The Influence of Emotion Regulation on Estimation Strategy Execution in Individuals with Trait Anxiety

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that some negative emotions hinder estimation strategy execution. However, these studies rarely investigate the influence of negative emotions on the estimation strategy execution in individuals with trait anxiety. The present study examines the relationship between negative emotions and trait anxiety in individuals’ estimation strategy execution. Moreover, it looks into the influence of different emotion regulation strategies on their estimation strategy execution. In October 2010, 803 college students were evaluated using the Trait Anxiety Scale. From these participants, individuals with high and low trait anxiety were selected to complete the double-digit multiplication estimation task. The results showed that the estimation strategy’s execution speed in individuals with high trait anxiety was slower than those with low trait anxiety under negative emotions (t (113) = −2.269, p = 0.025, d = 0.427). Both expression inhibition and cognitive reappraisal could significantly improve the execution speed of the estimation strategy in low trait anxiety (p < 0.001). For individuals with high trait anxiety, cognitive reappraisal regulating negative emotions can promote the estimation strategy’s execution speed (p = 0.031). However, the use of expression inhibition has no significant effect on estimation strategy execution (p = 0.101). In summary, the present study revealed that different emotion regulation strategies moderated the arithmetic strategy execution of individuals with trait anxiety, and cognitive reappraisal had a better effect in individuals with high trait anxiety.