TY - JOUR
T1 - Physiological correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation in early adolescents
AU - Latham, Melissa D.
AU - Cook, Nina
AU - Simmons, Julian G.
AU - Byrne, Michelle L.
AU - Kettle, Jonathan W.L.
AU - Schwartz, Orli
AU - Vijayakumar, Nandita
AU - Whittle, Sarah
AU - Allen, Nicholas B.
PY - 2017/7
Y1 - 2017/7
N2 - Few studies have examined physiological correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation in adolescents, despite the occurrence in this group of significant developmental changes in emotional functioning. The current study employed multiple physiological measures (i.e., startle-elicited eyeblink and ERP, skin conductance, facial EMG) to assess the emotional reactivity and regulation of 113 early adolescents in response to valenced images. Reactivity was measured while participants viewed images, and regulation was measured when they were asked to discontinue or maintain their emotional reactions to the images. Adolescent participants did not exhibit fear-potentiated startle blink. However, they did display affect-consistent zygomatic and corrugator activity during reactivity, as well as inhibition of some of these facial patterns during regulation. Skin conductance demonstrated arousal dependent activity during reactivity, and overall decreases during regulation. These findings suggest that early adolescents display reactivity to valenced pictures, but not to startle probes. Psychophysiological patterns during emotion regulation indicate additional effort and/or attention during the regulation process.
AB - Few studies have examined physiological correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation in adolescents, despite the occurrence in this group of significant developmental changes in emotional functioning. The current study employed multiple physiological measures (i.e., startle-elicited eyeblink and ERP, skin conductance, facial EMG) to assess the emotional reactivity and regulation of 113 early adolescents in response to valenced images. Reactivity was measured while participants viewed images, and regulation was measured when they were asked to discontinue or maintain their emotional reactions to the images. Adolescent participants did not exhibit fear-potentiated startle blink. However, they did display affect-consistent zygomatic and corrugator activity during reactivity, as well as inhibition of some of these facial patterns during regulation. Skin conductance demonstrated arousal dependent activity during reactivity, and overall decreases during regulation. These findings suggest that early adolescents display reactivity to valenced pictures, but not to startle probes. Psychophysiological patterns during emotion regulation indicate additional effort and/or attention during the regulation process.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Emotion regulation
KW - Event relatedpotentials
KW - Facial muscle activity
KW - Skin conductance
KW - Startle blink reflex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85026357688&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.018
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2017.07.018
M3 - Article
C2 - 28754276
AN - SCOPUS:85026357688
SN - 0301-0511
VL - 127
SP - 229
EP - 238
JO - Biological Psychology
JF - Biological Psychology
ER -