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Updated: May 13, 2026
16:08
Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition
Published on: February 1, 2012
Training the emotional brain: improving affective control through emotional working memory training
Susanne Schweizer1, Jessica Grahn, Adam Hampshire
1Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, CB2 7EF, United Kingdom. susanne.schweizer@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Summary
Emotional working memory (WM) training enhances cognitive control over emotions. This training improves emotion regulation and brain network efficiency, offering potential benefits for clinical and occupational settings.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Affective cognitive control is crucial for success and impaired in neuropsychiatric disorders.
- Neuroscience suggests affective control shares neural circuitry with working memory (WM).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if emotional WM training can enhance affective cognitive control.
- To examine the neural mechanisms underlying these effects using fMRI.
Main Methods:
- Participants underwent 20 days of novel emotional WM training or placebo training.
- Behavioral measures and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used.
Main Results:
- Emotional WM training enhanced frontoparietal network efficiency.
- Training led to significant improvements in emotion regulation compared to placebo.
- Gains in emotion regulation correlated with increased activity in frontoparietal and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex.
Conclusions:
- WM training in an emotional context effectively improves affective cognitive control and emotion regulation.
- These findings support the use of WM training in clinical, prevention, and occupational contexts.
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