title: Reappraisal writing relieves social anxiety and may be accompanied by changes in frontal alpha asymmetry.
abstract: It is widely reported that expressive writing can improve mental and physical health. However, to date, the neural correlates of expressive writing have not been reported. The current study examined the neural electrical correlates of expressive writing in a reappraisal approach. Three groups of participants were required to give a public speech. Before speaking, the reappraisal writing group was asked to write about the current stressful task in a reappraisal manner. The irrelevant writing group was asked to write about their weekly plan, and the non-writing group did not write anything. It was found that following the experimental writing manipulation, both reappraisal and irrelevant writing conditions decreased self-reported anxiety levels. But when re-exposed to the stressful situation, participants in the irrelevant writing group showed increased anxiety levels, while anxiety levels remained lower in the reappraisal group. During the experimental writing manipulation period, participants in the reappraisal group had lower frontal alpha asymmetry scores than those in the irrelevant writing group. However, following re-exposure to stress, participants in the reappraisal group showed higher frontal alpha asymmetry scores than those in the irrelevant writing group. Self-reported anxiety and frontal alpha asymmetry of the non-writing condition did not change significantly across these different stages. It is noteworthy that expressive writing in a reappraisal style seems not to be a fast-acting treatment but may instead take effect in the long run.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fen
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing, China ; Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders Beijing, China ; Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Changming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dongdong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mengchai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chaozhe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China ; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuxia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: EEG; emotion regulation; expressive writing; mental health; reappraisal