The Late Positive Potential as a Reliable Neural Marker of Cognitive Reappraisal in Children and Youth: A Brief Review of the Research Literature

Abstract

The mental health of young people is a growing public health concern. With socio-emotional difficulties in youth often resulting in psychiatric disorders later in life and most with mental health conditions rather stabilizing in time, it is essential to support healthy socio-emotional development. With a comprehensive definition of mental health, since emotion regulation (ER) plays a critical role in prevention, it becomes imperative to better understand how children effectively manage their emotions from an early age. Determining effective use of ER skills relies on adequate measurements. Typical methods of data collection in children present consistent shortcomings. This review addresses research findings considering the suitability of the late positive potential measured through electroencephalogram as a neural indicator of ER in children and youth. There is growing evidence, as reported in this review, that indicates that the late positive potential may be a reliable neural indicator of children's cognitive reappraisal abilities more specifically. Results generally suggest that the late positive potential amplitudes are sensitive to directed reappraisal in children. However, given the scant research, questions remain regarding developmental trends, methodology, interindividual variability, reappraisal of various stimuli, and how the late positive potential may relate to more traditional measures of ER. Directions for future research are provided, which are expected to address unanswered research questions and fill literature gaps. Taken together, the findings reviewed indicate that the late positive potential is generally sensitive to directed cognitive reappraisal in children and that there is promise of establishing this neural marker as an indicator of ER.

The causal role of the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortices on emotion regulation of social feedback

“…We used self‐reported emotional feeling and the late positive potential (LPP) as subjective and objective measurements of emotion to provide cross‐modal evidence. The LPP is a sensitive electrophysiological indicator of emotional reactivity (Y. Liu, Huang, McGinnis‐Deweese, Keil, & Ding, 2012), and a large amount of evidence has revealed reliable associations between LPP amplitude and emotion regulation effect of reappraisal (Kennedy & Montreuil, 2021). Specifically, downregulating negative emotion via reappraisal is associated with decreased LPP amplitudes (Hajcak & Nieuwenhuis, 2006; He, Zhao, et al, 2020; Zhao et al, 2021), whereas upregulating positive or neutral emotion (i.e., increasing positive attitude) via reappraisal is associated with enhanced LPP amplitudes (Langeslag & van Strien, 2013; W. Liu, Liu, Chen, Jiang, & Shang, 2019; Y. Wang, Liao, Shangguan, Shang, & Zhang, 2020; Wilson & MacNamara, 2021).…”

“…The LPP is a sensitive electrophysiological indicator of emotional reactivity (Y. Liu, Huang, McGinnis-Deweese, Keil, & Ding, 2012), and a large amount of evidence has revealed reliable associations between LPP amplitude and emotion regulation effect of reappraisal (Kennedy & Montreuil, 2021). Specifically, downregulating negative emotion via reappraisal is associated with decreased LPP amplitudes (Hajcak & Nieuwenhuis, 2006;Zhao et al, 2021), whereas upregulating positive or neutral emotion (i.e., increasing positive attitude) via reappraisal is associated with enhanced LPP amplitudes (Langeslag & van Strien, 2013;W.…”

Dysfunction of Emotion Regulation in Mild Cognitive Impairment Individuals Combined With Depressive Disorder: A Neural Mechanism Study

“…Preliminary evidence suggested that late positive potential (LPP) may serve as an indicator of a sustained increase in neural activity following the presence of emotional stimuli. Most tests of emotion regulation of LPP are based on the magnitude of LPP amplitude, which reflects the ability to use emotion regulation for cognitive reappraisal (Kennedy and Montreuil, 2020). Some studies have found a significant increase in LPP amplitudes in depressed individuals for negative stimuli (Dainer-Best et al, 2017).…”

Letting Go of Grudges: An Intervention-Based ERP Study Among Patients with ADS

“…However, our results of enhanced LPP amplitude in postassessment differed from other studies, which rather showed an attenuation in LPP amplitude after emotion regulation intervention. 12 This difference could be due to the complex implicit task used in those studies, where unpleasant picture stimuli were simultaneously presented with reappraisal instructions. 13 Our study sheds light on the process of letting go grudges through forgiveness in patients who had undergone interpersonal hurt, after exposing them to FT. To the best of our knowledge, there is a paucity of studies that delineate the process backed by ERP-based evidence.…”

“…However, our results of enhanced LPP amplitude in post- assessment differed from other studies, which rather showed an attenuation in LPP amplitude after emotion regulation intervention. 12 This difference could be due to the complex implicit task used in those studies, where unpleasant picture stimuli were simultaneously presented with reappraisal instructions. 13 …”