Your poker face under pressure: autonomic nervous system arousal as a moderator of the relationship between expressive suppression and facial affect sensitivity

Abstract

Expressive suppression is an emotion regulation strategy that involves inhibiting the outward expression of emotion and can influence both the experience and perception of emotions (Gross, 1998a). Research suggests that expressive suppression impairs facial affect sensitivity, or the ability to accurately identify emotions in others' facial expressions (Schneider, Hempel, & Lynch, 2013). The present study investigates the impact of expressive suppression on university students' facial affect recognition and whether autonomic nervous system (ANS) arousal moderates this relationship. Participants completed a facial effect recognition task involving gradually morphed expressions ranging from neutral to full emotional intensity. During the task, participants were instructed to either suppress their expressions or maintain a natural, relaxed expression. ANS arousal was induced via cold pressor intervention, and heart rate was measured using electrocardiography (ECG). Response time, accuracy, and heart rate change over time were assessed using multiple analyses of variance. Although results were not significant, several outcomes trend in the hypothesized direction, suggesting that a more robust sample is necessary to fully investigate the role of ANS arousal on the relationship between expressive suppression and facial affect sensitivity.