In a between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to accept, reappraise, or were not given specific regulation instructions.
Suggestions and recommendations for future research are discussed, including using trial-by-trial manipulation of regulation instructions and studying the effect of stimulus arousal on up- and down-regulation of positive emotions.
3 Participants in the no-regulation control condition were not given any emotion regulation instructions.
At the end of viewing the film participants were told to stop following the particular emotion regulation instructions.
It remains unclear, if the LPP is sensitive to emotion regulation instructions in children (Dennis and Hajcak, 2009; Decicco et al., 2012).
When the film was finished, participants were told they could stop following the emotion regulation instructions and then rated their mood.
The present study investigated the immediate and longer-term emotional and mnemonic consequences of asking healthy participants to follow suppression versus acceptance emotion regulation instructions while viewing a distressing video, relative to a no instruction control condition.
It remains an open question as to whether individuals will experience elevated or reduced emotion responsiveness in the time period after they have stopped following the emotion regulation instructions.
It is also possible that habitual tendencies to regulate emotions may override or interact with Condition in the current experiment, particularly in the control group who were given no clear emotion regulation instructions.
In terms of subsequent emotional consequences once the emotion regulation instructions were relinquished, as predicted in Hypothesis 3, acceptance was associated with increased EDA and HR reactivity to subsequently presented emotional (both positive and negative) images, relative to both the control and suppress groups.
