Habitual use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotions is associated with decreased amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP)

Harrison, Neil and Chassy, Philippe (2017) Habitual use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotions is associated with decreased amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP). Journal of Psychophysiology. ISSN 0269-8803 (Accepted for Publication)

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Abstract

In contrast to our knowledge about instructed emotion regulation, rather little is known about the effects of habitual (or “spontaneous”) emotion regulation on neural processing. We analyzed the relationship between everyday use of cognitive reappraisal (measured by the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, ERQ-R), and the amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), which is sensitive to down-regulation of negative emotions via reappraisal. Participants viewed a series of neutral and threatening images, and rated them for level of threat. We found increased LPP amplitude for threatening compared to neutral pictures between 500 and 1,500 ms. Crucially, we found smaller LPP amplitudes to threatening versus neutral pictures for participants who used reappraisal more often in everyday life. This relationship between LPP amplitude and the ERQ-R was observed in the 1,000–1,500 ms interval of the LPP, over right centro-parietal
19 electrodes. The current findings indicate that habitual tendency to use reappraisal is associated with reduced amplitude of the LPP in response to threatening pictures, in the absence of any explicit instruction to regulate emotions.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This version of the article may not completely replicate the final version published in The Journal of Psychophysiology. It is not the version of record and is therefore not suitable for citation.
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Neil Harrison
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2017 10:48
Last Modified:	10 Dec 2018 01:15
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/2079

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