Positive and detached reappraisal in older adulthood: A temporal examination of gaze patterns

Objectives: Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that involves the adaptive restructuring of one's thoughts surrounding an emotionally evocative stimulus. Previous studies have produced mixed results on how distinct reappraisal and attentional processes are, but few studies have teased apart specific reappraisal methods. This is of particular interest in aging as older adults' regulation success may vary by reappraisal type. The current study examined whether detached and positive reappraisal are associated with distinct temporal patterns of attention in a sample of older adults. Method: 29 older adult participants viewed negative IAPS images and were instructed to implement both positive and detached reappraisal while eye movements were monitored. Participants also reported on their mood before and after viewing the images. Results: Participants fixated on negative areas early on and looked at them less over time, however their attention was oriented specifically towards the most negative region during reappraisal. They also re-fixated on the negative areas of the images during the last second of viewing during detached reappraisal, and reported feeling best while using this strategy. Conclusion: These findings provide information about the temporal nature of visual attention while utilizing distinct cognitive reappraisal strategies. Results highlight the importance of further teasing apart differences between detached and positive reappraisal as regulatory success and attentional shifts differ between these reappraisal types in older adulthood.