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Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression Evoke Distinct Neural Connections during Interpersonal Emotion Regulation - PubMed

  • ️Sun Jan 01 2023

Randomized Controlled Trial

Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression Evoke Distinct Neural Connections during Interpersonal Emotion Regulation

Zixin Liu et al. J Neurosci. 2023.

Abstract

Interpersonal emotion regulation is the dynamic process where the regulator aims to change the target's emotional state, which is presumed to engage three neural systems: cognitive control (i.e., dorsal and ventral lateral PFC, etc.), empathy/social cognition (i.e., dorsal premotor regions, temporal-parietal junction, etc.), and affective response (i.e., insula, amygdala, etc.). This study aimed to identify the underlying neural correlate (especially the interpersonal one), of interpersonal emotion regulation based on two typical strategies (cognitive appraisal, expressive suppression). Thirty-four female dyads (friends) were randomly assigned into two strategy groups, with one assigned as the target and the other as the regulator to downregulate the target's negative emotions using two strategies. A functional near-infrared spectroscopy system was used to simultaneously measure participants' neural activity. Results showed that these two strategies could successfully downregulate the targets' negative emotions. Both strategies evoked intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings between the cognitive control, social cognition, and mirror neuron systems (e.g., PFC, temporal-parietal junction, premotor cortex, etc.), whereas cognitive reappraisal (vs expressive suppression) evoked a broader pattern. Further, cognitive reappraisal involved increased interpersonal brain synchronization between the prefrontal and temporal areas at the sharing stage, whereas expressive suppression evoked increased interpersonal brain synchronization associated with the PFC at the regulation stage. These findings indicate that intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings associated with regions within the abovementioned systems, possibly involving mental processes, such as cognitive control, mentalizing, and observing, underlie interpersonal emotion regulation based on cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT As significant as intrapersonal emotion regulation, interpersonal emotion regulation subserves parent-child, couple, and leader-follower relationships. Despite enormous growth in research on intrapersonal emotion regulation, the field lacks insight into the neural correlates underpinning interpersonal emotion regulation. This study aimed to probe the underlying neural correlates of interpersonal emotion regulation using a multibrain neuroimaging (i.e., hyperscanning) based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies successfully downregulated the target's negative emotions. More importantly, they evoked intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings associated with regions within the cognitive control, social cognition, and mirror neuron systems, possibly involving mental processes, such as cognitive control, mentalizing, and observing. These findings deepen our understanding of the neural correlates underpinning interpersonal emotion regulation.

Keywords: cognitive reappraisal; expressive suppression; hyperscanning; interpersonal brain synchronization; interpersonal emotion regulation.

Copyright © 2023 the authors.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.

The processes of IER. The processes are divided into three stages, namely, emotion sharing, emotion regulation, and feedback delivery.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

The experimental design. a, Experimental setting. b, Study design. c, Optode probe set on the bilateral prefrontal, temporal, and parietal regions. d, Examples for slides on the screens of the target and the regulator.

Figure 3.
Figure 3.

Analysis pipeline of the fNIRS data. Raw data from each participant were first preprocessed using the principal component analysis (PCA) and the correlation-based signal improvement method (CBSI). Next, each IER block was segmented into three stages. Based on this, we computed the Fc and IBS matrices for three stages, and then obtained the block-aggregated Fc and IBS matrices by averaging those in three blocks. Eventually, these Fc and IBS matrices were baseline-corrected by subtracting Fc/IBS values of the resting sessions, and submitted to the following statistical tests.

Figure 4.
Figure 4.

Fc and IBS with significant main effects of STRATEGY. The FDR-corrected F-value map (top) and significant neural connections (bottom) resulting from two-way mixed-design ANOVAs on the Fc of the targets (a), regulators (b), and IBS (c). See relative permutation tests in Extended Data Figure 4-1.

Figure 5.
Figure 5.

Fc with significant and marginal interaction effects of STRATEGY × STAGE. The FDR-corrected F-value map (left) and significant Fc (right) resulting from two-way mixed-design ANOVAs on the Fc of the targets (a) and regulators (b). The histogram of the significant Fc and the corresponding distribution of F values from the permutation tests of the targets (c) and regulators (d). See Fc matrices of the targets and regulators in Extended Data Figures 5-1 and 5-2. Blue lines indicate the original F values. *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.

Figure 6.
Figure 6.

IBS with significant interaction effects of STRATEGY × STAGE. The FDR-corrected F-value map and significant IBS resulting from two-way mixed-design ANOVAs (top). The histogram of the significant IBS (middle) and the corresponding distribution of F values from the permutation tests of the significant IBS (bottom). See IBS value matrices in Extended Data Figure 6-1. Blue lines indicate the original F values. *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001.

Figure 7.
Figure 7.

Linear correlations between significant Fc/IBS and behaviors. a, The correlation between the regulator's positive emotional change and Fc of R1-R36 at the CR_feedback stage. b, The correlation between the target's negative emotional change and Fc of T30-T32 at the ES_regulation stage. c, The correlation between the regulator's positive emotional change and Fc of T12-T44 at the CR_feedback stage. d, The correlation between the target's IER effectiveness and IBS of R17-T36 at the CR_regulation stage. e, The correlation between the regulator's positive emotion changes and IBS of R42-T29 at the ES_feedback stage. T, Target; R, regulator; T1, CH1 of the target; R1, CH1 of the regulator.

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