Seeing emotions, reading emotions: Behavioral and ERPs evidence of the regulation of pictures and words

Abstract

Background Whilst there has been extensive study of the mechanisms underlying the regulation for pictures, the ability and the mechanisms beyond the regulation of words remains to be clarified. Similarly, the effect of strategy when applying a regulatory process is still poorly explored. The present study seeks to elucidate these issues comparing the effect of regulation and of strategy to both neutral and emotional words and pictures. Methodology/Principal findings Thirty young adults applied the strategy of distancing to the emotions elicited by unpleasant and neutral pictures and words while their subjective ratings and ERPs were recorded. At a behavioral level, participants successfully regulated the arousal and the valence of both pictures and words. At a neural level, unpleasant pictures produced an increase in the late positive potential modulated during the regulate condition. Unpleasant linguistic stimuli elicited a posterior negativity as compared to neutral stimuli, but no effect of regulation on ERP was detectable. More importantly, the effect of strategy independently of stimulus type, produced a significant larger Stimulus Preceding Negativity. Dipole reconstruction localized this effect in the middle frontal areas of the brain. Conclusions As such, these new psychophysiological findings might help to understand how pictures and words can be regulated by distancing in daily life and clinical contexts, and the neural bases of the effect of strategy for which we suggest an integrative model.

Effects of Differential Strategies of Emotion Regulation

“…The LPP is a late ERP that is linked to neuromodulatory processes [64] and is larger in response to arousing pictures (e.g., [63,65]). Our results are in line with results from Krendl et al [39], or Grecucci [40], but contrary to the majority of earlier studies which showed a decreased LPP for reappraisal [36,37,66]. A possible reason for these heterogeneous findings may be differing cognitive demands in reappraising emotional information, which may be reflected in LPP amplitude differences.…”

“…Greater LPP amplitudes were associated with more intense/arousing stimuli [34] and decreased LPP amplitudes might reflect neuromodulatory activity, e.g., downstreaming processes in response to increased activation of the amygdala (e.g., [7]). Studies showed decreased LPP amplitudes after suppression (e.g., [35]) and after reappraisal of negative emotional stimuli (e.g., [36,37,38] but see [39,40]).…”

Anxiety Regulation: From Affective Neuroscience to Clinical Practice

“…Besides magnetic resonance imaging results, emotion-regulation-related processes are also reflected in changes in electrocortical potentials (event-related potentials). A recent experiment showed an increase in a negative fronto-central component named stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN), when individuals implemented a regulation strategy [ 45 ]. When participants applied the regulation strategy to emotional stimuli, a decrease in the late positive potential (LPP) elicited by emotional stimuli was repeatedly found [ 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”

“…A recent experiment showed an increase in a negative fronto-central component named stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN), when individuals implemented a regulation strategy [ 45 ]. When participants applied the regulation strategy to emotional stimuli, a decrease in the late positive potential (LPP) elicited by emotional stimuli was repeatedly found [ 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Last but not least, the regulation strategy also affects brain oscillatory activity, with a modulation of theta frequencies [ 48 ], interpreted as a cortico-subcortical interaction between modulating and modulated brain regions, but also as a sign of increased relaxation after having regulated emotions.…”

A Dual Route Model for Regulating Emotions: Comparing Models, Techniques and Biological Mechanisms

“…Although emotion regulation was initially intended as a field of basic research, clinicians quickly understood its relevance for their practice. Studying the mechanisms involved in the regulation of emotions is particularly relevant when considering the failure to regulate interpersonal emotions and emotionally driven behaviors that characterize psychiatric disorders (Kring and Werner, 2004;Ochsner and Gross, 2008;Grecucci, 2012;Giorgetta et al, 2012Giorgetta et al, , 2014Grecucci et al, 2015bGrecucci et al, , 2019Messina et al, 2016;De Panfilis et al, 2019;Sorella et al, 2019). Nearly all psychiatric disorders include one or more primary dysregulated emotions (e.g., anger in borderline personality disorder, sadness in depression, fear in anxiety disorders, shame in narcissistic personality disorders, etc.…”