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.

中文翻译：

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认知情绪调节的持久影响：重新解释和疏远的神经相关

摘要

重新解释和疏远是两种认知重估策略，用于调节人的情绪以响应引发情绪的刺激或情况。关于它们对情绪反应和相关神经相关的（不同）持久作用的了解相对较少。这项功能性磁共振成像研究调查了85位健康女性，参加了为期2天的认知情绪调节实验。在第一天，就指示参与者被动地观看，重新解释或与重复展示的厌恶图片保持距离。一周后，将它们重新暴露于相同的刺激下，无需调节指导，以评估其持久作用。主要结局指标包括负面情绪和血氧水平依赖性反应的评定。与1周后的被动再暴露期间看厌恶图片相比，重新解释的持久效果反映在左杏仁核的活化更强，腹侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）以及负面感觉减少上。相较于观看厌恶图片，相距遥远，相较于相近，重新诠释都不会在重新曝光期间产生显着影响。这些发现表明，重新解释会导致1周后负面情绪的减少，这可能是由vmPFC抑制性激活或再次接触过程中更积极的情绪所介导的。然而，与遥远的问题相比，缺失的差异提出了结果的特异性以及这两种认知重新评估策略的机制。