Functional connectivity predicts the dispositional use of expressive suppression but not cognitive reappraisal

Abstract

Introduction Previous research has identified specific brain regions associated with regulating emotion using common strategies such as expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal. However, most research focuses on a priori regions and directs participants how to regulate, which may not reflect how people naturally regulate outside the laboratory. Method Here, we used a data‐driven approach to investigate how individual differences in distributed intrinsic functional brain connectivity predict emotion regulation tendency outside the laboratory. Specifically, we used connectome‐based predictive modeling to extract functional connections in the brain significantly related to the dispositional use of suppression and reappraisal. These edges were then used in a predictive model and cross‐validated in novel participants to identify a neural signature that reflects individual differences in the tendency to suppress and reappraise emotion. Results We found a significant neural signature for the dispositional use of suppression, but not reappraisal. Within this whole‐brain signature, the intrinsic connectivity of the default mode network was most informative of suppression tendency. In addition, the predictive performance of this model was significant in males, but not females. Conclusion These findings help inform how whole‐brain networks of functional connectivity characterize how people tend to regulate emotion outside the laboratory.

Resting State Cortico-Limbic Functional Connectivity and Dispositional Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies: A Replication and Extension Study

“…Our findings not only contrast with the two studies on which we based our a priori hypotheses (Uchida et al, 2015;Picó-Pérez et al, 2018), they also contradict several other studies that have identified patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity that differ between the dispositional use of ER strategies or are associated with experiential and neuronal reappraisal success (Morawetz et al, 2016;Pan et al, 2018;Burr et al, 2020). Common to these studies is that regions in the default mode network have been identified.…”

“…Common to these studies is that regions in the default mode network have been identified. Particularly, the latest study by Burr et al (2020) used the largest sample up to date (N = 1,316) in a data-driven, theory-free approach and found that intrinsic connectivity of the default mode network was associated with dispositional use of suppression (but not reappraisal). Critically, the authors used general functional connectivity (GFC, Elliott et al, 2019) to leverage shared features of task and restingstate fMRI and circumvent reported reliability issues of restingstate measures (e.g., Noble et al, 2019).…”

Resting state cortico-limbic functional connectivity and dispositional use of emotion regulation strategies: A replication and extension study

“…Our findings not only contrast with the two studies on which we based our a priori hypotheses (Picó-Pérez et al, 2018;Uchida et al, 2015), they also contradict a number of other studies that have identified patterns of intrinsic functional connectivity that differ between the dispositional use of ER strategies, or are associated with experiential and neuronal reappraisal success (Burr et al, 2020;Morawetz et al, 2016;Pan et al, 2018). Common to these studies is that regions in the default mode network have been identified.…”

“…Common to these studies is that regions in the default mode network have been identified. Particularly, the latest study by Burr et al (2020) used the largest sample up to date (N = 1316) in a data-driven, theory-free approach and found that intrinsic connectivity of the default mode network was associated with dispositional use of suppression (but not reappraisal). Critically, the authors used general functional connectivity (GFC, Elliott et al, 2019) to leverage shared features of task and resting-state fMRI and circumvent reported reliability issues of resting state measures (e.g., Noble, Scheinost, & Constable, 2019) .…”

The neural bases of expressive suppression: A systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies

“…Meta-analytic evidence based on functional neuroimaging studies demonstrates that women display stronger emotional reactivity to negative stimuli than men (Filkowski et al, 2017;Stevens and Hamann, 2012). Questionnaire-based studies have shown that men have a greater tendency to use habitual expressive suppression (Gross and John, 2003;Haga et al, 2009) and there is evidence that the neural basis of expressive suppression differs between men and women (Burr et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2017). Given these differences, it is unclear to what extent the findings of the studies included in this systematic review can be generalized to men.…”