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Updated: May 12, 2026
Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
Published on: August 26, 2011
Mindfulness and emotion regulation--an fMRI study.
Jacqueline Lutz1, Uwe Herwig2, Sarah Opialla1
1Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zürich, CH-8032 Zürich, Switzerland, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, University of Ulm, D-89075 Ulm, Germany, Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Zürich, CH-8050 Zürich, Switzerland, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Zürich, CH-8091 Zürich, Switzerland, and Department of Psychology, Psychotherapy of Affective Disorders, University of Zürich, CH-8050 Zürich, Switzerland.
Mindfulness training enhances emotion regulation by altering brain activity. A short mindfulness intervention reduced amygdala activation and increased prefrontal activity when anticipating negative stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Mindfulness, an attentive, non-judgmental focus on present experiences, is increasingly used in psychotherapy for emotion regulation.
- Neurobiological evidence suggests prefrontal cortex involvement in down-regulating emotional responses, such as amygdala activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neurobiological correlates of a brief mindfulness intervention during emotional arousal.
- To examine how mindfulness affects brain activity during the expectation and perception of negative stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activity in healthy individuals undergoing a short mindfulness intervention with a control group.
- Participants viewed negative and potentially negative images after cued expectation.
Main Results:
- The mindfulness group showed increased prefrontal cortex activation during the expectation of negative stimuli compared to controls.
- Reduced activation in emotion-processing regions, including the amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus, was observed during the perception of negative stimuli in the mindfulness group.
- Mindfulness intervention was associated with altered brain activity in regions involved in emotion regulation.
Conclusions:
- A short mindfulness intervention can induce neurobiological changes associated with emotion regulation.
- Findings suggest mindfulness modulates neural responses to emotional stimuli, potentially through prefrontal mechanisms.
- Individual differences in trait mindfulness correlated with regulatory resource utilization during emotional anticipation.
