Effectiveness of Reappraisal and Distraction in Regulating Emotion across sleep

Abstract

Background- Sleep provides an ideal neurobiological medium which depotentiate prior negative experiences and restores optimal post-sleep affective reactivity and cognitive functions (Walker and van der Helm, 2009). The first and central factor in order that predict the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies is the underlying operating mechanism and the cognitive resources required for modulation. The present study compares the effectiveness of two affect regulating strategies (distraction and cognitive reappraisal) in reducing negative affect across sleep. Methodology- Seventeen healthy participants performed on visual emotion regulation task after sleep deprivation or sleep-filled nights. The dependent variable was valance rating on SelfAssessment Manikin Scale. Subjects on experimental nights provided valence ratings on the Self-Assessment Manikin Scale (SAM) under both no-regulation (control) and regulation (distraction/ appraisal) strategies. Statistical analyses were carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results- Separate repeated measure ANOVA were performed on valance rating across [session (sleep/deprivation) and strategy (control/regulate)] for both the regulation strategies. Selfreported rating of valance for group using distraction strategy varied significantly [(F (1, 16) = 4.56, p < 0.05)] across sleep and deprivation sessions. Similarly, distraction as compared to control lead to significant differences on self-reported valence score [F (1, 16) = 24.97, p < 0.05]. For cognitive reappraisal strategy, no significant differences for valance rating across sleep and deprivation nights resulted. However, there was a significant difference in valence rating across control and regulation strategy [F (1, 16) = 66.49, p < 0.05]. Both the regulation strategy caused significant changes in valence as compared to control strategy. In addition only distraction strategy revealed significant changes in valence ratings across sleep and deprivation sessions. Conclusions- Regulation strategies successfully modulated valence when compared to no regulation sessions. In addition, only appraisal strategy was able to modulated valence across sleep deprivation leading to similar valence ratings across both deprivation and sleep nights. Possible reason behind these results could be the underlying mechanism and use of cognitive resources in individual strategy.