Executive function and feedback in regulatory monitoring: Towards an understanding of flexible and adaptive emotion regulation

• Main Author: NG, Gilaine Rui
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2024
• Subjects: executive function; monitoring; feedback; emotion regulation flexibility; adaptiveness; structural equation modeling; Applied Behavior Analysis; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/630; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1628/viewcontent/GPPS_AY2019_PhD_Gilaine_Ng_Rui.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Monitoring is a process which involves attending to feedback regarding the efficacy of ongoing regulatory strategies and determining whether to switch or maintain strategies (i.e., strategy switching or maintenance) in order to maximize adaptive outcomes. While conceptual accounts underscore the critical role of monitoring in flexible and adaptive emotion regulation, empirical research remains scarce, and the cognitive factors which subserve the monitoring process remain unclear and poorly understood. To bridge this gap, we investigate how components of executive function (EF)—a set of cognitive control processes necessary for flexible, goal-directed behavior—would differentially support the monitoring process. Additionally, we examine the extent to which the monitoring process would be associated with adaptive regulatory outcomes (e.g., reducing negative affect, ensuring strategy-situation fit, etc.). Structural equation modeling revealed that better conflict-monitoring ability was associated with a greater tendency to engage in strategy switching in response to internal feedback. This, in turn, bore different implications for regulatory adaptiveness that were contingent on the source of feedback and aspect of adaptiveness under consideration. Findings from this study elucidate the cognitive underpinnings of the monitoring process and highlight the importance of distinguishing between flexibility and adaptiveness in the study of emotion regulation.