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Free keywords:
Attachment security; Cognitive emotion regulation; Default mode network; Social emotion regulation; Socially-induced cognitive emotion regulation; Social default mode network
Abstract:
Socially-induced cognitive emotion regulation (Social-Reg) is crucial
for emotional well-being and social functioning; however, its brain
mechanisms remain poorly understood. Given that both social cognition
and cognitive emotion regulation engage key regions of the default-mode
network (DMN), we hypothesized that Social-Reg would rely on the DMN,
and that its effectiveness would be associated with social functioning.
During functional MRI, negative emotions were elicited by pictures, and
- via short instructions - a psychotherapist either down-regulated
participants' emotions by employing reappraisal (Reg), or asked them to
simply look at the pictures (Look). Adult Attachment Scale was used to
measure social functioning. Contrasting Reg versus Look, aversive
emotions were successfully reduced during Social-Reg, with increased
activations in the prefrontal and parietal cortices, precuneus and the
left temporo-parietal junction. These activations covered key nodes of
the DMN and were associated with Social-Reg success. Furthermore,
participants' attachment security was positively correlated with both
Social-Reg success and orbitofrontal cortex involvement during
Social-Reg. In addition, specificity of the neural correlates of
Social-Reg was confirmed by comparisons with participants' DMN activity
at rest and their brain activations during a typical emotional
self-regulation task based on the same experimental paradigm without a
psychotherapist. Our results provide first evidence for the specific
involvement of the DMN in Social-Reg, and the association of Social-Reg
with individual differences in attachment security. The findings suggest
that DMN dysfunction, found in many neuropsychiatric disorders, may
impair the ability to benefit from Social-Reg. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved.
