Emotion regulation and peripheral psychophysiological correlates in the management of induced pain: A systematic review

PLoS One. 2021 Jun 29;16(6):e0253509. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253509. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Cognitive reappraisal and acceptance strategies have been shown to be effective in reducing pain experience and increasing pain tolerance. However, no systematic reviews have focused on the relationship between the use of these two strategies and peripheral physiological correlates when pain is experimentally induced. This systematic review aims to summarize the existing literature that explores the relationship between emotion regulation strategies (i.e., cognitive reappraisal and acceptance) and peripheral correlates of the autonomic nervous system and facial electromyography, such as affect-modulated responses and corrugator activity, on laboratory tasks where pain is induced. The systematic review identifies nine experimental studies that meet our inclusion criteria, none of which compare these strategies. Although cognitive reappraisal and acceptance strategies appear to be associated with decreased psychological responses, mixed results were found for the effects of the use of both strategies on all the physiological correlates. These inconsistencies between the studies might be explained by the high methodological heterogeneity in the task designs, as well as a lack of consistency between the instructions used in the different studies for cognitive reappraisal, acceptance, and the control conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Autonomic Nervous System / physiopathology*
  • Emotional Regulation*
  • Humans
  • Pain Management*
  • Pain* / physiopathology
  • Pain* / psychology
  • Psychophysiology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Universitat Jaume I, by two Research Projects to AG-P (UJIB2029-33 and UJI-B2016-39), a Research Project to MP (UJI-B2019-34), and a Predoctoral Grant to IJ (PREDOC/2017/26).