Research

Studying the brain and body correlates of emotion, from reaction to regulation

Framework

Our work seeks to understand emotion regulation processes — how we alter our emotions when we want to, and the causes and consequences of doing so. Director Heather Urry and colleagues developed the SOC-ER framework, a conceptual model of how people select emotion regulation strategies and evaluate how well those strategies worked, given their personal resources.

Current Research Focus

Our present work concentrates on emotion processes related to performance under stress. We’ve developed a novel route-planning task to explore:

  • How time pressure influences subjective stress and task outcomes
  • Emotional forecasting about task performance
  • How emotion regulation affects the accuracy of those forecasts
  • Connections between interoceptive (internal bodily) awareness, subjective stress, and which regulation strategies people use

Research Methods

We draw on multiple measurement approaches:

  • Subjective emotional experience — self-report rating scales and questionnaires
  • Psychophysiology — facial muscle activity and autonomic (e.g., cardiovascular, electrodermal) responses
  • Pupillometry and eye tracking — pupil changes and attention allocation
  • Neuroimaging — functional MRI to examine neural activity

Much of our recent work has used primarily behavioral methods and online data collection, largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent Publications

Highlights from 2020–present, reflecting our current research focus on performance under stress. A complete publication list will be available on Heather’s personal site.

Asterisks (*) denote lab trainees (graduate students, postdocs, or undergraduate RAs) at the time of the work.

  • Urry, H. L., Plonski, P. E.*, Patel, P.*, Cathern, M. D.*, Taylor, H. A., & Brunyé, T. T. (2026). Urgent, Hurry Up!!! Perceived Time Pressure Affects Fine Motor Performance via Subjective Distress in U. S. Adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. Advance online publication. doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001386 (preprint)

  • Buchanan, E. M., Cavagnaro, D. R., Premachandra, B., Wu, D. J., Lewis, Jr., N. A., Taylor, V. J., Urry, H. L., & Forscher, P. S. (2026). The Challenges and Payoffs of In-Person Big-Team Science. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 20(1), e70121. doi.org/10.1111/spc3.70121 (preprint)

  • Patel, P.*, & Urry, H. L. (2025). Everything is Going to be Okay: Emotion Regulation and Immune Neglect in Affective Forecasting. Cognition and Emotion, 1–11. doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2025.2511974

  • Plonski, P. E.*, Patel, P.*, Ossenfort, K. L.*, Taylor, H. A., Brunyé, T. T., & Urry, H. L. (2025). How Much Time to Figure Out How to Get Where? Route Planning and Subjective Stress Under Time Pressure. PLoS ONE, 20(1), e0316382. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316382

  • Patel, P., & Urry, H. L. (2024). Discrete and Dimensional Approaches to Affective Forecasting Errors. Frontiers in Psychology — Emotion Science, 15, 1–7. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412398

  • Wolfe, E. C., Thompson, A. G., Brunyé, T. T., Davis, F. C., Grover, D., Haga, Z., Doyle, T., Goyal, A., Shaich, H., & Urry, H. L. (2023). Ultra-brief training in cognitive reappraisal or mindfulness reduces anxiety and improves motor performance efficiency under stress. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 1–22. doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2022.2162890

  • Psychological Science Accelerator Self-Determination Theory Collaboration (2022). A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(22), e2111091119. doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/n3dyf (preprint with full author list)

  • Rasmussen, R., Levari, D. E., Akhtar, M., Crittle, C. S., Gately, M., Pagan, J., Brennen, A., Cashman, D., Wulff, A. N., Norton, M. I., Sommers, S. R., & Urry, H. L. (2022). White (but not Black) Americans continue to see racism as a zero-sum game; White conservatives (but not moderates or liberals) see themselves as losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/174569162210821 (preprint)

  • Grandjean da Costa, K., Urry, H. L., Fontes, E. B., Elliott, G., Cantelon, J. A., & Giles, G. E. (2022). Cognitive reappraisal mitigates affective valence declines during endurance exercise at the ventilatory threshold. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 20(5), 1471–1489. doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2021.1979080

  • Wang, K., et al. (2021). A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(8), 1089–1110. doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x (preprint)

  • Cavanagh, S. R., Lang, J. M., Birk, J. L., Fulwiler, C. E., & Urry, H. L. (2021). A multi-course multi-semester investigation of the impact of cognitive reappraisal and mindfulness on short- and long-term learning in the college classroom. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 7(1), 14–38. doi.org/10.1037/stl0000174

  • Mueller, M. K., Anderson, E. C., King, E. K., & Urry, H. L. (2021). Null effects of therapy dog interaction on adolescent anxiety during a laboratory-based social evaluative stressor. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping. doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2021.1892084 (preprint)

  • Altheimer, G., Giles, G. E., Remedios, J. D., Kanarek, R. B., & Urry, H. L. (2021). Do emotions predict eating? The role of previous experiences in emotional eating in the lab and in daily life. Appetite, 158, 105016. doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105016

  • Urry, H. L., Crittle, C. S., Floerke, V. A., Leonard, M. Z., Perry, C. S., Akdilek, N., Albert, E. R., Block, A. J., Bollinger, C. A., Bowers, E. M., Brody, R. S., Burk, K. C., Burnstein, A., Chan, A. K., Chan, P. C., Chang, L. J., Chen, E., Chiarawongse, C. P., Chin, G., … Zarrow, J. E. (2021). Don’t ditch the laptop just yet: A direct replication of Mueller and Oppenheimer’s (2014) Study 1 plus mini meta-analyses across similar studies. Psychological Science. doi.org/10.1177/0956797620965541 (preprint)

  • Forscher, P. S., Taylor, V. J., Cavagnaro, D., Lewis, N. A., Jr., Buchanan, E., Moshontz, H., Mark, A. Y., Appleby, S. C., … Levitan, C. A., … Urry, H. L., …, & Chartier, C. R. (2020). Stereotype Threat in Black College Students Across Many Operationalizations. Stage 1 Registered Report accepted in principle. (preprint)

  • Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., Flake, J. K., Liuzza, M. T., Antfolk, J., Arinze, N. C., … Urry, H. L. … Chartier, C. R., & Coles, N. A. (2020). To which world regions does the valence-dominance model of social perception apply? Nature Human Behaviour. Stage 2 Registered Report. (preprint)

  • Ghelfi, E. A., Christopherson, C. D., Urry, H. L., Lenne, R. L., Legate, N., …, & Turpin, R. (2020). Reexamining the effect of gustatory disgust on moral judgment: A multi-lab direct replication of Eskine, Kacinik, and Prinz (2011). Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(1), 3–23. doi.org/10.1177/2515245919881152 (preprint)

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