Emotions, Rumination
Conditions
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to investigate the basic psychological and neural mechanisms underlying the social regulation of emotion - that is, how one person's actions can impact, or regulate - the emotions of another person - and how this ability changes with practice. As such, this study is not designed to directly address clinical health outcomes and provide no treatment or intervention.
Detailed description
Prior research has demonstrated that helping others regulate their emotions has benefits for the support provider. But little is known about the basic brain mechanisms underlying this ability or how this ability can change with practice. To address these questions, this study has two parts. In the first, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to gain insight into the brain systems involved in helping others regulate negative emotions by comparing them to the brain systems involved in regulating the participants' own negative emotions. In the second part, participants engage in three weeks of structured practice, or training, in either socially regulating others' emotions or in self-regulating their own emotions. The investigators predict that helping others regulate their emotions will involve many of the same brain regions implicated in regulating one's own emotions, in addition to regions involved in perspective taking and the reward of helping others. Further, when relating the brain data from part 1 to the regulation practice data from part 2, the investigators expect that individuals who in part 1 show greater activity in brain regions supporting either social or self-regulation may be more likely in part 2 to show corresponding improvements in regulation performance. The results of these studies are intended to lay the groundwork for future studies investigating the social regulation of emotion in older adults and clinical populations for whom social support can be beneficial.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALSocial regulation
Participants will be instructed to help another person think about their negative events differently using an emotion regulation strategy called reappraisal.
BEHAVIORALSelf regulation
Participants will be instructed to think about their negative events by reframing the meaning of the event. This is a typical strategy in emotion regulation research known as reappraisal.
Sponsors
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Columbia University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Native English speaker * Right handed
Exclusion criteria
* Current or past history of neurological or psychiatric illness * Use of psychoactive drugs * Individuals who have metal devices or implants that cannot be removed from their body (e.g., piercings, pacemakers, copper intrauterine devices (IUDs)) * Pregnant women
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) Score | Change from baseline at 3 weeks follow up | The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (10 items) has 2 subscales - suppression and reappraisal. Participants rate their response on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (Strongly agree). The total score is calculated from the sum of the items in each subscale. Higher scores indicate higher tendency to use the emotion regulation strategy. |
| Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) Score | Change from baseline at 3 weeks follow up | The Ruminative Response Scale (22 items) has 3 subscales - brooding, reflection and depression. Participants rate their response on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Almost never) to 4 (Almost always). The total score is calculated from the sum of the items in each subscale. Higher scores indicate higher tendency to engage in ruminative thoughts. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in mood rating (Likert scale score) | Baseline, up to 3 weeks | Participants rate their response indicating their current emotions (e.g., angry, happy, sad) on a 9-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 9 (completely agree). The total score for positive mood is calculated from the sum of 4 positive emotion items. The total score for negative mood is calculated from the sum of 4 negative emotion items. |
| Change in Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI) (Likert scale score) | Baseline, up to 3 weeks | Participants rate their response indicating their ruminative thought (e.g., Right now, I wonder why I react the way I do) on a 9-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 9 (completely agree). The total score is calculated from the sum of all 13 items. |
| State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) - Trait Scale (Likert scale score) | Change from baseline at 3 weeks follow up | The State Trait Anxiety Inventory - Trait scale (20 items) measures trait anxiety. Participants rate their response on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Almost never) to 4 (Almost always). The total score is calculated from the sum of all items. Higher scores indicate higher anxiety. |
| Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (Likert scale score) | Change from baseline at 3 weeks follow up | The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (20 items) measures depression. Participants rate their response on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)) to 3 (All of the time (5-7 days)). The total score is calculated from the sum of all items. Higher scores indicate higher depression level. |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed