UTokyo Center for Integrative Science of Human Behavior (CiSHuB), Evolutionary Cognitive Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
School of Information and Telecommunication Engineering, Tokai University, 2-3-23 Takanawa, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8619, Japan.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2024 Nov;205:112442. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112442. Epub 2024 Oct 3.
Previous emotion regulation studies revealed that emotional distraction decreases unpleasant emotions. This study examined whether distraction tasks decrease unpleasant task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) and unpleasant emotions when recalling stressful daily interpersonal events. Amygdala activity was examined to assess implicit emotional changes using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The behavioral data of 20 university students (mean age: 20.35 ± 1.42 years; range: 18-24 years) and fMRI data of 18 students were examined. As an emotion induction procedure, participants initially freely recalled memories of daily stressful interpersonal events and then responded to a series of questions about their recalled memories presented on a monitor. In the distraction experiment, the questions were re-represented as an emotional stimulation; a distraction task (nonconstant or constant finger tapping) or rest condition was then performed, and ratings were given for attentional state, thought types conceived during the tasks, and emotional state. Decreases in unpleasant emotions and TUTs were defined as distraction effects. We found that unpleasant TUTs decreased in the nonconstant relative to rest condition (p < .05). Furthermore, increased right amygdala activation positively correlated with unpleasant emotions, and bilateral amygdala activation correlated with unpleasant TUTs only in the rest condition, indicating the existence of amygdala activation associated with unpleasant emotions and thoughts. However, such associations were not under nonconstant or constant conditions, indicating distraction effects. Notably, this study showed that emotional distraction can decrease the degree of unpleasant emotions and the occurrence of unpleasant thoughts regarding common daily emotions.
先前的情绪调节研究表明，情绪分散会降低不愉快的情绪。本研究考察了在回忆有压力的日常人际事件时，分心任务是否会减少不愉快的与任务无关的想法（TUT）和不愉快的情绪。使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来检查杏仁核活动，以评估隐含的情绪变化。研究了 20 名大学生（平均年龄：20.35±1.42 岁；年龄范围：18-24 岁）的行为数据和 18 名学生的 fMRI 数据。作为一种情绪诱导程序，参与者首先自由回忆日常生活中压力大的人际事件的记忆，然后对监视器上呈现的关于回忆记忆的一系列问题做出反应。在分心实验中，问题再次呈现为情绪刺激；然后执行分心任务（非恒定或恒定手指敲击）或休息条件，并对注意力状态、任务期间构思的思维类型以及情绪状态进行评分。不愉快情绪和 TUT 的减少被定义为分心效应。我们发现，与休息条件相比，非恒定条件下不愉快的 TUT 减少（p<0.05）。此外，右杏仁核激活的增加与不愉快情绪呈正相关，双侧杏仁核的激活仅在休息条件下与不愉快的 TUT 相关，表明存在与不愉快情绪和想法相关的杏仁核激活。然而，在非恒定或恒定条件下不存在这种关联，表明存在分心效应。值得注意的是，这项研究表明，情绪分散可以降低与常见日常情绪相关的不愉快情绪和不愉快想法的程度。
