Loss-related mental states impair executive functions in a context of sadness

Genevieve Beaulieu-Pelletier; Marc-André Bouchard; Frederick L Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06599

Loss-related mental states impair executive functions in a context of sadness

Heliyon. 2021 Mar 28;7(3):e06599. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06599. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Authors

Genevieve Beaulieu-Pelletier¹, Marc-André Bouchard², Frederick L Philippe¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Quebec, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
² Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Abstract

Stress and anxiety have been shown to temporally impair executive functions, but the role of other emotions, such as sadness, has been inconclusive. Moreover, the role of affect regulation in this relationship has not been extensively studied. The present research investigated whether certain types of mental states (mental output resulting from the use of affect regulation within a specific context or with respect to a specific material or theme) relative to the context of loss would predict impairment of executive functions. Participants were randomly assigned to read either a loss-related newspaper article inducing sadness or a neutral newspaper article. Results showed that low mental states relative to loss (maladaptive affect regulation) predicted impairment of executive functions following an induction of sadness, but not following the neutral induction. Conversely, high mental states (adaptive affect regulation) were not predictive of impairment of executive functions in both the sadness and neutral condition. These findings have implications for the boundaries within which emotion can disrupt high-order cognitive processes.

Keywords: Affect regulation; Executive functions; Mental states; Sadness.