Journal
EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume 237, Issue 1, Pages 211-222Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5416-y
Keywords
Psoriasis; Emotion regulation; Thermal imaging; Working memory; Cognitive load
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Funding
- PRIN Grant (Progetti di Ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale) [20159CZFJK]
- ERC Advanced Grant eHONESTY [789058]
- Sapienza University Grant [AR216154C9905620]
- European Research Council (ERC) [789058] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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Psoriasis is a chronic dermatologic disease which is frequently associated with psychological distress. Although studies suggest a relationship between this condition and difficulties in emotion regulation, behavioral and physiological evidence about this link is scarce. We measured implicit emotion regulation abilities of psoriasis patients and a healthy control group by examining the impact of distracting emotional (positive, negative or neutral) images on a working memory task (Emotional N-Back) which could present high (2-back) or low (1-back) cognitive workload. Moreover, we used Functional Infrared Thermal Imaging to record participants' facial temperature and obtain a measure of the activation of the autonomic system. Rising of temperature over the peri-orbital areas and the nose tip are believed to reflect the activation and the de-activation of the sympathetic system, respectively. Patients scored higher than controls on the Lack of emotional clarity sub-scale of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Compared to controls, who performed much better in the low vs. high cognitive load condition, patients showed a smaller accuracy difference between the two conditions. Moreover, patients showed less sympathetic (lower peri-orbital and higher nasal tip temperature) activity (especially in the negative and neutral blocks) during the high vs. low cognitive load condition, suggesting that the former condition might be less emotionally demanding for them. Patients benefit more than controls from the load-dependent interference effect when dealing with emotional information; thus, therapeutic techniques aiming at teaching how to use cognitive strategies to downregulate emotions might be particularly appropriated for them.
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