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. 2022 Dec 31;13(1):38.
doi: 10.3390/bs13010038.

The Interplay between Chronotype and Emotion Regulation in the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotion

Isabel M Santos  1   2 , Pedro Bem-Haja  2   3 , André Silva  2   4 , Catarina Rosa  2   3 , Diâner F Queiroz  2 , Miguel F Alves  2 , Talles Barroso  2 , Luíza Cerri  2 , Carlos F Silva  1   2
Affiliations

The Interplay between Chronotype and Emotion Regulation in the Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotion

Isabel M Santos et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

Emotion regulation strategies affect the experience and processing of emotions and emotional stimuli. Chronotype has also been shown to influence the processing of emotional stimuli, with late chronotypes showing a bias towards better processing of negative stimuli. Additionally, greater eveningness has been associated with increased difficulties in emotion regulation and preferential use of expressive suppression strategies. Therefore, the present study aimed to understand the interplay between chronotype and emotion regulation on the recognition of dynamic facial expressions of emotion. To that end, 287 participants answered self-report measures and performed an online facial emotion recognition task from short video clips where a neutral face gradually morphed into a full-emotion expression (one of the six basic emotions). Participants should press the spacebar to stop each video as soon as they could recognize the emotional expression, and then identify it from six provided labels/emotions. Greater eveningness was associated with shorter response times (RT) in the identification of sadness, disgust and happiness. Higher scores of expressive suppression were associated with longer RT in identifying sadness, disgust, anger and surprise. Expressive suppression significantly moderated the relationship between chronotype and the recognition of sadness and anger, with chronotype being a significant predictor of emotion recognition times only at higher levels of expressive suppression. No significant effects were observed for cognitive reappraisal. These results are consistent with a negative bias in emotion processing in late chronotypes and increased difficulty in anger and sadness recognition for expressive suppressor morning-types.

Keywords: chronotype; cognitive reappraisal; emotion recognition; emotion regulation; eveningness; expressive suppression; facial expressions; morningness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Trial scheme of the facial emotion recognition Task.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simple main effects of chronotype on response times (RT) in identifying sadness from faces according to the expressive suppression levels (Mean ± 1 SD); RT was squared root transformed due to normality issues. (SE) = standard error of the mean—shaded zone surrounding the lines.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Simple main effects of chronotype on response times (RT) in identifying anger from faces, according to the expressive suppression levels (Mean ± 1 SD). (SE) = standard error of the mean—shaded zone surrounding the lines.
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