Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.3390/psycholint8010002

Publication Title

Psychology International

Volume

8

Issue

1

Pages

2

Abstract

Emotion regulation refers to the processes through which people modulate their emotional experiences and expressions, and difficulties in these processes underpin many forms of psychopathology. According to the process model, emotion regulation encompasses five classes of strategies, commonly grouped into antecedent-focused strategies (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) and response-focused strategies (e.g., expressive suppression). These strategies involve both explicit and implicit processes, which can be objectively assessed using physiological indices. The present study examined the effects of startle habituation and vagally mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV) on the use of cognitive appraisal and suppression. Forty-nine college-aged participants were recruited, and their resting heart rate variability (HRV) and response habituation to an auditory startle-eliciting stimulus were measured. Emotion regulation strategies were assessed by a self-report questionnaire. Multiple regressions were used to analyze the effects of startle habituation, vmHRV, and their interaction on emotion regulation strategies. Results indicated that, although suppression was not associated with any physiological indices in the regression models, cognitive reappraisal was predicted by both vmHRV and startle habituation. Notably, vmHRV and startle habituation interacted such that the positive association between vmHRV and cognitive reappraisal emerged only among individuals who exhibited slow startle habituation. These findings have practical implications for the prevention and treatment of psychopathology, as well as for promoting more adaptive emotion regulation in daily life.

Rights

© 2026 by the authors.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

Article states: "The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors on request."

Original Publication Citation

Yang, X., Fang, F., & Babb, A. X. (2026). Startle habituation and vagally mediated heart rate variability influence the use of emotion regulation strategies. Psychology International, 8(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/psycholint8010002

ORCID

0000-0001-6421-2051 (Yang), 0000-0003-1961-7660 (Fang)

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