HRV patterns associated with different affect regulation systems: Sex differences in adolescents

Annual Research Review: What processes are dysregulated among emotionally dysregulated youth? - a systematic review

Proliferation of the term "emotion dysregulation" in child psychopathology parallels the growing interest in processes that influence negative emotional reactivity. While it commonly refers to a clinical phenotype where intense anger leads to behavioral dyscontrol, the term implies etiology because anything that is dysregulated requires an impaired regulatory mechanism. Many cognitive, affective, behavioral, neural, and social processes have been studied to improve understanding of emotion dysregulation. Nevertheless, the defective regulatory mechanism that might underlie it remains unclear. This systematic review of research on processes that affect emotion dysregulation endeavors to develop an integrative framework for the wide variety of factors investigated. It seeks to ascertain which, if any, constitutes an impaired regulatory mechanism. Based on this review, we propose a framework organizing emotion-relevant processes into categories pertaining to stimulus processing, response selection and control, emotion generation, closed- or open-loop feedback-based regulation, and experiential influences. Our review finds scant evidence for closed-loop (automatic) mechanisms to downregulate anger arousal rapidly. Open-loop (deliberate) regulatory strategies seem effective for low-to-moderate arousal. More extensive evidence supports roles for aspects of stimulus processing (sensory sensitivity, salience, appraisal, threat processing, and reward expectancy). Response control functions, such as inhibitory control, show robust associations with emotion dysregulation. Processes relating to emotion generation highlight aberrant features in autonomic, endocrine, reward functioning, and tonic mood states. A large literature on adverse childhood experiences and family interactions shows the unique and joint effects of interpersonal with child-level risks. We conclude that the defective closed-loop regulatory mechanisms that emotion dysregulation implies require further specification. Integrating research on emotion-relevant mechanisms along an axis from input factors through emotion generation to corrective feedback may promote research on (a) heterogeneity in pathogenesis, (b) interrelationships between these factors, and (c) the derivation of better-targeted treatments that address specific pathogenic processes of affected youth.

Cardiac Autonomic and Affective Reactivity to Laboratory Stressors across the Menstrual Cycle: A Systematic Review

Fluctuations in steroid sex hormones are associated with altered cardiac autonomic and affective functioning across the female lifespan. The neuroendocrine pathways which modulate sex hormone changes during the menstrual cycle have reciprocal interactions with the autonomic nervous system, an integral system for self-regulation and stress response. Cardiac autonomic activity is often imbalanced among individuals with mental and physical health conditions. However, it is unclear whether variations in female-typical sex hormones across the menstrual cycle significantly alter cardiac autonomic and affective stress reactivity, which may underlie menstrual-related mood and psychosomatic symptoms. The present systematic review aims to address this gap by characterizing patterns of cardiac autonomic activity at baseline, and cardiac autonomic and affective reactivity to laboratory stress tasks across the menstrual cycle in reproductive-aged women. The review was preregistered (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/B2Y5Q) and conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines. Twenty studies and 28 records were identified and discussed. The study found modest support for increased cardiac sympathetic activation at baseline and in response to stress, and greater affective reactivity within the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. These results expand upon prior research demonstrating cardiac autonomic imbalance and affective vulnerability within the luteal phase to show that these patterns also influence stress reactivity. Additionally, the review aims to identify notable methodological limitations and gaps within this body of literature and suggests areas of future research to clarify the role of cardiac autonomic and affective processes in steroid sex hormone-related symptomatology.

Filling the gap: Cloze probability and sentence constraint norms for 807 European Portuguese sentences

Sentence processing is affected by the sentence context and word expectancy. To investigate sentence comprehension experimentally, it is useful to have sentence completion norms with both context constraint and word expectancy measures. In this study, two experiments were conducted to collect norms for completion of 807 European Portuguese sentences. Context constraint was measured through type-token ratio and proportion idiosyncratic responses, while word expectancy was assessed by cloze probability. Besides establishing norms for a large sample of sentences, the study investigated the impact of the production procedure and method of analysis. In Experiment 1, a single-production procedure was used, i.e., participants completed each sentence fragment with only a single response, whereas in Experiment 2, a multiple-production procedure was used, i.e., participants have to provide up to three completion words for each sentence fragment. In Experiment 2, the analyses were obtained using two distinct methods: first-response analysis and combined-response analysis. The results showed that cloze and context measures are comparable between production paradigms and that the results from both analysis methods were correlated. The advantages of each production procedure and analysis method are discussed.

The effect of background audio and audiovisual stimuli on students' autonomic responses during and after an experimental academic examination

BACKGROUND

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown during the online-distant education period, certain students tended to combine their courses and homework with TV or social media news or other media content, such as classical music, including a wealth of audio and audiovisual stimuli. As the audio and audiovisual stimuli existing in a learning environment may affect students' autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses negatively, the present study aimed to monitor the impact of background TV, classical music, and silence on students' ANS activity represented by heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), blood volume amplitude (BVA), and skin conductance level (SCL) during and after an experimental academic examination.

METHOD

Seventy-six students were randomly allocated to background TV, classical music, or silence groups. The experiment with repeated measures design consisted of four consecutive periods: baseline, anticipation, challenge, and recovery, lasting 4 min each.

RESULTS

Within-subject analyses indicated significant HRV decrement only in the background TV group. Regardless of the experimental groups, HR and SCL increased while BVA decreased during the task. In addition, the between-subject analysis showed that the background TV group experienced significantly larger changes in HR and HRV parameters compared to the other experimental groups relative to their respective baseline measurements.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on these results, we concluded that relative to classical music and silence, background TV, including audiovisual and verbal stimuli, extant in a learning environment might raise students' sympathetic activity. Further, classical music, without lyrics, may suppress the withdrawal of vagal activity and elevate the autonomic regulation capacity during the academic reading comprehension task. HRV is a more valid and reliable indicator of students' autonomic responses during a challenging academic task.

The Effects of the Compassionate Mind Training for Caregivers on Professional Quality of Life and Mental Health: Outcomes from a Cluster Randomized Trial in Residential Youth Care Settings

Background

Psychological distress is highly noticeable among caregivers working in residential youth care (RYC). Maintaining and enhancing caregivers' professional mental health and quality of life is crucial to achieve effective outcomes in RYC. Nevertheless, trainings to protect caregivers' mental health are scarce. Considering the buffering effect over negative psychological outcomes, compassion training could be beneficial in RYC.

Objective

This study is part of a Cluster Randomized Trial examining the effects of the Compassionate Mind Training for Caregivers (CMT-Care Homes), looking at professional quality of life and mental health of caregivers working in RYC.

Method

The sample was composed of 127 professional caregivers from 12 Portuguese residential care homes (RCH). RCHs were randomly allocated at experimental (N = 6) and control group (N = 6). Participants were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and 3 and 6-month follow-ups, answering to the Professional Quality of Life Scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Program effects were tested using a two-factor mixed MANCOVA, with self-critical attitude and education degree as covariates.

Results

MANCOVA showed a significant Time × Group interaction effects (F = 1.890, p = .014; η p 2 = .050), with CMT-Care Homes participants presenting lower scores on burnout, anxiety, and depression at 3 and 6-months follow-ups, when compared with controls. Participants that received CMT-Care Homes considered the program useful to deal with pandemic threats and with youth during lockdowns.

Conclusion

This study shows the benefits of the CMT-Care Homes in helping professional caregivers reducing burnout, anxiety and depression, and dealing with pandemic challenges in RYC.Trial registration: This cluster randomized trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (TRN: NCT04512092) on 6th August 2020.

At the heart of change: Differences in young offenders' HRV patterns after the delivery of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program

INTRODUCTION

Literature has pointed the need for intervention programs specifically tailored to target the treatment needs of young offenders, as well as the need to test the efficacy of such programs through physiological indexes of emotion regulation (e.g., heart rate variability; HRV), complementing self-reports typically used as outcome measures. The PSYCHOPATHY.COMP is a 20-session individual intervention program based on Compassion Focused Therapy aiming to reduce psychopathic traits and disruptive behavior among young offenders through the development of a compassionate motivation, while stimulating the soothing system as a strategy to improve emotion regulation. Previous research with young offenders has shown decreases in vagally mediated HRV (vmHRV) when the soothing system is activated. This physiological pattern seems to mirror threat-like responses that contrast with relaxed states.

METHODS

To test the efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP, a clinical trial was implemented encompassing a treatment (n = 56) and a control group (n = 53). Treatment participants attended the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP, while controls received the Treatment As Usual (TAU) delivered in Portuguese juvenile detention facilities. HRV data was collected throughout a standardized procedure (encompassing resting, reactivity and recovery phases) specifically designed to trigger the soothing system. Participants were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment and 6-months follow-up.

RESULTS

Although treatment participants continued to process the soothing system as unpleasant (with decreased vmHRV), they seem to become able to adaptively recover from the stimuli without avoiding it or resorting to maladaptive coping strategies. The physiological pattern was in line with participants' decreases in difficulties in emotion regulation across the assessment periods. In contrast, controls seemed to have actively employed coping strategies associated with increases in vmHRV not only when the soothing system was triggered, but also when recovering from the stimuli. Congruently, for controls, increases in difficulties in emotion regulation were found, with increases in the lack of emotional clarity across the assessment periods.

DISCUSSION

Findings offer new evidence for the efficacy of the PSYCHOPATHY.COMP program in improving emotion regulation in young offenders, assessed through both self-report and physiological measures. Additionally, findings support the assessment of the autonomic balance as a treatment efficacy index in future research, targeting the rehabilitation of these youth.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03971682.