Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2020 Apr;150:73-82. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.02.005. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
Failure to inhibit interference from distracting emotional stimuli may obstruct an individual's ability to regulate their behavioural and emotional responses to environmental stressors. Few studies have examined the longitudinal association between cognitive inhibition and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in the natural environment. Seventy-nine healthy adults underwent two assessments 6 months apart. Participants' ability to suppress interference from distracting emotional stimuli was assessed using a negative affective priming task that included both generic and personally-relevant (i.e., participants' intimate partners) facial expressions of emotion. Poorer inhibition of personally-relevant sad and angry faces, but not generic stimuli, significantly predicted an increased cortisol awakening response (CAR) six months later. Moreover, poor inhibition of personally-relevant sad faces mediated the relation between chronic stress and an elevated CAR. Difficulties inhibiting personally-relevant emotional information may represent a key mechanism in understanding how environmental stress influences HPA functioning.
未能抑制干扰性情绪刺激的干扰可能会阻碍个体对环境应激源的行为和情绪反应的调节能力。很少有研究在自然环境中检查认知抑制与下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴 (HPA) 调节之间的纵向关联。79 名健康成年人在 6 个月的时间内接受了两次评估。参与者使用包括通用和个人相关（即参与者的亲密伴侣）情绪面部表情的负性情绪启动任务来评估他们抑制干扰性情绪刺激的能力。对个人相关的悲伤和愤怒面孔的抑制能力较差，而不是通用刺激，显著预测六个月后皮质醇觉醒反应 (CAR) 增加。此外，对个人相关悲伤面孔的抑制能力差介导了慢性压力与升高的 CAR 之间的关系。抑制个人相关情绪信息的困难可能是理解环境压力如何影响 HPA 功能的关键机制。
