Emotion regulation: quantitative meta-analysis of functional activation and deactivation

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Emotion regulation is a complex cognitive process involving the modulation of emotional responses.
• Prefrontal cortex control over subcortical regions is a key hypothesis in emotion regulation.
• Understanding the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation is crucial for mental health research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify brain networks consistently active during emotion regulation.
• To pinpoint target brain regions affected by emotion regulation.
• To explore neural differences between emotion downregulation and upregulation.

Main Methods:

• Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis.
• Analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on emotion regulation.
• Systematic review of neuroimaging data.

Main Results:

• Consistent activation in prefrontal cortical regions (superior frontal gyrus, cingulate, premotor areas) across all regulation tasks.
• Bilateral amygdala/parahippocampal gyrus activity correlated with emotional intensity, decreasing with downregulation and increasing with upregulation.
• Evidence suggests distinct frontocortical networks may support distinct emotion regulation strategies.

Conclusions:

• The amygdala plays a critical role in experienced emotional intensity during regulation.
• Prefrontal cortical regions are consistently involved in executing emotion regulation.
• Specific frontocortical structures may be differentially engaged in upregulating versus downregulating emotions.