Kanazawa University, Kakuma, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa, Japan.
Department of Psychology, Otemon Gakuin University, 2-1-15, Nishi-ai, Ibaraki City, Osaka, Japan.
BMC Psychol. 2024 Oct 31;12(1):613. doi: 10.1186/s40359-024-02103-y.
Reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, includes reinterpretation and affect labeling involving verbalizing emotions. In general, reappraisal is supported by lateral prefrontal cortical regions, which are also known to underlie cognitive regulation. Other research has shown that affect labeling combined with reappraisal of negative emotions increases lateral prefrontal cortex activity more than reappraisal alone does, suggesting that affect labeling facilitates emotional regulation. However, the influence of affect labeling on the efficacy of reappraisal in reducing subjective negative emotions has not been determined.
In the experiment, 35 participants (mean age = 28.2 years (SD = 9.63); 12 women and 23 men) viewed vignettes that aroused negative emotion. Then, they rated subjective negative emotions as baseline values. Following the baseline rating, the task branched into four conditions, combining affect labeling and emotion regulation factors. In the affect-labeling factor, participants selected emotional labels consistent with their own emotions or not. Regarding the emotion regulation factor, participants engaged in reappraisal to regulate their negative emotions. Throughout the experiment, the intensity of negative emotions was measured three times, mirroring the baseline measurement. Oxyhemoglobin (OxyHb) signal values in prefrontal cortex regions during tasks were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy.
Differences between the subjective negative emotion ratings at baseline and after reappraisal indicated that reappraisal significantly reduced negative emotion with and without affect labeling (t (1173.05) = 29.97, p < 0.001), and the combination of affect labeling and reappraisal was less effective in regulating negative emotions at the subjective level than reappraisal without affect labeling (t (1172.03) = 3.15, p < 0.01). Additionally, there was an increase in OxyHb signal in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal and right ventral prefrontal cortices while participants performed reappraisal with affect labeling.
Our findings suggest that affect labeling, when performed prior to cognitive reappraisal, may influence the process of negative emotion regulation in complex ways. The interaction between affect labeling and reappraisal appears to modulate prefrontal cortex activity, potentially reflecting changes in cognitive processing during emotion regulation attempts. These results highlight the need for further investigation into the intricate relationship between different emotion regulation strategies.
再评价是一种情绪调节策略，包括重新解释和情感标记，涉及用言语表达情绪。一般来说，再评价受到外侧前额叶皮层的支持，而外侧前额叶皮层也被认为是认知调节的基础。其他研究表明，与单独再评价相比，将情感标记与负性情绪的再评价结合起来可以增加外侧前额叶皮层的活动，这表明情感标记促进了情绪调节。然而，情感标记对再评价减轻主观负性情绪效果的影响尚未确定。
在实验中，35 名参与者（平均年龄 28.2 岁（标准差 9.63）；12 名女性，23 名男性）观看了引起负面情绪的情景片段。然后，他们对主观负性情绪进行了基线评分。在基线评分后，任务分为四个条件，结合了情感标记和情绪调节因素。在情感标记因素中，参与者选择与自己的情绪一致的情绪标签或不选择。在情绪调节因素方面，参与者通过再评价来调节他们的负性情绪。在整个实验过程中，通过功能近红外光谱测量了前额叶皮层区域的氧合血红蛋白（OxyHb）信号值，三次测量负性情绪的强度，与基线测量相呼应。
再评价前后的主观负性情绪评分之间的差异表明，无论是否进行情感标记，再评价都显著降低了负性情绪（t（1173.05）=29.97，p<0.001），并且与不进行情感标记的再评价相比，情感标记与再评价的结合在主观层面上对负性情绪的调节效果较差（t（1172.03）=3.15，p<0.01）。此外，当参与者在进行有情感标记的再评价时，双侧背外侧前额叶和右侧腹侧前额叶皮层的 OxyHb 信号增加。
我们的研究结果表明，在进行认知再评价之前进行情感标记可能会以复杂的方式影响负性情绪调节的过程。情感标记和再评价之间的相互作用似乎调节了前额叶皮层的活动，这可能反映了在情绪调节尝试过程中认知加工的变化。这些结果强调了需要进一步研究不同情绪调节策略之间的复杂关系。
