Testing for implicit emotion regulation in childhood

Although implicit emotion regulation is thought to be critical for psychosocial development and mental wellbeing, few studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of this form of emotion regulation in children. We used a modified emotional Go/NoGo block design fMRI task to explore the neural correlates of implicit emotion regulation and individual differences in a sample of 40 children (50% female, mean age = 8.65 +/- 0.77). Conditions included happy, sad, neutral, and scrambled faces as implicit distractors within the actual Go/NoGo targets. We used a relatively standard preprocessing pipeline via fMRIprep, with T-contrasts for response inhibition and emotional effects, and a nonparametric multiple comparisons procedure, with SnPM, for our group-level analysis. There were multiple significant response inhibition effects, including larger NoGo vs Go activation in the IFG, insula, and MCC/ACC. Valence effects showed significantly greater right putamen activity for the Sad NoGo vs Go contrast and greater bilateral putamen and right pallidum activity for the Happy Go vs Sad Go contrast. These results provide preliminary findings of neural substrates, particularly the putamen, that may be associated with implicit emotion regulation in children.

Testing whether implicit emotion regulation mediates the association between discrimination and symptoms of psychopathology in late childhood: An RDoC perspective

Discrimination has been associated with adverse mental health outcomes, though it is unclear how early in life this association becomes apparent. Implicit emotion regulation, developing during childhood, is a foundational skill tied to a range of outcomes. Implicit emotion regulation has yet to be tested as an associated process for mental illness symptoms that can often emerge during this sensitive developmental period. Youth aged 9–11 were recruited for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Associations between psychotic-like experiences, depressive symptoms, and total discrimination (due to race, ethnicity, nationality, weight, or sexual minority status) were tested, as well as associations with implicit emotion regulation measures (emotional updating working memory and inhibitory control). Analyses examined whether associations with symptoms were mediated by implicit emotion regulation. Discrimination related to decreased implicit emotion regulation performance, and increased endorsement of depressive symptoms and psychotic-like experiences. Emotional updating working memory performance partially mediated the association between discrimination and psychotic-like experiences, while emotional inhibitory control did not. Discrimination and implicit emotion regulation could serve as putative transdiagnostic markers of vulnerability. Results support the utility of using multiple units of analysis to improve understanding of complex emerging neurocognitive functions and developmentally sensitive periods.

A short-term musical training affects implicit emotion regulation only in behaviour but not in brain activity

Background In everyday life, negative emotions can be implicitly regulated by positive stimuli, without any conscious cognitive engagement; however, the effects of such implicit regulation on mood and related neuro-mechanisms, remain poorly investigated in literature. Yet, improving implicit emotional regulation could reduce psychological burden and therefore be clinically relevant for treating psychiatric disorders with strong affective symptomatology. Results Music training reduced the negative emotional state elicited by negative odours. However, such change was not reflected at the brain level. Conclusions In a context of affective rivalry a musical training enhances implicit regulatory processes. Our findings offer a first base for future studies on implicit emotion regulation in clinical populations.