Generalization of emotion regulation using conditioned reminders on mobile phones

Transdiagnostic behavioral interventions often fail to generalize learning beyond the therapy setting, limiting their effectiveness in daily life. This two-experiment study investigated whether pairing novel auditory stimuli with reductions in emotional arousal can help generalize habituation learning and facilitate emotion regulation across contexts and over time. In Experiment 1, participants who had habituation reminders (HRs; novel auditory stimuli) paired repeatedly with a laboratory exposure task showed reduced self-reported distress during a different stressor task one week later. No differences were found when examining markers of physiological arousal. Experiment 2 tested the generalization of HR training to naturalistic settings using mobile phones. Participants receiving HRs during distressing moments in daily life reported more significant reductions in subjective distress compared to controls. Taken together, these results suggest that HRs -- novel auditory stimuli associated with repeated reductions in emotional arousal -- can facilitate the regulation of subjective distress across time and contexts. Clinical implications involve using HRs to enhance emotion regulation interventions by integrating therapy with real-world applications. Future research should explore HR effectiveness across diverse emotional triggers. Overall, HRs represent a promising method for enhancing the durability and generalization of emotion regulation interventions.