Expressive suppression moderates nature scene effect on acute stress recovery

Nature benefits stress recovery. However, few studies have examined if individual differences in emotion regulation moderate the restorative effect of nature. I investigated to what extent experiential, physiological, and neural components of stress recovery during nature scene viewing are moderated by individual differences in the habitual use of expressive suppression in daily lives. Thirty-three college students were induced acute stress by a standard laboratory stressor (mental arithmetic). Then they viewed nature scenes with different sunlight conditions and a blank screen as baseline control, immediately after which they rated their relaxation levels. Simultaneously recorded electroencephalography (EEG) signals were used to derive functional coupling between prefrontal and posterior cortical regions in alpha oscillation, an indicator of visual attention. Peripheral physiology, skin conductance (SCR) and heart-rate variability (HRV), indicating sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, respectively, were also recorded. Results showed that experiential and physiological outcomes of nature scenes differed by individual differences in expressive suppression. Specifically, high expressive suppression was associated with lower relaxation and HRV in some nature scenes. SCR is invariant across nature scenes or expressive suppression. Furthermore, visual perception of nature scenes may require more involuntary attention; therefore, EEG alpha coupling was reduced. Alpha coupling during nature scenes predicted subjective relaxation, depending on expressive suppression. The present study indicates that individuals high in expressive suppression may not benefit to the same degree as those lower in expressive suppression during nature scene exposure. Future studies on stress processing by integrating environment, brain, body, and individual traits are valuable.