Prefrontal engagement by cognitive reappraisal of negative faces

Abstract

Cognitive reappraisal has been associated with increased activation in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and cingulate regions implicated in cognitive control and affect regulation. To date, neuroimaging studies of reappraisal have primarily used emotionally evocative scenes, and it remains unclear whether the same cognitive strategy applied to emotional facial expressions would involve similar or different neural underpinnings. The present study used fMRI to examine brain activation during cognitive reappraisal of negatively valenced facial expressions relative to passive viewing of negative and neutral facial expressions. Twenty-two healthy adults completed a cognitive reappraisal task comprised of three different conditions (Look-Neutral, Maintain-Negative, Reappraise-Negative). Results indicated that reappraisal was associated with a decrease in negative affect and engagement of PFC brain regions implicated in cognitive control and affect regulation (DLPFC, mPFC, and VLPFC). Furthermore, individual differences in habitual reappraisal use were associated with greater DLPFC and mPFC activation, while suppression use was associated with greater amygdala activation. The present study provides preliminary evidence that facial expressions are effective alternative ‘targets’ of prefrontal engagement during cognitive reappraisal. These findings are particularly relevant for future research probing the neural bases of emotion regulation in populations for whom aversive scenes may be less appropriate (e.g., children) and illnesses in which aberrant responses to social signals of threat and negative feedback are cardinal phenotypes.

Individual differences in cognitive reappraisal use and emotion regulatory brain function in combat-exposed veterans with and without PTSD

“…29 Further, decreases in amygdala activation are not typically observed during expressive suppression. 26,30 …”

“…Although suppression may have short-term benefits (Goldin, McRae, Ramel, & Gross, 2008), it does not diminish (and may even increase) physiological arousal (Gross, 1998;Klucken, Kruse, Schweckendiek, & Stark, 2015), can have negative social consequences (Spokas, Luterek, & Heimberg, 2009) and is linked to poor physical and psychological health (Musante & Treiber, 2000). Further, decreases in amygdala activation are not typically observed during expressive suppression (Goldin et al, 2008;Nelson et al, 2015).…”

Functional connectivity analysis of the neural bases of emotion regulation: A comparison of independent component method with density-based k-means clustering method

“…Emotional memory is considered to be closely linked to the areas such as the cingulum cortex, limbic system and so on [17][18][19]. Particularly, the influence of the amygdale and hypothalamus in the limbic system is most significant.…”

Reappraisal Modulates Attentional Bias to Angry Faces

“…Indeed, individual differences in trait-level reappraisal have been associated with daily positive and negative emotional experiences (Gross and John, 2003). Neural evidence indicated that individuals with greater reappraisal scores tended to show decreased amygdala activity and increased medial prefrontal activity in response to angry and fearful faces (Drabant et al, 2009; Nelson et al, 2015). A previous neuroimaging study with a dot probe task revealed increased activity in the left amygdala as participants responded faster to the fearful faces presented on their left visual field (Carlson et al, 2009).…”

“…State and trait anxiety were also assessed. Based on the available evidence (Carlson et al, 2009; Drabant et al, 2009; Nelson et al, 2015), we hypothesized that the habitual tendency to use reappraisal to regulate emotions would be associated with slower orienting toward emotional faces.…”