Spontaneous emotion regulation and attentional control
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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
Published on: February 11, 2017
Alfonso Morillas-Romero1, Miquel Tortella-Feliu1, Maria Balle1
1University Research Institute on Health Sciences, University of the Balearic Islands.
Abstract:
The current study aimed to explore whether self-reported attentional control (AC) and the attentional network functioning would predict spontaneous emotion downregulation after emotional induction. A total of 117 healthy volunteers were asked to continuously rate their discomfort while looking at affective pictures, as well as for a period of time after exposure. After controlling for trait anxiety, higher self-reported AC significantly predicted a greater spontaneous emotional downregulation after exposure to aversive pictures. Both higher self-reported AC and lower executive control network functioning (i.e., greater interference) predicted a faster spontaneous emotional downregulation after exposure to affectively neutral pictures. Results are discussed focusing on the relationship between AC and emotion regulation difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record
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