Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI

Abstract

Does silently talking to yourself in the third-person constitute a relatively effortless form of self control? We hypothesized that it does under the premise that third-person self-talk leads people to think about the self similar to how they think about others, which provides them with the psychological distance needed to facilitate self control. We tested this prediction by asking participants to reflect on feelings elicited by viewing aversive images (Study 1) and recalling negative autobiographical memories (Study 2) using either “I” or their name while measuring neural activity via ERPs (Study 1) and fMRI (Study 2). Study 1 demonstrated that third-person self-talk reduced an ERP marker of self-referential emotional reactivity (i.e., late positive potential) within the first second of viewing aversive images without enhancing an ERP marker of cognitive control (i.e., stimulus preceding negativity). Conceptually replicating these results, Study 2 demonstrated that third-person self-talk was linked with reduced levels of activation in an a priori defined fMRI marker of self-referential processing (i.e., medial prefrontal cortex) when participants reflected on negative memories without eliciting increased levels of activity in a priori defined fMRI markers of cognitive control. Together, these results suggest that third-person self-talk may constitute a relatively effortless form of self-control.

Third‐Person Self‐Talk Reduces Ebola Worry and Risk Perception by Enhancing Rational Thinking

“…the stimulus preceding negativity). These findings were conceptually replicated using fMRI (Moser et al., , Study 2), providing converging evidence for the idea that third‐person self‐talk constitutes a relatively effortless emotion regulation tool.…”

“…“Why am I feeling this way?”), enhances people's ability to control their thoughts, feelings, and behavior under stress (e.g. Kross et al., ; Moser et al., ; Nook et al., ; Streamer et al., ) and facilitates wise, emotionally intelligent reasoning (Grossmann & Kross, ).…”

“…Importantly, recent findings suggest that third‐person self‐talk facilitates emotion regulation relatively effortlessly, without consuming cognitive control resources that become depleted under stress. For example, a recent event‐related potential (ERP) study (Moser et al., , Study 1) found that non‐first‐person self‐talk led to reductions in a neurophysiological marker of emotional reactivity (i.e. the late positive potential) while viewing negative emotional pictures without enhancing activations in a neurophysiological marker of cognitive control (i.e.…”

“…We capitalised on this opportunity by examining whether third-person self-talk, a simple linguistic technique that promotes emotion regulation (e.g. Dolcos & Albarracin, 2014;Kross et al, 2014;Moser et al, 2017;Nook, Schleider, & Somerville, 2017;Streamer, Seery, Kondrack, Lamarche, & Saltsman, 2017;Zell, Warriner, & Albarracin, 2012), could "nudge" people living in the United States into reasoning about Ebola more rationally as concerns about this issue swelled. than about one's own.…”

“…Third-person self-talk operates via a similar mechanism. When people use their name to reflect on the self, they think about the self similar to how they think about others (Grossmann & Kross, 2014;Kross et al, 2014;Moser et al, 2017), which provides them with the psychological distance needed to navigate stressful experiences more objectively (e.g. Beck, 1970;Bernstein et al, 2015;Fujita, Trope, Liberman, & Levin-Sagi, 2006;Kross & Ayduk, 2011;Mischel & Rodriguez, 1993;Trope & Liberman, 2010).…”