A dynamic causal model on self-regulation of aversive emotion

Abstract

Cognitive regulation of emotion has been proven to be effective to take control the emotional responses. Some cognitive models have also been proposed to explain the neural mechanism that underlies this process. However, some characteristics of the models are still unclear, such as whether the cognitive regulation will be spontaneously employed by participants implicitly. The present study recruited the fMRI experiment to focus on the discomfort induced by viewing aversive pictures, and the emotional self-regulation during picture viewing. By using the dynamic causal modeling (DCM), 50 putative models of brain functional networks were constructed, one optimal model that fitted the real data best won the comparison from the candidates. As a result, the optimal model suggests that both the ventral striatum (VS)-centric bottom-up and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-centric top-down regulations are recruited for self-regulation on negative emotions. The DLPFC will exert modulatory influence on the VS only when the VS fails to suppress the induced emotions by self-inhibition.

The neural correlates of context driven changes in the emotional response: An fMRI study

“…Our results differ from those of Yang and colleagues [35]. Although they investigated spontaneous recovery from a negative emotional state as an implicit form of emotion regulation, we used context as a passive cue to trigger a change in emotional response, suggesting that different forms of automatic emotion regulation need to be tested in further studies.…”

“…On the basis of previous studies, we hypothesized that prefrontal regions, especially the mPFC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) [17,34] were going to be recruited when the context induced a shift in the emotional valence of the pictures. More specifically, on the basis of a recent study on the automatic regulation of negative emotions by Yang and coworkers [35] we expected that visual areas, striatal areas, precentral/ postcentral gyri and dlPFC would be activated when context resulted in a shift from negative towards positive meaning.…”

Mapping the evolution of neurofeedback research: a bibliometric analysis of trends and future directions

“…This cluster's functional connectivity research emphasizes the importance of interactions between these regions in emotion management and self-regulation. More in-depth studies of the dynamic interactions between various brain regions associated with emotion regulation and self-regulation are likely in the future (Yang et al, 2020). This could include creating more advanced real-time fMRI techniques and analysis methods to better understand the temporal and spatial patterns of brain activation and connectivity during these processes (Warbrick, 2022).…”