title: Individual differences in emotion regulation and hemispheric metabolic asymmetry.
abstract: Recent studies of emotion regulation have reported that frequent use of reappraisal is associated with greater experience of positive emotions and increased sense of well-being, which, in turn, have been observed in individuals with greater left-sided prefrontal cortical activity. We hypothesized that frequent use of reappraisal would be correlated with greater left-sided biases of metabolic activity in prefrontal regions as well as in subcortical structures to which the former are interconnected. Twenty male volunteers were scanned at rest with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. Self-reported emotion regulation style and an emotional regulation task were administered outside the scanner. Results revealed that frequent reappraisers showed greater left-sided biases of metabolic activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal and caudate regions. Regulation successes in increasing emotions were associated with left-sided metabolic asymmetry in the anterior cingulate. Findings suggest that asymmetric metabolism in prefrontal and subcortical regions are associated with emotion regulation style and also with regulation success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. sangheekim.ku@gmail.com
authors.forename: Sang Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cornwell
authors.forename: Sang Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging