Investigating the Neural Systems That Support the Beneficial Effects of Positive Emotion on Stress Regulation

The mean of each negative and positive emotion score were calculated post-reappraisal task. Higher scores indicate higher positive and negative emotions. The scale for both positive and negative was 1 - 9 where 1 was not positive at all/not negative at all and 9 was very positive/very negative. The minimum score was 1 and the maximum score was 9.

Time frame: During the reappraisal task, individual ratings for each picture were taken immediately after viewing the image. The mean rating across all images was computed after the experiment was complete.

After the VR induced mood induction, and prior to starting the reappraisal task participants rated their positive and negative emotions on a 1-9 scale, where 1 is not at all and 9 is extremely.

Time frame: Pre-reappraisalTask

Population: In addition to the exclusion criteria discuss above, certain participants appeared to miss the time window they had to make their rating selection.

Before putting on the VR headset and at the end of the experiment, participants used the modified Differential Emotions Scale (mDES; Fredrickson, 2013; Izard, 1977) to rate their current mood. We defined the mDES as a mood measure because it was intended to measure participants' current mood absent of a stimulus intended to evoke an emotional response (Rosenberg,1998). The mDES consists of 20 questions and is comprised of two sub-scales for positive and negative emotions with 10 questions for each subscale respectively. Scales are comprised of averaging all positive scores together and all negative scores together. In our study, participants were asked to rate their current experience of all 20 emotions on a five-point Likert Scale (1 - not at all to 5 - Extremely). Minimum socre = 1, maximum score = 5. Higher scores indicate higher levels of positive/negative mood.

Time frame: Baseline, and post-reappraisal task

Population: Several pre-registered exclusion criteria were applied prior to data analysis including: lack of understanding of the task (N = 5), missing more than 25% of trial level data (N = 8). Additional participants were excluded due to a corrupted data file (N =1) and mixing up the positive and negative ratings (N = 1), and outlier scores greater than 3 standard deviations above/below the mean for most outcome measures (N= 1). This left usable data for a total of 80 participants.

The Brief-COPE is a 28 item self-report questionnaire designed to measure effective and ineffective ways to cope with a stressful life event. Sub-scales are reported. Higher scores indicate higher use of the coping strategy. he Brief COPE is comprised of 14 scales, each of which assesses the degree to which a respondent utilizes a specific coping strategy. The scales are: Active Coping, Planning, Positive Reframing, Acceptance, Humor, Religion, Using Emotional Support, Using Instrumental Support, Self-Distraction, Denial, Venting, Substance Use, Behavioral Disengagement, Self-Blame. Items are rated on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 - I haven't been doing this at all to 4 - I've been doing this a lot. Each of the scales is comprised of 2 items; total scores on each scale range from 2 (minimum) to 8 (maximum). Total scores for each sub scales are calculated by summing the items. There is no overall total score.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

The BRS is a self-report measure that assesses the ability to bounce back or recover from stress on a 1-5 scale. Higher scores indicate higher levels of resilience.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

Following the VR task, participants were asked to report the task instructions in their own words. The first questions asked participants to reiterate the instructions they were given for the cognitive reappraisal task (for example: What were you instructed to do during the 'LOOK' trials?) This is a fill in the blank question and there are no right or wrong answers. All participants' responses are viewed to ensure understanding of the task instruction. There are no scores to report for this measure. Rather this, outcome serves more as a comprehension check than an actual analysis of interest.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

Population: Participants who completed and had full data for the in-person experiment.

The theories of emotion scale was developed for use by Maya Tamir, Oliver P. John, Sanjay Srivastava, and James J. Gross in 2007, based on Carol Dweck's Implicit Theories of Intelligence scale (Dweck, 1999). It's used to measure beliefs about the malleable nature of emotion on a scale of 1 (strong disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) where higher scores indicate stronger agreement with the belief. There are 4 items, 2 of which are reverse coded. Scores are taken by averaging the response items. The minimum score is 1 and the maximum range is 5.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

Population: Participants who completed and had full data for the in-person experiment and passed all other exclusion criteria.

Participants were asked whether they have any experience with reappraisal or the specific images presented in the task. The first question asked Have you ever been trained to change your emotions by changing the way you think (in therapy, or in another experiment, or anywhere else)? Participants can choose Yes or No for this question. The participant will have to extrapolate if they have changed their emotions before using a fill in the blank. The next question askedHave you ever seen any of these exact emotional images before? If participants answered yes, they were once again asked to extrapolate which images they have seen and what emotional response was generated by these images using a fill in the blank option. These are descriptive and not used in any formal analyses. The number of participants analyzed below indicates the the number of participant responses we reviewed.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

Population: Participants who completed and had full data for the in-person experiment and passed all other exclusion criteria.

Participants were asked about self-reported task compliance. For example, one question asked What percentage of the time were you able to follow the LOOK instruction? The participants were rating their self-compliance for each task from 0% (non-compliant) to 100% (fully compliant). There are no right or wrong answers to this question and these responses are more descriptive/exploratory. They are not used in any specific analyses. The number of participants analyzed below indicates the number of participants that were fully compliant across both conditions.

Time frame: Immediately after the reappraisal task

Population: Participants who completed and had full data for the in-person experiment and passed all other exclusion criteria.

A 5-item scale designed to measure global cognitive judgments of one's life satisfaction (not a measure of either positive or negative affect). Participants indicate how much they agree or disagree with each of the 5 items using a 7-point scale that ranges from 7 strongly agree to 1 strongly disagree. Higher scores indicate higher levels of satisfaction. The scale is summed to produce a score, and the possible range of scores is 5-35.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

The next batch of questions asked the participants questions about the difficulty of the task. The questions asked were: How difficult was it to follow the 'LOOK' instruction? And: How difficult was it to follow the 'DECREASE' instruction? Participants will be rating the level of difficulty on a scale of 1 to 7 with 1 being not difficult at all to 7 being very difficult. There are no right or wrong answers to this question. The range of scores is 1-7.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

Population: Participants who completed and had full data for the in-person experiment and passed all other exclusion criteria.

A 10 item self-report scale that is designed to measure the big five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness) on a scale of 1-5 where higher values indicate higher indication of the personality trait. Certain individual items are reversed scored on this measure. The subscales in our data were calculated using averages to produce a score. The possible range for each subscale reported included a minimum value of 1 and a maximum value of 5.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

The Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) is a self-report scale for measuring the sense of presence experienced in a virtual environment (VE). It contains three subscales that assess aspects of presence: spatial presence, involvement, and experience realism. Higher scores indicate higher sense of presence. Items were rated on a scale of 0 to 6 and items for each subscale are averaged to get each subscale core. The Range for all subscales are 0-6.

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

The participants were given the Beck's Depression Inventory(BDI-II) which measures symptoms of depression and were used to examine any between-subjects trait differences. The BDI-II is a 21 self-report measure looking at symptoms of depression with ratings falling between 0 and 3 (0 being not at all and 3 would indicate experiencing these symptoms on a constant basis). There are no subscales. Higher scores indicate higher levels of depressive symptoms. Scores range from 0 - 63

Time frame: Post-reappraisal task

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) looks at methods of regulating emotions and will be used to examine any between-subjects trait differences. The ERQ is a 10-item self-report questionnaire assessing the use of two strategies to alter emotions: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The scale is rated on a 7-point Likert scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 7 being strongly agree. Six items are categorized as using cognitive reappraisal while four of the items assess expressive suppression. Higher scores indicate higher use of the emotion regulation strategies. The scale scores were computed by taking the average of the items included in each sub scale. The possible range for each sub scale is 1-7

Time frame: Baseline