Hao Yu, Yao Lin, Evans Gary W
Department of Design and Environmental Anlaysis, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States.
Frontiers Science Center for Brain & Brain-Machine Integration, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 18;12:666284. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666284. eCollection 2021.
Why are some people more susceptible to interference from previous emotional stimuli? Neural mechanisms underlying emotion regulation are typically studied with one-off positive or negative stimuli. Less is known about how they operate during dynamic emotional experiences, which more closely resemble how emotions occur in real life. Therefore, we investigated the interaction among temporal context, stimulus content, and regulatory strategy. Image sequences included either neutral to negative emotion or negative to neutral emotion. Participants were instructed to either passively watch the emotional stimuli or apply cognitive reappraisal during the image sequences presentation. Participants also reported their habitual use of cognitive reappraisal in their daily lives on a standard scale. We measured functional connectivity (FC) with electroencephalography (EEG) source localization. A three-way interaction suggested that, in addition to momentary emotional content and regulatory effort, the temporal context of stimuli impacts the FC between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in both alpha and beta frequency bands. In the reappraisal condition-but not the passive watch conditions-, individual differences in habitual reappraisal were manifested in the FC of vmPFC-ACC in alpha band. Emotion transitions may be more demanding because prefrontal-posterior FC in the beta band decreased during emotion transitions regardless of emotional content or regulation efforts. Flexible emotion regulation enables the recruiting of neural activities in response to the content of dynamic, ever-changing experiences encountered in daily life. Studying brain responses to dynamic emotional stimuli may shed light on individual differences in adaptation and psychological health. It also provides a more ecologically valid assessment of emotion regulation.
为什么有些人更容易受到先前情绪刺激的干扰？情绪调节的神经机制通常是通过一次性的积极或消极刺激来研究的。对于它们在动态情绪体验中如何运作，我们了解得较少，而动态情绪体验更类似于现实生活中情绪的发生方式。因此，我们研究了时间背景、刺激内容和调节策略之间的相互作用。图像序列包括从中性到负面情绪或从负面到中性情绪。参与者被指示在图像序列呈现期间要么被动观看情绪刺激，要么进行认知重评。参与者还在一个标准量表上报告了他们在日常生活中习惯性使用认知重评的情况。我们通过脑电图（EEG）源定位测量功能连接（FC）。一个三因素交互作用表明，除了瞬间的情绪内容和调节努力外，刺激的时间背景在α和β频段都会影响腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）和腹侧前扣带回皮层（ACC）之间的FC。在重评条件下——而不是被动观看条件下——习惯性重评的个体差异在α频段的vmPFC-ACC的FC中表现出来。情绪转换可能要求更高，因为无论情绪内容或调节努力如何，β频段的前额叶-后扣带回FC在情绪转换期间都会下降。灵活的情绪调节能够根据日常生活中遇到的动态、不断变化的体验内容来募集神经活动。研究大脑对动态情绪刺激的反应可能会揭示适应能力和心理健康方面的个体差异。它还为情绪调节提供了更符合生态学效度 的评估。
