Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 West Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013 Jan;8(1):93-9. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss004. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
Considerable research has disclosed how cognitive reappraisals and the modulation of emotional responses promote successful emotion regulation. Less research has examined how the early processing of emotion-relevant stimuli may create divergent emotional response consequences. Mindfulness--a receptive, non-evaluative form of attention--is theorized to foster emotion regulation, and the present study examined whether individual differences in mindfulness would modulate neural responses associated with the early processing of affective stimuli. Focus was on the late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential to visual stimuli varying in emotional valence and arousal. This study first found, replicating past research, that high arousal images, particularly of an unpleasant type, elicited larger LPP responses. Second, the study found that more mindful individuals showed lower LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images, even after controlling for trait attentional control. Conversely, two traits contrasting with mindfulness--neuroticism and negative affectivity--were associated with higher LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images. Finally, mindfulness was also associated with lower LPP responses to motivationally salient pleasant images (erotica). These findings suggest that mindfulness modulates neural responses in an early phase of affective processing, and contribute to understanding how this quality of attention may promote healthy emotional functioning.
大量研究揭示了认知重评和情绪反应的调节如何促进成功的情绪调节。较少的研究探讨了情绪相关刺激的早期加工如何产生不同的情绪反应后果。正念——一种接受性的、非评价性的注意力形式——被理论化为促进情绪调节，本研究检验了个体在正念上的差异是否会调节与情感刺激早期加工相关的神经反应。研究的重点是事件相关脑电位中对情绪效价和唤醒程度不同的视觉刺激的晚正电位（LPP）。本研究首先发现，与过去的研究结果一致，高唤醒的图像，尤其是不愉快类型的图像，会引起更大的 LPP 反应。其次，研究发现，与高唤醒的不愉快图像相比，更具正念的个体的 LPP 反应较低，即使在控制了特质注意控制之后也是如此。相反，与正念相反的两种特质——神经质和负性情感——与高唤醒的不愉快图像的 LPP 反应较高有关。最后，正念也与动机相关的愉快图像（色情图像）的 LPP 反应较低有关。这些发现表明，正念调节了情绪加工早期阶段的神经反应，并有助于理解这种注意力质量如何促进健康的情绪功能。
