Delayed effects of acute stress on cognitive emotion regulation. (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Langer, Katja; Wolf, Oliver T.; Jentsch, Valerie L.
• Is Part Of: Psychoneuroendocrinology. Volume 125(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: Stress -- Cortisol -- Cognitive emotion regulation -- Distraction -- Genomic stress effects -- Pupil dilation; Psychoneuroendocrinology -- Periodicals; Endocrinology -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Neuropsychoendocrinologie -- Périodiques; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2020.105101
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-4530

Abstract

Abstract: Acute stress has been shown to modulate cognitive emotion regulation. Besides interactions with strategy use or sex, another critical modulating factor appears to be stress timing. Exposure to acute stress initiates immediate and delayed glucocorticoid effects on cognitive control functions. Previous studies indicated a delayed increase in prefrontal activity after stress and cortisol elevations, which might also improve the ability to cognitively regulate emotions when the acute stress state has subsided. In this study, we investigated the delayed impact of acute stress on the two emotion regulation strategies reappraisal and distraction. Eighty-one healthy males and free-cycling females were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test or a control condition 90 min before they were tested in an emotion regulation paradigm, which required them to up- and downregulate their emotional responses towards negative pictures. Affective ratings served to measure emotion regulation success, whereas pupil dilation was included to additionally assess the cognitive effort required to deliberately regulate emotions. Stress affected neither arousal, valence or success ratings nor pupil dilation. However, cortisol increases were significantly associated with reduced arousal and enhanced valence ratings when regulating negative emotions via distraction. Exploratory mediation analyses revealed an indirect effect of stress on arousal and valence ratings for distraction that was mediated by cortisol increase. Our findings thereby provide further evidence that cortisol is positively related to emotion regulation success, which might be driven by a glucocorticoid-mediated mechanism facilitating attentional shifting. Highlights: No direct effects on emotion regulatory outcomes 90 min after stress exposure. Cortisol was positively related to emotion regulation success using distraction. Stress indirectly enhanced distraction success mediated by cortisol increases. Glucocorticoids may promote emotional control facilitating attentional shifting.