Staying cool when things get hot: emotion regulation modulates neural mechanisms of memory encoding

During times of emotional stress, individuals often engage in emotion regulation to reduce the experiential and physiological impact of negative emotions. Interestingly, emotion regulation strategies also influence memory encoding of the event. Cognitive reappraisal is associated with enhanced memor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in human neuroscience 2010, Vol.4, p.230-230
Main Authors: Hayes, Jasmeet Pannu, Morey, Rajendra A, Petty, Christopher M, Seth, Srishti, Smoski, Moria J, McCarthy, Gregory, Labar, Kevin S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amygdala
Arousal
Cognitive ability
cognitive reappraisal
declarative memory
Emotions
expressive suppression
Frontal gyrus
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Hippocampus
Hypotheses
Memory
Mental disorders
Neuroscience
Post traumatic stress disorder
Semantics
Studies
Success
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Summary:During times of emotional stress, individuals often engage in emotion regulation to reduce the experiential and physiological impact of negative emotions. Interestingly, emotion regulation strategies also influence memory encoding of the event. Cognitive reappraisal is associated with enhanced memory while expressive suppression is associated with impaired explicit memory of the emotional event. However, the mechanism by which these emotion regulation strategies affect memory is unclear. We used event-related fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms that give rise to memory formation during emotion regulation. Twenty-five participants viewed negative pictures while alternately engaging in cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, or passive viewing. As part of the subsequent memory design, participants returned to the laboratory two weeks later for a surprise memory test. Behavioral results showed a reduction in negative affect and a retention advantage for reappraised stimuli relative to the other conditions. Imaging results showed that successful encoding during reappraisal was uniquely associated with greater co-activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus, amygdala, and hippocampus, suggesting a possible role for elaborative encoding of negative memories. This study provides neurobehavioral evidence that engaging in cognitive reappraisal is advantageous to both affective and mnemonic processes.
ISSN:1662-5161
1662-5161
DOI:10.3389/fnhum.2010.00230