Abstract
An individual's responses to emotional information are influenced not only by the emotional quality of the information, but also by the context in which the information is presented. We hypothesized that facial expressions of happiness and anger would serve as primes to modulate subjective and neural responses to subsequently presented negative information. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI study in which the brains of healthy adults were scanned while they performed an emotion-rating task. During the task, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral photos, one at a time; each photo was presented after a picture showing a face expressing a happy, angry, or neutral emotion. Brain imaging results showed that compared with neutral primes, happy facial primes increased activation during negative emotion in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which are typically implicated in conflict detection and implicit emotion control, respectively. Conversely, relative to neutral primes, angry primes activated the right middle temporal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus during the experience of negative emotion. Activity in the amygdala in response to negative emotion was marginally reduced after exposure to happy primes compared with angry primes. Relative to neutral primes, angry facial primes increased the subjectively experienced intensity of negative emotion. The current study results suggest that prior exposure to facial expressions of emotions modulates the subsequent experience of negative emotion by implicitly activating the emotion-regulation system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 548-553 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | NeuroReport |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 Jun 9 |
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Keywords
- amygdala
- Anterior cingulate cortex
- emotion regulation
- facial expressions
- fMRI
- ventrolateral
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)
Cite this
Facial expression primes and implicit regulation of negative emotion. / Yoon, Heungsik; Kim, Shin Ah; Kim, Sang Hee.
In: NeuroReport, Vol. 26, No. 9, 09.06.2015, p. 548-553.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Facial expression primes and implicit regulation of negative emotion
AU - Yoon, Heungsik
AU - Kim, Shin Ah
AU - Kim, Sang Hee
PY - 2015/6/9
Y1 - 2015/6/9
N2 - An individual's responses to emotional information are influenced not only by the emotional quality of the information, but also by the context in which the information is presented. We hypothesized that facial expressions of happiness and anger would serve as primes to modulate subjective and neural responses to subsequently presented negative information. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI study in which the brains of healthy adults were scanned while they performed an emotion-rating task. During the task, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral photos, one at a time; each photo was presented after a picture showing a face expressing a happy, angry, or neutral emotion. Brain imaging results showed that compared with neutral primes, happy facial primes increased activation during negative emotion in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which are typically implicated in conflict detection and implicit emotion control, respectively. Conversely, relative to neutral primes, angry primes activated the right middle temporal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus during the experience of negative emotion. Activity in the amygdala in response to negative emotion was marginally reduced after exposure to happy primes compared with angry primes. Relative to neutral primes, angry facial primes increased the subjectively experienced intensity of negative emotion. The current study results suggest that prior exposure to facial expressions of emotions modulates the subsequent experience of negative emotion by implicitly activating the emotion-regulation system.
AB - An individual's responses to emotional information are influenced not only by the emotional quality of the information, but also by the context in which the information is presented. We hypothesized that facial expressions of happiness and anger would serve as primes to modulate subjective and neural responses to subsequently presented negative information. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI study in which the brains of healthy adults were scanned while they performed an emotion-rating task. During the task, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral photos, one at a time; each photo was presented after a picture showing a face expressing a happy, angry, or neutral emotion. Brain imaging results showed that compared with neutral primes, happy facial primes increased activation during negative emotion in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which are typically implicated in conflict detection and implicit emotion control, respectively. Conversely, relative to neutral primes, angry primes activated the right middle temporal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus during the experience of negative emotion. Activity in the amygdala in response to negative emotion was marginally reduced after exposure to happy primes compared with angry primes. Relative to neutral primes, angry facial primes increased the subjectively experienced intensity of negative emotion. The current study results suggest that prior exposure to facial expressions of emotions modulates the subsequent experience of negative emotion by implicitly activating the emotion-regulation system.
KW - amygdala
KW - Anterior cingulate cortex
KW - emotion regulation
KW - facial expressions
KW - fMRI
KW - ventrolateral
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84930584234&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84930584234&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000383
DO - 10.1097/WNR.0000000000000383
M3 - Article
C2 - 26011391
AN - SCOPUS:84930584234
VL - 26
SP - 548
EP - 553
JO - NeuroReport
JF - NeuroReport
SN - 0959-4965
IS - 9
ER -