-sectional data), important aspects of our measures may contribute to explaining null findings. Notably, the SART is administered in an emotionally neutral context. In contrast, the FFMQ-15 and CERQ measure self-reported habits in emotionally distressing contexts. Therefore, the upward spiral processes proposed by mindfulness-to-meaning theory may be better tested using performance-based measures of executive functions which feature emotionally valanced contexts (e.g., emotional Stroop). Moreover, future research in this area may have important clinical implications for mindfulness interventions, particularly for individuals whose existing executive control abilities are intact. For example, mindful meditation practices may have more fruitful outcomes as a form of emotion regulation training if self-regulatory skills are practiced specifically in the contexts in which an individual’s underlying self-regulatory abilities tend to falter (i.e., emotionally valanced contexts).

Poster

02/15/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm
Room: Majestic Complex (Posters 61-120)

Poster Session 05: Neuropsychiatry | Addiction/Dependence | Stress/Coping | Emotional/Social Processes

Final Abstract #73

Inhibitory control outside of emotional contexts may not support the upward spiral model of mindful positive emotion regulation

Kaitlyn Schodt, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States
Bruce Smith, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States

Category: Emotion Regulation

Keyword 1: anxiety
Keyword 2: inhibitory control

Objective:

Many mindfulness intervention researchers point to improvements in executive functions as a possible mechanism explaining the emotion regulation benefits of mindful meditation. A leading mindfulness theory, mindfulness-to-meaning theory, suggests that the ability to inhibit habitual responses to stressors may facilitate adaptive emotion regulation strategies. More specifically, the ability to inhibit a habitual tendency to focus on the negative aspects of stressors may allow an individual to decenter (to gain psychological distance from a stressor) and thereby be able to reappraise the stressor in a positive light, as a meaningful learning experience. These processes are part of the upward spiral model of mindful positive emotion regulation, and we aimed to test this model in a sample of individuals with preexisting difficulties with cognitive emotion regulation. Among chronic worriers, we tested if greater performance-based inhibitory control was associated with more adaptive use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies in response to stressors. In addition, we tested if this relationship was explained by greater use of decentering.

Participants and Methods:

Adults (N = 64) with clinically elevated worry symptoms completed performance-based and self-report measures at baseline as part of a larger intervention study, including measures of inhibitory control (Sustained Attention to Response Task, SART; commission errors), positive and negative emotion regulation (Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, CERQ; positive reappraisal and catastrophizing subscales), and decentering (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-15, FFMQ-15; nonreactivity subscale). We conducted mediation analyses using linear regression.

Results:

First, we did not observe a significant total effect of inhibitory control on either positive (β = .18, p = .146) or negative (β = .01, p = .912) emotion regulation strategies. In addition, the relationship between inhibitory control and decentering was also non-significant (β = -.02, p = .869). Because there were no significant total effects to mediate, we did not proceed to test the indirect effect of decentering as a mediator of the relationship between inhibitory control and cognitive emotion regulation.

Conclusions:

Although the SART is one of the most commonly used performance-based executive function measures in mindfulness research, we did not find evidence of its relationship to other central mindfulness constructs to support a leading mindfulness theory. Outside of the general limitations of this study (e.g., cross-sectional data), important aspects of our measures may contribute to explaining null findings. Notably, the SART is administered in an emotionally neutral context. In contrast, the FFMQ-15 and CERQ measure self-reported habits in emotionally distressing contexts. Therefore, the upward spiral processes proposed by mindfulness-to-meaning theory may be better tested using performance-based measures of executive functions which feature emotionally valanced contexts (e.g., emotional Stroop). Moreover, future research in this area may have important clinical implications for mindfulness interventions, particularly for individuals whose existing executive control abilities are intact. For example, mindful meditation practices may have more fruitful outcomes as a form of emotion regulation training if self-regulatory skills are practiced specifically in the contexts in which an individual’s underlying self-regulatory abilities tend to falter (i.e., emotionally valanced contexts).