Autonomic reactivity during acute social stress: exploratory investigation of an interaction by threat interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties

ABSTRACT

Objective: This preliminary study examined the interactive influences of interpretation bias and emotion dysregulation in predicting autonomic stress response.

Methods: Participants (N = 72 college students; ages 18–25, 70% female, 47% Hispanic/Latinx), completed a performance-based assessment of threat interpretation bias and self-report measures of emotion regulation difficulties. Electrodermal activity (EDA; skin conductance level) was collected while participants completed a standardized psychosocial stressor task.

Results: Interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties interacted to predict EDA trajectories (β = 0.054, SE = .001, CI:.007, .002, p < .001) during acute stress: presence of either interpretation bias toward threat (β = 6.950, SE = 2.826, CI: 1.407, 12.488, p = .013) or emotion regulation difficulties (β = 9.387, SE = 3.685, CI: 2.141, 16.636, p = .011) was associated with greater reactivity and poorer recovery; presence of both was associated with the lowest resting state EDA and blunted reactivity (β = 1.340, SE = 3.085, CI: −4.721, 7.407, p = .66).

Conclusions: Preliminary findings support interpretation bias and emotion regulation difficulties, and their distinct interactive patterns, as predictors of autonomic reactivity trajectories during stress. Interpretation bias modification and emotion regulation skills may be important intervention targets for common psychological conditions that are influenced by aberrant psychophysiological processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Physiological reactivity
• electrodermal activity
• skin conductance level
• social stressor
• interpretation bias
• emotion dysregulation

Data availability

Available upon request to corresponding author.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the funding sources as well as the individuals who participated in this study and research assistants who helped with the conduct of the study. Author Contributions: All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Araceli Gonzalez, Michelle Rozenman, Pauline Goger, and Sarah Velasco. Analyses were performed by Michelle Rozenman. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Araceli Gonzalez and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

Araceli Gonzalez has received a Faculty Small Grant from the California State University Long Beach and funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and RAND Corporation for work unrelated to the current manuscript. Michelle Rozenman has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, and the University of Denver to conduct work unrelated to this project.

Additional information

Funding

The current work was supported by the National Institute of Health BUILD Research Stimulation [grant numbers UL1GM118979, TLGM118980, and RL5GM118978] (Gonzalez), NIH/NCATS UCLA CTSI [grant number UL1TR000124] (Rozenman), and the UCLA Friends of Semel Research Scholar Program (Rozenman).