Catherine N. M. Ortner

Effects of ethanol and temazepam on episodic and semantic memory: a dose–response comparison

Drug‐induced memory impairment is most apparent for long‐term memory, but it is unclear whether this effect is restricted to episodic memory with no effect on semantic memory. Here we compare how the formation of new semantic and episodic memories are affected by ethanol and temazepam. Eighteen subjects (12 male, 6 female; age 19–43 years; weight 52–104 kg) took part in five sessions in which they received by mouth, in random order: (E2) ethanol, 0.8 g/kg, maximum 60 g males, 50 g females; (E1) ethanol, 75 per cent of the dose for E1; (T2) temazepam 20 mg; (T1) temazepam 15 mg; (P) placebo. They carried out a series of tests including learning of invented ‘facts, a measure of the acquisition of new semantic memory; the Buschke test, a measure of short‐ and long‐term learning of words; Digit–Symbol substitution, a measure of psychomotor speed; and Visual Analogue Scales. Both acquisition of new semantic memory and the long‐term measure from the Buschke were impaired by both drugs. The effects of ethanol were more marked than those of temazepam for the memory tests at the doses used here, particularly for the Buschke. Psychomotor impairment as assessed by Digit–Symbol substitution speed was equally affected by both drugs. Subjects rated themselves more drunk on ethanol than on temazepam, but drowsiness was similar for the two drugs. These results show that both drugs impair the acquisition of new semantic memory as well as new episodic memory, and suggest that it is new long‐term memory formation that is impaired by these drugs and not the formation of a specific type of memory, such as episodic memory. Copyright

Effects of Regulating Positive Emotions through Reappraisal and Suppression on Verbal and Non-Verbal Recognition Memory

Previous research has suggested that regulating emotions through reappraisal does not incur cognitive costs. However, in those experiments, cognitive costs were often assessed by recognition memory for information that was contextually related to the emotionally evocative stimuli and may have been incorporated into the reappraisal script, facilitating memory. Furthermore, there is little research on the cognitive correlates of regulating positive emotions. In the current experiment, we tested memory for information that was contextually unrelated to the emotional stimuli and could not easily be related to the reappraisal. Participants viewed neutral and mildly positive slides and either reappraised, suppressed their emotions, or viewed the images with no emotion regulation instruction. At the same time, they heard abstract words that were unrelated to the picture stimuli. Subsequent verbal recognition memory was lower after reappraising than viewing, whereas non-verbal recognition memory (of the slides) was higher after reappraising, but only for positive pictures and when participants viewed the positive pictures first. Suppression had no significant effect on either verbal or non-verbal recognition scores, although there was a trend towards poorer recognition of verbal information. The findings support the notion that reappraisal is effortful and draws on limited cognitive resources, causing decrements in performance in a concurrent memory task.

Believing Is Doing: Emotion Regulation Beliefs Are Associated With Emotion Regulation Behavioral Choices and Subjective Well-Being

Research in emotion regulation has begun to examine various predictors of emotion regulation choices, including individual differences and contextual variables. However, scant attention has been paid to the extent to which people’s beliefs about the specific consequences of emotion regulation strategies for the components of an emotional response and long-term well-being predict their behavioral regulatory choices and, in turn, their subjective well-being. Participants completed measures to assess their beliefs about the consequences of functional and dysfunctional strategies, behavioral choices of emotion regulation strategies in negative scenarios, and subjective well-being. The model that fit the data indicated partial mediation whereby beliefs were associated with approximately 9% of the variance in choices. Emotion regulation choices were related to subjective well-being, with an additional direct effect between beliefs and well-being. This suggests beliefs play a role in people’s regulatory choices. Future research should explore how beliefs interact with individual differences and contextual variables to better understand why people regulate their emotions in different ways and, ultimately, to help individuals make healthy emotion regulation choices.

Cognitive Costs of Reappraisal Depend on Both Emotional Stimulus Intensity and Individual Differences in Habitual Reappraisal

Recent models of emotion regulation suggest that the cognitive costs of reappraisal depend on stimulus intensity and habitual reappraisal. In the current experiment, we tested these hypotheses by manipulating the intensity of unpleasant and pleasant images, which participants reappraised, viewed, or suppressed their emotions to. To assess cognitive costs, we measured participants’ performance on a concurrent simple reaction time task. Participants also reported on their everyday use of reappraisal and suppression. Higher intensity stimuli were associated with greater cognitive costs of reappraisal, for unpleasant, but not pleasant pictures. Also, greater habitual reappraisal predicted lower cognitive costs of reappraisal and greater reductions in subjective feelings. Results support the role of stimulus intensity and habitual use of reappraisal in predicting the cognitive costs of reappraisal.

Correction to: Think ahead before you regulate: A focus on future consequences predicts choices of and beliefs about strategies for the downregulation of negative emotions

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake in the last paragraph of result section in Study 1.

Using Mobile and Web Technologies to Collect and Analyze Emotion Survey Data

Traditional methods of survey data collection in education and research in samples of undergraduate students have largely consisted of pen-and-paper surveys administered in laboratory settings. The Emotion Regulation Application (ERA) project aims to provide a system to facilitate the gathering of data from study participants using a mobile application installed on smartphone devices with collected data being made available to researchers through a web application. The projects progress thus far has provided the beginnings of an effective solution serving to ameliorate some of the drawbacks of more traditional data acquisition methods used in similar research, as well as a unique opportunity for directed learning in software design and development.