title: The capacity for generating cognitive reappraisals is reflected in asymmetric activation of frontal brain regions.
abstract: Encouraging patients to use cognitive reappraisal constitutes the core of modern psychotherapeutic approaches. However, evidence for specific neural correlates of the capacity for cognitive reappraisal, which is a necessary prerequisite for the effective implementation of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life, has been sparse to date. In the present study, the capacity for cognitive reappraisal was studied in terms of the participants' inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals of anger-evoking events, and was correlated with frontal EEG alpha asymmetry recorded while the participants were generating reappraisals as well as during a common creative idea generation task. During cognitive reappraisal efforts, individuals higher on the capacity for generating cognitive reappraisals showed more left-lateralized activity in lateral prefrontal cortex, specifically in ventrolateral prefrontal cortex extending toward the frontal pole. This effect was observed independently from the activation during novel idea generation without emotional component, indicating that specific demands are implicated in the generation of reappraisals of emotional events. Taken together, the results indicate that individuals higher on the capacity for cognitive reappraisal are more capable or more prone to recruit appropriate brain regions when the situation demands coming up with alternative appraisals of stressful events. The findings may stimulate the development of more individually targeted interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria. ilona.papousek@uni-graz.at.
authors.forename: Ilona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Papousek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Elisabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Corinna M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Perchtold
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Hannelore
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Vera Loureiro
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: de Assunção
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schulter
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Helmut K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lackner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology Unit, University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fink
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D058245:Cognitive Reserve / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive reappraisal; EEG asymmetry; Maximum performance; Prefrontal cortex