Electrophysiological Studies of Cognitive Reappraisal Success and Failure in aMCI

Although successful reappraisal relies on cognitive resources, how cognitive impairment affects brain processes related to cognitive reappraisal is not yet clear.

Forty-four amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) subjects and 72 healthy elderly controls (HECs) were divided into the MCI-Failure (n = 23), MCI-Success (n = 21), HEC-Failure (n = 26), and HEC-Success (n = 46) groups according to changes in self-reported affect using reappraisal. All participants viewed 30 negative and 30 neutral images preceded by straightforward descriptions of these images and 30 negative images preceded by more neutral descriptions.

Reappraisal failure was found to be more common in people with MCI. Reappraisal failure is associated with altered neurophysiological indices of negative-reappraisal stimuli processing that are reflected in smaller theta responsivity to negative-reappraisal stimuli between 350-550 ms. The MCI-Success group showed enhanced LPP for negative-reappraisal stimuli from 1200 to 3500 ms, reflecting compensatory effort to complete the reappraisal task, while subjects in other groups showed reduced LPP for negative-reappraisal stimuli from 550 to 1200 ms.

These findings deepen our understanding of how cognitive decline impacts reappraisal and informs early diagnosis and interventions for MCI.