Neural correlates of self-distraction from anxiety and a process model of cognitive emotion regulation.
Cognitive strategies used in volitional emotion regulation include self-distraction and reappraisal (reinterpretation). There is debate as to what the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms underlying these strategies are. For example, it is unclear whether self-distraction and reappraisal, although distinct at a phenomenological level, are also mediated by distinct neural processes. This is partly because imaging studies on reappraisal and self-distraction have been performed in different emotional contexts and are difficult to compare. We have therefore investigated the neural correlates of self-distraction, as indexed by a thought suppression task, in an anticipatory anxiety paradigm previously employed by us to study reappraisal. Brain activity was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. We show that self-distraction recruits the left lateral prefrontal cortex. Based on a review of the existing data, we develop a process model of cognitive emotion regulation. The model posits that both self-distraction and reappraisal attenuate emotional reactions through replacement of emotional by neutral mental contents but achieve replacement in different ways. This is associated with a dependence of self-distraction on a left prefrontal production function, whereas reappraisal depends on a right prefrontal higher order monitoring process.
Kalisch
Raffael
R
Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK. rkalisch@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
Wiech
Katja
K
Herrmann
Katrin
K
Dolan
Raymond J
RJ
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood
D010100:Oxygen