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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition
Published on: February 1, 2012
A domain-general brain network underlying emotional and cognitive interference processing: evidence from
Taolin Chen1, Benjamin Becker2, Julia Camilleri3,4
1Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
This study reveals that controlling emotional distractions involves a widespread brain network, including the anterior cingulate cortex and insula. This neural system is also crucial for managing cognitive interference, suggesting a domain-general mechanism for attention control.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Emotional distractors impair cognitive control in psychiatric disorders.
- Brain mechanisms for emotional interference processing are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify brain regions and networks involved in emotional interference processing.
- To compare neural mechanisms of emotional and cognitive interference.
Main Methods:
- Coordinate-based and functional connectivity meta-analyses.
- Inclusion of Stroop, Flanker, and Simon tasks for interference processing.
- Resting-state functional connectivity and meta-analytic connectivity modeling.
Main Results:
- Consistent involvement of bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, left inferior frontal gyrus, and superior parietal lobule.
- Overlap in these regions for both emotional and cognitive interference.
- Strong functional connectivity within fronto-parietal control, ventral attention, and dorsal attention networks.
Conclusions:
- A domain-general neural system supports various types of interference processing.
- Emotional and cognitive interference regulation relies on interactions within large-scale brain networks.
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