title: Neural activation associated with the cognitive emotion regulation of sadness in healthy children.
abstract: When used effectively, cognitive reappraisal of distressing events is a highly adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategy, with impairments in cognitive reappraisal associated with greater risk for psychopathology. Despite extensive literature examining the neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal in healthy and psychiatrically ill adults, there is a dearth of data to inform the neural bases of CER in children, a key gap in the literature necessary to map the developmental trajectory of cognitive reappraisal. In this fMRI study, psychiatrically healthy schoolchildren were instructed to use cognitive reappraisal to modulate their emotional reactions and responses of negative affect after viewing sad photos. Consistent with the adult literature, when actively engaged in reappraisal compared to passively viewing sad photos, children showed increased activation in the vlPFC, dlPFC, and dmPFC as well as in parietal and temporal lobe regions. When children used cognitive reappraisal to minimize their experience of negative affect after viewing sad stimuli they exhibited dampened amygdala responses. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of identifying and characterizing neural processes underlying adaptive CER strategies in typically developing children in order to understand how these systems go awry and relate to the risk and occurrence of affective disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. Electronic address: beldena@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Andy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Belden
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Luby
authors.affiliation: The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pagliaccio
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: Deanna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation
keywords: Cognitive reappraisal; Emotion; Emotion regulation; Late childhood; Sadness; fMRI