Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal of Negative Emotion: A Brain Activation and Generalized Psychophysiological Interaction Study.

BACKGROUND

Cognitive reappraisal has been extensively investigated using fMRI, yet the neural mechanisms underlying up- versus down-regulation of negative emotion remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to examine brain activation and task-dependent functional connectivity for both regulatory goals.

METHODS

A well-established cognitive reappraisal task was employed during an fMRI scan, with 21 participants instructed to up- and down-regulate negative emotions by mentally reinterpreting the stimuli. Whole-brain activation analyses included a conjunction-null analysis and differential contrasts to identify shared and goal-specific activation. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses were also performed to examine task-dependent functional connectivity.

RESULTS

Down-regulation primarily engaged the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG), whereas up-regulation recruited prefrontal regions and the left insula. The conjunction-null analysis revealed common activation in a predominantly left-lateralized frontoparietal-medial frontal network beyond viewing negative pictures. Differential contrasts showed that up-regulation specifically recruited the left postcentral gyrus, whereas down-regulation specifically recruited occipital regions and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In exploratory and uncorrected gPPI analyses, during down-regulation, the VLPFC was positively coupled with the right MTG, whereas during up-regulation, the left DLPFC was coupled with the left insula and dorsal striatum.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that up- and down-regulation share a common frontoparietal-medial frontal network, but differ in goal-specific activation and connectivity patterns. Down-regulation may rely more on cognitive and semantic processing, whereas up-regulation may involve reward-related and interoceptive mechanisms. Given the exploratory nature of the gPPI findings, the connectivity results should be considered preliminary.