Investigating the Neural Systems That Support the Beneficial Effects of Positive Emotion on Stress Regulation

Behavior Clinical Trial

Official title: Investigating the Neural Systems That Support the Beneficial Effects of Positive Emotion on Stress Regulation

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

For this study, community participants will visit the PI's psychophysiology lab for a single experimental session. In this study, participants will complete pre-task questionnaires (trait measures), and a brief mood measure, followed by a task training in which a research assistant describes and gives examples of cognitive reappraisal in response to negative images. Participants are then randomly assigned to positive or neutral emotion induction conditions, to be delivered by virtual reality. Then, participants complete an event-related, picture-based cognitive reappraisal task for 30-45 minutes, during which skin conductance level will be collected. Following the task, participants will once again respond to a mood measure, and answer a series of questions regarding the task they have completed, including difficulty of regulation, or any images that were personally relevant.

The investigators predict that the positive emotion induction will result in powerful effects on self-reported emotion and skin conductance, which may or may not interact with the cognitive reappraisal condition.

Clinical Trial Description

For the studies, participants will be recruited via paper and electronic flyers on campus and in the surrounding communities. Interested participants will be screened via phone, email and/or web form to assess eligibility according to criteria listed elsewhere. Should participants qualify, they will be invited to complete a single laboratory session in the PI's psychophysiology lab.

Once arriving at the laboratory, participants will complete the consent process, in which a research assistant trained in ethical principles regarding human subjects research will answer any questions about the consent form and verbally reinforce the key rights of the participants outlined there. Once both parties are satisfied, consent forms will be signed.

Participants will sit with a trained research assistant/experimenter who will give an overview of the entire session, and then begin training for the cognitive reappraisal task. This training takes 10-15 minutes. During the training, the experimenter will offer several possible reappraisals of negative images and allow the participants to offer their own as well, providing encouragement and feedback. During this training, the experimenter will also go over the method of encouragement and feedback. During this training, the experimenter will also go over the method of responding (using the VR equipment). Participants will be reminded during training that they may stop the experiment at any point if the pictures are too upsetting.

Immediately following task training, participants will make a general mood rating using the PANAS. Then, they will be randomly assigned to a positive or neutral mood induction, to be delivered by 10 minutes exploring a positive (beach scene) or neutral (office scene) VR environment using a headset with integrated audio. After the VR exploration, participants will complete the reappraisal task. The task will take just under 20 minutes. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Behavior

• NCT number: NCT04496258
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Denver
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 5, 2021
• Completion date: April 14, 2022