Does cognitive load influence expressive flexibility? Comparing civilian and veteran populations

ABSTRACT

Expressive flexibility (EF) is a component of emotion regulation flexibility repertoire that constitutes the ability to enhance or suppress the expression of emotion in accordance with a given situational context. Previous research has associated EF with healthy adjustment to adversity. This association has also been observed in combat veterans with elevated post-traumatic stress. EF and other elements of regulatory flexibility are believed to rely on functions of cognitive control, such as working memory. However, previous research has yet to investigate this link. Accordingly, we examined performance in veterans (N = 42) and non-veterans (N = 75) on an EF Task with and without the inclusion of a numerical cognitive load task. Results indicate an interaction between cognitive load and expressive condition. Specifically, suppression abilities were weaker in cognitive load conditions. These findings did not vary in veteran and non-veteran samples. These results add to a growing body of work indicating a relationship between cognitive control and regulatory flexibility, and suggest similar mechanisms between veteran and non-veteran populations.

KEYWORDS:

• Regulatory flexibility
• veterans
• working memory
• cognitive control
• expressive flexibility

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank John Khoury for his contribution to the Teachers College Resilience Center.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data and syntax are publicly available and can be found at https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/URCSX

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by John Khoury.