ABSTRACT

Emotional awareness is comprised of dispositions towards and knowledge about one’s emotions. Executive functions (EF) are cognitive processes that organise and guide behaviour towards one’s goals. Both emotional awareness and EF play a role in processes such as emotion regulation and are risk factors for the development and maintenance of depression. Although previous research suggests that aspects of emotional awareness are related to EF, methodological and measurement limitations within the available literature make it difficult to clearly understand how they are associated. In this registered report, we examined the extent to which task-based measures of a specific EF process, shifting, are differentially related to unique facets of emotional awareness (i.e. emotional clarity of type, emotional clarity of source, voluntary attention to emotions, and involuntary attention to emotions), and to what extent EF and emotional awareness are related to depression. Using structural equation modelling, we found evidence that emotional clarity of type was associated with greater shifting cost. Shifting was not associated with any other facet of emotional awareness. Depression was linked to lower emotional clarity of type, higher involuntary attention to emotions, but not poorer EF performance. We discuss how emotional awareness and EF may be uniquely related to depression.

摘要

情绪意识包括对情绪的倾向和知识。执行功能 (EF) 是组织和引导行为实现目标的认知过程。情绪意识和 EF 在情绪调节等过程中发挥作用，是抑郁症发展和维持的危险因素。尽管之前的研究表明情绪意识的各个方面与 EF 相关，但现有文献中的方法和测量限制使得很难清楚地了解它们之间的关联。在这份注册报告中，我们研究了特定 EF 过程的基于任务的测量与情绪意识的独特方面（即情绪类型的清晰度、来源的情绪清晰度、对情绪的自愿关注、和对情绪的非自愿关注），以及 EF 和情绪意识在多大程度上与抑郁症有关。使用结构方程模型，我们发现有证据表明类型的情绪清晰度与更大的转移成本有关。转移与情绪意识的任何其他方面无关。抑郁症与较低的情绪清晰度类型、较高的对情绪的非自愿关注有关，但与较差的 EF 表现有关。我们讨论情绪意识和 EF 可能与抑郁症有何独特关系。抑郁症与较低的情绪清晰度类型、较高的对情绪的非自愿关注有关，但与较差的 EF 表现有关。我们讨论情绪意识和 EF 可能与抑郁症有何独特关系。抑郁症与较低的情绪清晰度类型、较高的对情绪的非自愿关注有关，但与较差的 EF 表现有关。我们讨论情绪意识和 EF 可能与抑郁症有何独特关系。