Neural patterns during anticipation predict emotion regulation success for reappraisal

[...]it is important to understand the behavioural and neural mechanisms through which emotions are controlled. [...]in the current study, we aimed to explore the neural underpinnings of the successful regulation of negative emotions-specifically, sadness and disgust. Denny, Ochsner, Weber, and Wager (2014) reanalyzed data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study (Wager et al., 2008) in which participants were instructed to anticipate using reappraisal versus not regulating. Another study measured the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN), an event-related potential (ERP) component preceding the appearance of a stimulus, and found that SPN amplitudes were higher during reappraisal anticipation relative to a no regulation condition (Moser, Krompinger, Dietz, & Simons, 2009; for similar findings, see also Shafir et al., 2015; Thiruchselvam et al., 2011).