The impact of stress on cognitive emotion regulation processes: Characterizing the temporal development and the presence of sex differences

对我们人类来说，认知调节情绪的能力至关重要。情绪调节无效或完全缺乏被认为是精神障碍发生的重要诱因。急性心理社会压力与负面情绪的增加有关。身体对压力荷尔蒙(如皮质醇)的释放做出反应，这会影响大脑功能。在暴露于压力期间和之后，有效的情绪调节至关重要。同时，压力反应可能对调节情绪的能力有重大影响。该项目的目标是研究急性应激(研究I)或应激激素皮质醇的药理作用(研究II)对采用不同策略的情绪调节效果的影响。将测试三种不同的策略，根据它们在情绪反应的时间过程中的应用(注意调节、重新评估、抑制)。情绪反应将使用自我报告测量以及生理标记物(瞳孔扩张和皮肤电活动)进行评估。作为一个附加因素，将研究这些效应的时间动态，以评估皮质醇的快速非基因组效应和延迟基因组效应。此外，还将探讨性别和/或使用荷尔蒙避孕药的影响。我们预计，特别是注意调节的策略会受到压力的影响。相比之下，在之前工作的基础上，我们预计另外两个战略将得到加强。更好地理解压力对认知情绪调节的影响，对于基础研究和应用心理学都具有重要意义。

The ability to cognitively regulate our emotions is of vital importance for us humans. Ineffective emotion regulation or a complete lack thereof is regarded as an important trigger for the development of mental disorders. Acute psychosocial stress is associated with an increase in negative emotions. The body reacts with the release of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol) which influence brain function. An efficient emotion regulation is critical during and after exposure to stress. At the same time, the stress response presumably has a major influence on the capacity to regulate emotions. The goal of the proposed project is the investigation of the impact of acute stress (study I) or a pharmacological administration of the stress hormone cortisol (study II) on the efficacy of emotion regulation using different strategies. Three strategies differing according to their application with respect to the time course of the emotional response (attentional modulation, reappraisal, suppression) will be tested. The emotional response will be assessed using self-report measures as well as physiological markers (pupil dilation and electrodermal activity). As an additional factor, the temporal dynamics of the effects will be examined in order to assess rapid non-genomic and delayed genomic effects of cortisol. Furthermore, the impact of sex and/or the usage of hormonal contraceptives will be explored. We expect the strategy of attentional modulation in particular to be impaired by stress. In contrast, based on previous work, we expect the other two strategies to be enhanced. A better understanding of the impact of stress on cognitive emotion regulation is of relevance for both basic research and applied psychology.