Adamczyk Agnieszka K, Bramson Bob, Koch Saskia B J, Wyczesany Miroslaw, van Peer Jacobien M, Roelofs Karin
Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Experimental Psychopathology and Treatment, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 29;15(1):10900. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-91177-8.
Flexible emotion regulation is essential for mental health and well-being. However, neurocognitive mechanisms supporting emotion regulation flexibility remain unclear. Lateral frontal pole (FPl) contributes to flexible behavior by monitoring the efficacy of alternative strategies. This preregistered study examines if FPl also supports flexible use of emotion regulation strategies. It focuses on pre-decision theta-band activity as a potential indicator of this adaptive process. Sixty-three participants performed an emotion regulation strategy-switching task, involving three phases: (1) implementing an instructed (reappraisal or distraction) strategy, (2) deciding whether to 'maintain' the current or 'switch' to the alternative strategy, and (3) implementing the chosen strategy. Results showed that switching is predicted by the reduced efficacy of an initial emotion regulation strategy (indexed with EMG corrugator activity) and is made in accordance with situational demands (stimulus reappraisal affordances). Critically, switching to an alternative emotion regulation strategy is associated with increased theta-band power in FPl around the time of the decision. These findings support the previously established role of FPl theta-band activity in monitoring counterfactual efficacy of alternative strategies. Crucially, they extend this notion to cognitive emotion regulation, thereby offering promising neural targets for stimulation-based therapies aimed at enhancing emotion regulation flexibility in affective psychopathologies.
灵活的情绪调节对心理健康和幸福感至关重要。然而，支持情绪调节灵活性的神经认知机制仍不清楚。外侧额极（FPl）通过监测替代策略的有效性来促进灵活行为。这项预先注册的研究考察了FPl是否也支持情绪调节策略的灵活使用。它将决策前的θ波段活动作为这一适应性过程的潜在指标。63名参与者执行了一项情绪调节策略切换任务，包括三个阶段：（1）实施指示的（重新评估或分散注意力）策略，（2）决定是“维持”当前策略还是“切换”到替代策略，以及（3）实施所选策略。结果表明，切换是由初始情绪调节策略的效能降低（以皱眉肌肌电图活动为指标）预测的，并且是根据情境需求（刺激重新评估能力）做出的。至关重要的是，在决策时切换到替代情绪调节策略与FPl中θ波段功率增加有关。这些发现支持了FPl θ波段活动在监测替代策略的反事实效能方面先前确立的作用。关键的是，它们将这一概念扩展到认知情绪调节，从而为旨在增强情感心理病理学中情绪调节灵活性的基于刺激的疗法提供了有前景的神经靶点。
