Unpacking reappraisal: a systematic review of fMRI studies of distancing and reinterpretation

Emotion regulation flexibility: EEG/EMG predictors and consequences of switching between reappraisal and distraction strategies

Flexible use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies is central to mental health. To advance our understanding of what drives adaptive strategy-switching decisions, in this preregistered study, we used event-related potentials (late positive potential, LPP and stimulus preceding negativity, SPN) and facial electromyography (EMG corrugator activity) to test the antecedents and consequences of switching to an alternative ER strategy. Participants (N = 63, Mage = 24.8 years, all female) passively watched and then implemented an instructed ER strategy (reappraisal or distraction) in response to high-intensity negative pictures that were either easy or difficult to reinterpret (high or low reappraisal affordance, respectively). Next, they decided to "switch from" or "maintain" the instructed strategy and subsequently implemented the chosen strategy. Reappraisal affordance manipulations successfully induced switching. Regarding antecedents, switching was predicted by the reduced ER efficacy of the current strategy (corrugator, but not LPP). Switching to distraction was additionally predicted by increased responses to the stimulus during passive viewing (corrugator and LPP) and increased anticipatory effort in implementing reappraisal (SPN). Concerning consequences, switching to distraction improved, whereas switching to reappraisal impaired post-choice ER effects (LPP). However, starting with reappraisal was overall more effective than starting with distraction, irrespective of the subsequent decision (corrugator). Our results suggest that switching between ER strategies occurs in accordance with situational demands (stimulus affordances) and is predicted by reduced peripheral physiological ER efficacy. However, only switching to distraction leads to improved regulatory effects. These insights provide neurocognitively grounded starting points for developing interventions targeting ER flexibility.

Losing control: Prefrontal emotion regulation relates to symptom severity and predicts treatment-related symptom change in adolescent girls with conduct disorder

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation skills are linked to corticolimbic brain activity (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and limbic regions) and enable an individual to control their emotional experiences thus allowing healthy social functioning. Disruptions in emotion regulation skills are reported in neuropsychiatric disorders, including conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder (CD/ODD). Clinically recognized means to ameliorate emotion regulation deficits observed in CD/ODD include cognitive or dialectical behavioral skills therapy as implemented in the START-NOW program. However, the role of emotion regulation and its neural substrates in symptom severity and prognosis following treatment of adolescent CD/ODD has yet to be investigated.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data including fMRI responses during emotion regulation (N=114; average age=15years), repeated-measures assessments of symptom severity (pre-, post-treatment, long-term follow-up), and fMRI data collected prior to and following the START-NOW randomized controlled trial (n=44) for female adolescents with CD/ODD were analyzed using group comparisons and multiple regression.

RESULTS

First, behavioral and neural correlates of emotion regulation are disrupted in female adolescents with CD/ODD. Second, ODD symptom severity is negatively associated with dlPFC/precentral gyrus activity during regulation. Third, treatment-related symptom changes are predicted by pre-treatment ODD symptom severity and regulatory dlPFC/precentral activity. Additionally, pre-treatment dlPFC/precentral activity and ODD symptom severity predict long-term reductions in symptom severity following treatment for those participants that received the START NOW treatment.

CONCLUSION

Our findings demonstrate the important role that emotion regulation skills play in the characteristics of CD/ODD and show that regulatory dlPFC/precentral activity is positively associated with treatment response in female adolescents with CD/ODD.

The deficit in cognitive reappraisal capacity in individuals with anxiety or depressive disorders: meta-analyses of behavioral and neuroimaging studies

BACKGROUND

The deficit in cognitive reappraisal capacity is a key factor in developing and maintaining emotional disorders such as anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. However, the results from both neuroimaging and behavioral studies are mixed. Therefore, we systematically conducted a series of meta-analyses based on behavioral and neuroimaging studies to clarify this issue.

METHODS

In behavioral meta-analyses, we used three-level random-effects models to summarize the overall effect sizes based on Hedges' g. In neuroimaging meta-analyses, we used SDM-PSI to summarize the brain activation patterns.

RESULTS

Behavioral meta-analyses found that individuals with anxiety disorders or depressive disorders could reduce negative reactivity through reappraisal; the reduction of negative emotions through reappraisal by individuals with anxiety disorders was similar to that by healthy individuals; the reduction by depressive disorders was lower than that of healthy individuals. Neuroimaging meta-analyses showed that individuals with anxiety disorders or depressive disorders activated regions of cognitive control during cognitive reappraisal; the activation in individuals with anxiety disorders was lower than in healthy individuals; while the activation in individuals with depressive disorders was similar to that in healthy individuals.

CONCLUSION

Individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders showed dissociation in behaviour and neuroimaging patterns of cognitive reappraisal capacity deficit.

A systems identification approach using Bayes factors to deconstruct the brain bases of emotion regulation

Cognitive reappraisal is fundamental to cognitive therapies and everyday emotion regulation. Analyses using Bayes factors and an axiomatic systems identification approach identified four reappraisal-related components encompassing distributed neural activity patterns across two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies (n = 182 and n = 176): (1) an anterior prefrontal system selectively involved in cognitive reappraisal; (2) a fronto-parietal-insular system engaged by both reappraisal and emotion generation, demonstrating a general role in appraisal; (3) a largely subcortical system activated during negative emotion generation but unaffected by reappraisal, including amygdala, hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray; and (4) a posterior cortical system of negative emotion-related regions downregulated by reappraisal. These systems covaried with individual differences in reappraisal success and were differentially related to neurotransmitter binding maps, implicating cannabinoid and serotonin systems in reappraisal. These findings challenge 'limbic'-centric models of reappraisal and provide new systems-level targets for assessing and enhancing emotion regulation.

Inhibition of the dorsolateral cortex reveals specific mechanisms behind emotional control

Reappraisal is a complex emotional control strategy based on cognitive change. To complete the reappraisal task, one is required to deeply elaborate on the affective stimulus to create its new interpretation. The involvement of the prefrontal cortex in this process was examined in the study, where inhibition of the left or right dorsolateral area was carried out using transcranial magnetic stimulation. In a between-subject design, we used an alternative control condition for the reappraisal task. It was intended to better account for overall task activity compared to typical passive conditions. Late positive potential was affected after inhibition of the prefrontal area, suggesting hindered emotional control. This effect was specific to the reappraisal task, which possibly reflects the disturbance of attention allocation to emotional stimuli. We could also observe an increased transfer of information from the visual area during the control task that was based on the elaboration of emotional stimuli but did not involve cognitive change. Our results support the additive impact of several factors on the overall efficiency of emotional control.