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. 2021 Mar 5;16(3):268-279.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaa159.

Lasting effects of cognitive emotion regulation: neural correlates of reinterpretation and distancing

Andrea Hermann  1   2   3 , Marie K Neudert  1   2 , Axel Schäfer  2   3 , Raphaela I Zehtner  1   2 , Susanne Fricke  1   2 , Rosa J Seinsche  1   2 , Rudolf Stark  1   2   3
Affiliations

Lasting effects of cognitive emotion regulation: neural correlates of reinterpretation and distancing

Andrea Hermann et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. .

Abstract

Reinterpretation and distancing are two cognitive reappraisal tactics, used to regulate one's emotions in response to emotion-eliciting stimuli or situations. Relatively less is known about their (differential) lasting effects on emotional responding and related neural correlates. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated 85 healthy females, participating in a 2-day cognitive emotion regulation experiment. On the first day, participants were instructed to passively look at, reinterpret or distance from repeatedly presented aversive pictures. One week later, they were re-exposed to the same stimuli without regulation instruction, in order to assess lasting effects. The main outcome measures comprised ratings of negative feelings and blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses. Lasting effects for reinterpretation compared with looking at aversive pictures during passive re-exposure 1 week later were reflected in stronger activation of the left amygdala, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and reduced negative feelings. Neither distancing compared with looking at aversive pictures nor reinterpretation compared with distancing did result in significant effects during re-exposure. These findings indicate that reinterpretation leads to reduced negative feelings 1 week later, which might be mediated by inhibitory vmPFC activation or stronger positive emotions during re-exposure. However, the missing difference compared with distancing questions the specificity of the results and the mechanisms underlying these two cognitive reappraisal tactics.

Keywords: amygdala; cognitive reappraisal; distancing; reinterpretation; vmPFC.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Schematic illustration of the trial structure for the emotion regulation experiment on day 1 and day 2.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Ratings of the intensity of negative feelings during the active regulation task on day 1 for the different conditions. All conditions differed significantly from each other (all P ≤ 0.016). Error bars depict SEM.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Ratings of the intensity of negative feelings during re-exposure to the stimuli on day 2 previously presented with different instructions on day 1. Significant differences for the planned comparisons (previous reinterpretation vs previous look aversive; previous distancing vs previous look aversive; previous reinterpretation vs previous distancing) are marked with * (P < 0.05), trends (P < 0.1) with (*). Error bars depict SEM.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Enhanced activation in the vmPFC and left amygdala for previous reinterpretation minus previous look aversive during re-exposure on day 2. The intensity threshold was set to P = 0.005 (uncorrected) for illustration purposes; activations were superimposed on the MNI305 T1 template. All coordinates (x, y, z) are given in MNI space. The color bar depicts T-values. R = right, L = left, A = anterior, P = posterior.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Neural activation in the vmPFC for distancing minus look aversive on day 1 predicting reduced negative feelings for this contrast (previous distancing minus previous look aversive) on day 2. The intensity threshold was set to P = 0.005 (uncorrected) for illustration purposes; activations were superimposed on the MNI305 T1 template. All coordinates (x, y, z) are given in MNI space. The color bar depicts T-values. L = left, R = right, A = anterior, P = posterior.
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