University of Queensland; University of New South Wales.
University of New South Wales.
J Affect Disord. 2021 Feb 15;281:935-940. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.028. Epub 2020 Nov 10.
The ability to flexibly enhance and suppress emotional expressions plays an important role in emotion regulation and the fostering of social connections. Deficits in expressive flexibility have been linked with posttraumatic stress disorder and prolonged grief reactions. Previous studies have suggested that the ability to respond flexibly in the context of an immediate threat (a nonconscious prime) may be important. In this study we sought to extend this work by examining the impact of individual differences in anxiety on expressive flexibility.
Eighty four participants with high and low trait anxiety viewed blocks of negative images with instructions to enhance or suppress emotional expressions. Across blocks one of three nonconscious primes (threat, safety, neutral) appeared before each image. Observers blind to the study's design rated participants' emotional expressiveness.
Repeated Measures Anova's showed that high trait anxiety was associated with lower levels in enhancement ability. Further, low trait anxiety was associated with less emotion in response to the threat prime irrespective of expressive instruction.
This study was cross-sectional which precludes causal relationships. Participants were drawn from a student population and the generalizability to other populations will need to be established CONCLUSIONS: This study identified trait anxiety as factor that may contribute to expressive flexibility deficits. High trait anxiety is a feature of many clinical conditions. Strategies to target expressive flexibility may relevant to a range of anxiety related clinical conditions.
灵活增强和抑制情感表达的能力在情绪调节和社交联系的培养中起着重要作用。情感表达灵活性的缺陷与创伤后应激障碍和长期悲伤反应有关。先前的研究表明，在即时威胁（无意识的启动）背景下灵活反应的能力可能很重要。在这项研究中，我们试图通过检查焦虑个体差异对表达灵活性的影响来扩展这项工作。
84 名具有高、低特质焦虑的参与者观看了一系列带有增强或抑制情感表达指令的负面图像。在每个图像之前，三组无意识启动中的一组（威胁、安全、中性）会出现在每块图像之前。观察者对研究设计不了解，对参与者的情感表达能力进行了评分。
重复测量方差分析表明，高特质焦虑与增强能力降低有关。此外，无论表达指令如何，低特质焦虑与对威胁启动的情绪反应减少有关。
本研究为横断面研究，不能确定因果关系。参与者来自学生群体，需要在其他人群中确定其普遍性。
本研究确定了特质焦虑是导致表达灵活性缺陷的一个因素。高特质焦虑是许多临床疾病的特征。针对表达灵活性的策略可能与一系列与焦虑相关的临床疾病有关。
