Neural correlates of novelty and appropriateness processing in cognitive reappraisal

Cognitive reappraisal highlights the essential role of creative thinking in regulating emotional responses in everyday life. However, previous research has shown that cognitive reappraisal is not always successful, as a novel reappraisal strategy may not be effective in suppressing negative emotions, and it is less known what brain regions are responsible for novelty and appropriateness processing during cognitive reappraisal. In the current study, we investigated the neural correlates of novelty and appropriateness processing of cognitive reappraisals while experiencing negative emotions. 25 participants were exposed to negative pictures accompanied by one of four reappraisal sentences that systematically varied on novelty and appropriateness, and they were asked to indicate their emotional valence after understanding the sentences. The functional imaging results revealed the involvement of the default mode network (DMN) regions and a stronger mPFC-IPL pathway connectivity responsible for the novelty processing; the involvement of the executive control network (ECN), salience network (SN), and stronger connectivity of both frontotemporal pathway and AI-thalamus-IFG pathway responsible for the appropriateness processing. These findings indicate that the three-network system (DMN, ECN and SN), which is commonly involved in creative cognition, also underlies the neural basis in cognitive reappraisal. The current findings extend our understanding of the neural correlates of creative thinking in emotional contexts and provide insights into developing effective reappraisal strategies for emotional regulation.