Week 3: Emotion Regulation: Top-Down Cognitive Processes on Emotional Responses

Question 1

Voluntary Attention System (Derryberry & Reed, 2002)

Answer 1

The general capacity to voluntarily control attention in relation to positive as well as negative reactions.

Question 2

Attention Control (Derryberry & Reed, 2002)

Answer 2

1) Maintain Focus & Ignore Distractions
2) Shift-Attention (Multi-tasking)

Question 3

Focusing

Answer 3

The ability to voluntarily maintain the focus of attention on the task that you’re performing and to ignore thoughts or things in your environment that might distract you.

Question 4

Shifting

Answer 4

The ability to intentionally shift attention from one thing to another, such as when we’re multitasking.

Question 5

Automatic Attention (reflex)

Answer 5

Involuntary: Happens without conscious effort.
Bottom-up: Driven by external stimuli (like a loud noise or a bright light).

Question 6

Controlled Attention (choice)

Answer 6

Voluntary: Requires conscious effort and decision-making.
Top-down: Directed by internal goals or intentions.

Question 7

Attention Control & Anxiety (Derryberry & Reed, 2002)

Answer 7

High attention control helps people with anxiety avoid getting stuck on negative thoughts.

For people with low attention control, they had greater difficulty disengaging from the threat stimuli.

They suggested that attention control and the ability to shift away from threatening thoughts or stimuli can help limit the emotional impact of threatening information.

Question 8

Attention Control (Eysenck, 2007)

Answer 8

The ability to compensate for poor attention
control has its limits.

Demanding task + Information Overload/Low Motivation = More Distracted

Question 9

Attention Control (Berggren)

Answer 9

Using a visual search task, this study showed that when people were under pressure (high cognitive load), those with high anxiety struggled more to ignore distracting faces than people with low anxiety.

Question 10

Attention-Feedback Awareness and Control Training (A-FACT)

Answer 10

The training to improve attention control and reduce attention bias, avoidance behavior, and emotional response to stress.

Question 11

Cognitive Reappraisal/Restructuring

Answer 11

lt involves transforming the meaning of a negative situation that one encounters, and in so doing, reducing its emotional impact.

Antecedent focused.

Question 12

Antecedent-Focused Emotional Strategy (before/during an event)

Answer 12

Involves thinking about the causes of a situation and trying to reinterpret them so as to reduce the emotional impact of that situation.

Question 13

Response-Focused Emotional Strategy (after an event)

Answer 13

One might try to directly manage the feelings that a situation evokes, such as with relaxation techniques.

Question 14

Expressive Suppression

Answer 14

Involves active attempts to hide the emotional impact of an event.

Question 15

Reappraisal

Answer 15

Sometimes only possible because of the information provided to us.

Question 16

Training Reappraisal in Therapy

Answer 16

1) Identify negative thoughts
2) Consider & evaluate evidence validity
3) Challenge negative thoughts
4) Re-evaluate appraisal

Question 17

Fear Extinction as Inhibition

Answer 17

Rather than erasing the fear memory, extinction involves creating a new memory that inhibits the original fear.

Question 18

Excitatory Association

Answer 18

It is the original learned connection between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US).

Question 19

Unlearning

Answer 19

Broken up or deleted

Question 20

Extinction = Context Dependent

Answer 20

Extinction learning is often tied to a specific context.

Question 21

Return of Fear

Answer 21

Changing the context can lead to a resurgence of fear.

Question 22

Memories

Answer 22

Are not fixed representations of events as they actually happened. Instead, they are flexible and can be subject
to change.

Question 23

Memory Re-scripting

Answer 23

Intentionally altering a negative memory to reduce its emotional impact.

Question 24

Memory Re-scripting

Answer 24

Recall the memory, identify emotions, and then change the narrative.

Question 25

Memory Re-scripting

Answer 25

Corrects poorly processed memories, explores suppressed emotions, and challenges trauma-related beliefs.

Question 26

Type A Imagery Rescripting

Answer 26

Modifying the memory itself and associated emotions and beliefs.

Question 27

Type B Imagery Rescripting

Answer 27

Creating a positive self-image to counteract negative emotions.