Representation of Cognitive Reappraisal Goals in Frontal Gamma Oscillations

Abstract

Recently, numerous efforts have been made to understand the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive regulation of emotion, such as cognitive reappraisal. Many studies have reported that cognitive control of emotion induces increases in neural activity of the control system, including the prefrontal cortex and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and increases or decreases (depending upon the regulation goal) in neural activity of the appraisal system, including the amygdala and the insula. It has been hypothesized that information about regulation goals needs to be processed through interactions between the control and appraisal systems in order to support cognitive reappraisal. However, how this information is represented in the dynamics of cortical activity remains largely unknown. To address this, we investigated temporal changes in gamma band activity (35–55 Hz) in human electroencephalograms during a cognitive reappraisal task that was comprised of three reappraisal goals: to decease, maintain, or increase emotional responses modulated by affect-laden pictures. We examined how the characteristics of gamma oscillations, such as spectral power and large-scale phase synchronization, represented cognitive reappraisal goals. We found that left frontal gamma power decreased, was sustained, or increased when the participants suppressed, maintained, or amplified their emotions, respectively. This change in left frontal gamma power appeared during an interval of 1926 to 2453 ms after stimulus onset. We also found that the number of phase-synchronized pairs of gamma oscillations over the entire brain increased when participants regulated their emotions compared to when they maintained their emotions. These results suggest that left frontal gamma power may reflect cortical representation of emotional states modulated by cognitive reappraisal goals and gamma phase synchronization across whole brain regions may reflect emotional regulatory efforts to achieve these goals. Our study may provide the basis for an electroencephalogram-based neurofeedback system for the cognitive regulation of emotion.

Working Memory Training Improves Emotion Regulation Ability

“…Reappraisal involves an individual rethinking the meaning of emotional stimuli or events and changing their effects 48 . Moreover, reappraisal requires a transfer of emotional representation 49 , use of language and memory 50 , and management and monitoring of other processes 51 . In addition, the number of brain regions involved in reappraisal is greater than that involved in distraction, and most regions functionally overlap with working memory 52 .…”

Sex differences in high-level appreciation of automobile design-evoked gamma broadband synchronization

“…The ACC gamma band provides stimuli for self-awareness 78 . The frontal gamma band indicates cognitive reappraisal of the outcome of the object and modulation of emotional state, which could reflect emotional monitoring 79 . These results could be related to the operations of the brain; that is, the intuitive, quick-thinking System 1 could affect the long-term accumulation of the slow-thinking System 2 80 , thus producing a mutual reciprocal impact in the reward mechanism.…”

Prediction of subjective ratings of emotional pictures by EEG features

“…We selected these sites and frequency ranges to represent what is most probably EMG activity (Goncharova et al, 2003). A number of previous studies have used high frequency surface recorded EEG activity to evaluate emotion induction by affective picture stimuli (e.g., Kang et al, 2014; Martini et al, 2012; Muller et al, 1999). EMG is one of the many recordable responses to emotional stimuli (e.g., Baur et al, 2015; Jackson et al, 2000) and represents a valid marker for emotionality.…”