Distancing alters the controllability of emotional states by affecting both intrinsic stability and extrinsic sensitivity

Distancing alters the controllability of emotional states by affecting both intrinsic stability and extrinsic sensitivity | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Distancing alters the controllability of emotional states by affecting both intrinsic stability and extrinsic sensitivity Jolanda Malamud, Quentin Huys This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2731985/v3 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Background: Emotion regulation strategies such as distancing are a core component of many evidence-based, effective psychotherapeutic interventions. They allow individuals to exert more 'control' over their emotional state. However, objectively disentangling how emotion regulation increases control has been difficult for reasons including a lack of a coherent theoretical framework for emotion control and insufficient experimental control over external inputs. Here, we apply a well-established theoretical framework for controllability to a tightly controlled experimental setup to examine the computational mechanisms by which emotion regulation interventions enhance emotional controllability. Methods: 109 participants were randomized to either a short emotion regulation intervention (distancing) or a control intervention. Both before and after the intervention, participants reported their emotional state along five dimensions repeatedly while watching a series of short, standardized, emotional video clips. A Kalman Filter was used to quantify how multidimensional emotional states changed with video inputs. The consequences of the emotion regulation intervention were examined by Bayesian model comparison, comparing models allowing for a change in intrinsic dynamics and/or input weights. Controllability was assessed using continuous measures derived from the controllability matrix, capturing relative differences in how emotional states can be driven by external inputs. Results: The Kalman filter captured participants' emotional trajectories, showing that emotional states were affected by the emotional videos; persisted; and interacted with each other. The distancing strategy made emotional states less externally controllable. It did so by altering two aspects of the dynamical system: by stabilizing specific emotional patterns and by reducing the impact of the external video clips. Conclusions: Our study used a novel approach to examine emotion regulation, finding that a brief distancing intervention increased perceived emotion control by reducing how much external stimuli can control emotional states. This is due to both an increase in the intrinsic stability of certain emotional states; and a reduction of the sensitivity to certain extrinsic affective stimuli. Health sciences/Health care/Therapeutics Health sciences/Medical research/Experimental models of disease Health sciences/Medical research/Translational research Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour emotion regulation dynamical modelling controllability psychotherapy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: QJMH has obtained a research grant from Koa Health, and obtained fees and options for consultancies for Aya Technologies and Alto Neuroscience. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2731985","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":349087265,"identity":"1f368537-a3c7-4195-9d65-05db4c6aacdb","order_by":0,"name":"Jolanda Malamud","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA1UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYg8QDEOt4AZTCwEaElAcQ6cwDKIKQFDMAqbyQQqYW5gTvxQ0LNtsS+m28MPyQw2MkzSKQlEHAY72aJhGO3E2fezjGWSGBINmyQSDtASMsGiQS224kbbueYAR3GnMAgkd5A0JYfCf+AWm6eAWmpJ0rLNonENqCWGzwgLYeBWgg5rJl3m0Vi323jmWfSiiUSDI4btvE8S8CrxbC9d/OND99uy/YdP7zxw4eKanl+9jQD/FqaUbgGRESkPCEFo2AUjIJRMAoYAEJuSLbahdW5AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Division of Psychiatry and Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jolanda","middleName":"","lastName":"Malamud","suffix":""},{"id":349087266,"identity":"33829c51-0fc3-4566-8db5-93643f213f83","order_by":1,"name":"Quentin Huys","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8999-574X","institution":"University College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Quentin","middleName":"","lastName":"Huys","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2023-03-24 12:20:59","currentVersionCode":3,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":true,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2731985/v3","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2731985/v3","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108181634,"identity":"69108c3f-0590-4cd3-8c30-3bba1ffb1a0e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-30 08:58:48","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":7466872,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20261704emotionconrevisedmanuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-2731985/v3_covered_d7a66024-3342-47e4-9cbb-e960299309c9.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare potential competing interests as follows: QJMH has obtained a research grant from Koa Health, and obtained fees and options for consultancies for Aya Technologies and Alto Neuroscience. ","formattedTitle":"Distancing alters the controllability of emotional states by affecting both intrinsic stability and extrinsic sensitivity","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"emotion regulation, dynamical modelling, controllability, psychotherapy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-2731985/v3","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2731985/v3","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackground: \u003c/strong\u003eEmotion regulation strategies such as distancing are a core component of many evidence-based, effective psychotherapeutic interventions. They allow individuals to exert more 'control' over their emotional state. However, objectively disentangling how emotion regulation increases control has been difficult for reasons including a lack of a coherent theoretical framework for emotion control and insufficient experimental control over external inputs. Here, we apply a well-established theoretical framework for controllability to a tightly controlled experimental setup to examine the computational mechanisms by which emotion regulation interventions enhance emotional controllability.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMethods: \u003c/strong\u003e109 participants were randomized to either a short emotion regulation intervention (distancing) or a control intervention. Both before and after the intervention, participants reported their emotional state along five dimensions repeatedly while watching a series of short, standardized, emotional video clips. A Kalman Filter was used to quantify how multidimensional emotional states changed with video inputs. The consequences of the emotion regulation intervention were examined by Bayesian model comparison, comparing models allowing for a change in intrinsic dynamics and/or input weights. Controllability was assessed using continuous measures derived from the controllability matrix, capturing relative differences in how emotional states can be driven by external inputs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eResults: \u003c/strong\u003eThe Kalman filter captured participants' emotional trajectories, showing that emotional states were affected by the emotional videos; persisted; and interacted with each other. The distancing strategy made emotional states less externally controllable. It did so by altering two aspects of the dynamical system: by stabilizing specific emotional patterns and by reducing the impact of the external video clips.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConclusions: \u003c/strong\u003eOur study used a novel approach to examine emotion regulation, finding that a brief distancing intervention increased perceived emotion control by reducing how much external stimuli can control emotional states. 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