Emotional habituation as a protective factor for resilience: Insights from ERP and hierarchical linear modeling

Emotional habituation, a basic form of neural plasticity, regulates emotions adaptively, yet its role in stress resilience remains unclear. This study integrated laboratory-based EEG habituation measures and ecological experience sampling to examine valence-specific habituation as a resilience factor against daily life stress in 69 undergraduates. Habituation slopes were derived from Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitude and arousal trajectories when participants viewed repeated pictures. Daily stressors and anxiety were reported over 30 days. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) revealed that habituation, modeled as a between-subjects moderator, significantly buffered stress reactivity: faster habituation to unpleasant stimuli (indexed by arousal and LPP slopes) and slower habituation to pleasant stimuli (indexed exclusively by LPP slopes) predicted reduced state anxiety amid rising daily stressors. These results underscored the role of adaptive emotional habituation as a protective factor for psychological resilience, with distinct pathways for threat disengagement (unpleasant valence) and reward preservation (pleasant valence). This research offers valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to prevent stress-related disorders.