Spanish and cross-cultural validation of the mind excessively wandering scale.

Introduction: Over the last decade, excessive spontaneous mind wandering (MW) has been consistently associated with emotional disorders. The main aims of the present study were (1) to re-examine the factor structure of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS); (2) to validate the Spanish version of the MEWS; and (3) to conduct a cross-cultural validation of the MEWS in Spanish and UK samples.

Methods: A forward/backward translation to Spanish was conducted.

Wandering minds in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) have overlapping symptoms. We proposed that excessive spontaneous mind wandering (MW-S) might reflect a component of psychopathology that distinguishes ADHD from BPD. Using a questionnaire measure of MW-S and an experience sampling method, we investigated MW-S in daily life, in 28 ADHD, 19 BPD, 22 comorbid ADHD+BPD, and 29 control females.

Long range temporal correlations in EEG oscillations of subclinically depressed individuals: their association with brooding and suppression.

Long-range temporal correlations (LRTC) in brain oscillations have been found to be associated with depression severity in clinically depressed patients. Less is known, however, about the relationships between LRTC and proneness to engage in depression-related cognitive emotion regulation (ER) strategies which characterize both clinically and subclinically depressed (SBD) people. In this study we applied detrended fluctuation analysis to the amplitude envelope of broad band, theta band, and alpha band spontaneous EEG oscillations of a group of SBD individuals and a group of non-depressed individuals (both groups from a sample of healthy adults, N = 120), to whom brooding and thought suppression questionnaires were administered.

Spontaneous emotion regulation and attentional control.

The current study aimed to explore whether self-reported attentional control (AC) and the attentional network functioning would predict spontaneous emotion downregulation after emotional induction. A total of 117 healthy volunteers were asked to continuously rate their discomfort while looking at affective pictures, as well as for a period of time after exposure. After controlling for trait anxiety, higher self-reported AC significantly predicted a greater spontaneous emotional downregulation after exposure to aversive pictures.

Attentional control, attentional network functioning, and emotion regulation styles.

Attentional network functioning in emotionally neutral conditions and self-reported attentional control (AC) were analysed as predictors of the tendency to engage in dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. Diminished attentional orienting predicted an increased tendency to engage in brooding rumination, and enhanced alertness predicted a greater chance of suppression, beyond trait anxiety and self-reported AC, which were not predictive of either rumination or suppression. This is the first study to show that some forms of dysfunctional emotion regulation are related to the attentional network functioning in emotionally neutral conditions.

Complexity of everyday life heart rate dynamics and attentional control in healthy students.

Effective regulation of emotions requires the ability to voluntarily manage attention, i.e. attentional control (AC), which has been related to heart rate variability and vagal tone in laboratory based research.

Resting parietal electroencephalogram asymmetries and self-reported attentional control.

Research on electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetries and anxiety proneness has recently spread to emotion regulation capabilities. We studied whether attentional control (AC), a temperamental construct related to emotional regulation, was associated with asymmetrical patterns of resting EEG activity at the frontal and parietal regions, reflected not only in the α frequency band (8-13 Hz) but also in higher bands β1 (13-20 Hz) and β2 (20-30 Hz). Self-reports of AC and trait anxiety, and resting EEG recordings, were obtained from 58 healthy participants.

Resting parietal EEG asymmetry and cardiac vagal tone predict attentional control.

The present study explores both resting cortical EEG asymmetry and vagally-mediated heart rate variability (HRV), as an index for vagal tone, as physiological correlates of self-reported attentional control in a sample of 53 healthy young adults. Regression analyses indicate that higher vagally-mediated HRV and lower right-sided parietal activity in the β2 frequency range (20-30Hz) are significant predictors of larger attentional control. Results are in line with some of the basic features of the neurovisceral integration model and stress the role of parietal areas in attentional control capabilities, thus aiming to consider attentional control as a trait-like disposition.

Effects of temperament and emotion regulation styles in determining negative emotional states.

Introduction: The interplay of reactive and regulatory temperamental processes appears to be essential for a better understanding of emotional states and disorders. In this study we explored the prospective relationship between reactive temperament (negative affect), regulatory temperament (effortful control), negative emotion regulation styles (rumination and suppression) and self-recorded anxiety, worry, and avoidance in naturalistic conditions.

Method: Thirty-two young adults were first assessed through questionnaires on negative affectivity, effortful control, and two forms of negative emotion regulation (rumination and suppression).