Mindfulness and equanimity moderate approach/avoidance motor responses

The relationship between mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal: the mediating role of emotional and interoceptive awareness

Mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal have been recognized as two useful ways to regulate emotions. The former tends to cultivate an attitude of being open and accepting of emotional events; whereas the latter involves a top-down process of re-interpreting emotional events. However, it is unclear how mindfulness influences cognitive reappraisal. Hence, the current study mainly addressed this research issue by exploring the mediating role of emotional and interoceptive awareness. 372 participants were asked to report dispositional mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, emotional awareness, and interoceptive awareness by means of corresponding questionnaires. First, we performed the Pearson Correlations among the four factors, then assessed the mediating role of emotional awareness and interoceptive awareness in the link between mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal in separated models. Last, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to investigate the link when both emotional and interoceptive awareness acted as the mediating variables. Results showed that mindfulness was negatively correlated with cognitive reappraisal, emotional awareness, and interoceptive awareness; whereas emotional awareness, interoceptive awareness, and cognitive reappraisal were positively correlated with each other. Moreover, increased mindfulness had a significantly negative effect on cognitive reappraisal, by reducing emotional and interoceptive awareness separately or successively. Except for the No-worrying factor, the remaining seven factors of interoceptive awareness were significantly loaded onto the latent variable. The result reveals the negative relationship between mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal. This link is mediated by one's emotional awareness and interoceptive awareness independently or successively, which may reflect the intensity of externally-emotional reactivity that signify the need to regulate emotions by means of cognitive reappraisal.

Ultra-brief training in cognitive reappraisal or mindfulness reduces anxiety and improves motor performance efficiency under stress

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

We examined the effects of ultra-brief training in mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal on affective response and performance under stress. We hypothesized that one or both types of training would decrease affective responding and improve performance, and that these effects might be moderated by acute stress induction.

DESIGN

We manipulated training (mindfulness, cognitive reappraisal, control) between subjects and level of stress (low, high) within subjects in a 3 × 2 mixed factorial design. Method: Participants (N = 112, ages 18-35) completed two sessions on different days. In each session, they received mindfulness or cognitive reappraisal training or listened to a control script prior to a low- or high-stress simulated hostage situation. We measured motor performance efficiency (proportion of shots that hit hostile and hostage targets), affective responding (self-reported anxiety, salivary cortisol and alpha amylase, and autonomic physiology), and physical activity.

RESULTS

Compared to control instructions, ultra-brief training in cognitive reappraisal or mindfulness reduced subjective anxiety and increased performance efficiency. There were few effects of training on other measures.

CONCLUSION

Ultra-brief training in cognitive reappraisal or mindfulness prior to a stressful task may be both helpful and harmful; effects are preliminary and subject to boundary conditions.