Regulating emotion through distancing: A taxonomy, neurocognitive model, and supporting meta-analysis

Powers, John; LaBar, Kevin S.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.04.023

Cited by 112 publications

(165 citation statements)

References 142 publications

(236 reference statements)

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“…One emotion regulation strategy, distancing (e.g., reformulating aversive stimuli in a neutral and objective way), is one of mindfulness skills that emphasizes the experience of presence without judgment. Indeed, increased PCC activity and decreased amygdala activity are related to distancing [ 67 ], consistent with recent meta-analyses showing that the PCC is one of the main regions implicated in the upregulation and downregulation of emotion [ 68 , 69 ]. Studies also indicate a role of PCC in conscious awareness, which may explain why enhanced interoceptive awareness is typically observed following mindfulness [ 1 , 3 , 70 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Induces Gray Matter Changes in a Brain Hub

2020

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Previous studies suggest that the practice of long-term (months to years) mindfulness meditation induces structural plasticity in gray matter. However, it remains unknown whether short-term (<30 days) mindfulness meditation in novices could induce similar structural changes. Our previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) identified white matter changes surrounding the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) within 2 to 4 weeks, following 5-10 h of mindfulness training. Furthermore, these changes were correlated with emotional states in healthy adults. The PCC is a key hub in the functional anatomy implicated in meditation and other perspectival processes. In this longitudinal study using a randomized design, we therefore examined the effect of a 10 h of mindfulness training, the Integrative Body-Mind Training (IBMT) on gray matter volume of the PCC compared to an active control—relaxation training (RT). We found that brief IBMT increased ventral PCC volume and that baseline temperamental trait—an index of individual differences was associated with a reduction in training-induced gray matter increases. Our findings indicate that brief mindfulness meditation induces gray matter plasticity, suggesting that structural changes in ventral PCC—a key hub associated with self-awareness, emotion, cognition, and aging—may have important implications for protecting against mood-related disorders and aging-related cognitive declines.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Induces Gray Matter Changes in a Brain Hub

2020

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“…The cognitive processes of distancing reappraisal during the anticipation period mainly involve attentional control, whereas the stimulus presentation period additionally involves selfprojection, affective self-reflection, and cognitive control. [95][96][97] Combined with findings from our prior resting-state study, [98] it may be hypothesized that OXT has the potential to modulate pre-stimulus attentional control of threatening information. Concerning the behavioral performance during the emotion regulation paradigm, we did not observe the effects of OXT per se, although the high anxiety group exhibited marginally significant improvement of reappraisal success following OXT, which may suggest that OXT has the potential to improve cognitive emotion regulation in high anxiety individuals.…”

Section: Oxytocin Differentially Modulated Amygdala Responses In Highmentioning

confidence: 88%

Oxytocin Differentially Modulates Amygdala Responses during Top‐Down and Bottom‐Up Aversive Anticipation

et al. 2020

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The ability to successfully regulate negative emotions such as fear and anxiety is vital for mental health. Intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to reduce amygdala activity but to increase amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity during exposure to threatening stimuli suggesting that it may act as an important modulator of emotion regulation. The present randomized, between-subject, placebo-controlled pharmacological study combines the intranasal administration of OXT with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an explicit emotion regulation paradigm in 65 healthy male participants to investigate the modulatory effects of OXT on both bottom-up and top-down emotion regulation. OXT attenuates the activation in the posterior insular cortex and amygdala during anticipation of top-down regulation of predictable threat stimuli in participants with high trait anxiety. In contrast, OXT enhances amygdala activity during the bottom-up anticipation of unpredictable threat stimuli in participants with low trait anxiety. OXT may facilitate top-down goal-directed attention by attenuating amygdala activity in high anxiety individuals, while promoting bottom-up attention/vigilance to unexpected threats by enhancing amygdala activity in low anxiety individuals. OXT may thus have the potential to promote an adaptive balance between bottom-up and top-down attention systems depending on an individual's trait anxiety level.

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“…The cognitive processes of distancing reappraisal during the anticipation period mainly involves attentional control, whereas the stimulus presentation period additionally involves self-projection, affective self-reflection, and cognitive control (Koenigsberg et al, 2010;Ochsner et al, 2012;Powers and LaBar, 2019). Combined with findings from our prior resting state study (Xin et al, 2018), it may be hypothesized that OXT may modulating pre-stimulus attentional control of threatening social information.…”

Section: Oxytocin Differentially Modulated Amygdala Responses In Highmentioning

confidence: 88%

Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

Xin

Zhou

Dong

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The ability to successfully regulate negative emotions such as fear and anxiety is vital for mental health.The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) acts as important modulator of emotion regulation, as reflected by reduced amygdala responses but increased amygdala-prefrontal cortex (PFC) functional connectivity in response to threatening stimuli. The present randomized, between-subject, placebo (PLC)controlled pharmacological study combined intranasal administration of OXT with functional MRI during an explicit (cognitive) emotion regulation (i.e. distancing reappraisal) paradigm in 65 healthy male participants to investigate the modulatory effects of OXT on both bottom-up and top-down emotion regulation. OXT attenuated the activation in posterior insular cortex and amygdala during anticipation of top-down regulation of predictable threat stimuli in participants with high trait anxiety, providing evidence to support the anxiolytic action of OXT. In contrast, OXT enhanced amygdala activity during bottom-up anticipation of an unpredictable threat stimulus in participants with low trait anxiety. OXT may thus facilitate top-down goal-directed attention by attenuating amygdala activity in high anxiety individuals, while promote bottom-up attention/vigilance to unexpected threat by enhancing anticipatory amygdala activity in low anxiety individuals. The opposite effects of OXT on anticipatory amygdala activation in high versus low anxiety individuals may suggest a baseline anxiety level dependent mechanism via which OXT promotes optimal levels of amygdala activation during the anticipation of an imminent threat. OXT may thus have the potential to promote an adaptive balance between bottom-up and top-down attention systems depending on individual levels of pre-treatment trait anxiety levels. 2017; Zilverstand et al., 2017). Behavioral interventions (Campbell-Sills and Barlow, 2007; Gross et al., 2006; Jazaieri et al., 2015), neurofeedback targeting the amygdala-prefrontal circuits (Cohen Kadosh et al., 2016; Zhao et al., 2019) and pharmacological agents primarily targeting serotonergic and GABAergic neurotransmission (Farach et al., 2012; Singewald et al., 2015) can facilitate the regulation of negative emotions, including anxiety and fear. However, not all patients respond adequately to the currently available treatment strategies and the pharmacological interventions may induce negative side-effects which often limit compliance with the treatment protocols, thus novel strategies to improve emotion regulation are urgently needed.Emotion generation and regulation involves the interaction of intrinsic/automatic bottom-up processes and controlled/deliberately top-down processes (Ochsner and Gross, 2005;Ochsner and Gross, 2007;Suri et al., 2013). Bottom-up processes are stimulus-driven and initiated by salient stimuli in the environment. In contrast, top-down processes are goal-driven and context-dependent (Beck and Kastner, 2009;Desimone and Duncan, 1995;Sussman et al., 2016a). During both the (pre-stimulus) anticipation and adven...

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Regulating emotion through distancing: A taxonomy, neurocognitive model, and supporting meta-analysis

Cited by 112 publications

References 142 publications

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Induces Gray Matter Changes in a Brain Hub

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Induces Gray Matter Changes in a Brain Hub

Oxytocin Differentially Modulates Amygdala Responses during Top‐Down and Bottom‐Up Aversive Anticipation

Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

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