Cognitive Neuroscience Society

The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Annual Meeting
        • General Information
          • What to Expect at CNS 2023
          • CNS 2023 Mobile App
          • CNS 2023 Giveaway
          • CNS 2023 Giveaway Winners
          • Accessibility at CNS
          • General Information
          • Code of Conduct
          • Dates and Deadlines
          • Hotel Reservations
          • Poster Guidelines
          • Poster Printing Discount
          • Annual Meeting Workshop Policy & Application
          • Exhibit with us!
        • Program
          • Thank you to our Partners
          • CNS 2023 Program Booklet
          • Schedule Overview
          • Program-at-a-Glance
          • CNS 30th Anniversary Dance Party
          • Keynote Address
          • George A. Miller Awardee
          • Distinguished Career Contributions Awardee
          • Young Investigator Awardees
          • CNS at 30: Perspectives on the Roots, Present, and Future of Cognitive Neuroscience
          • Invited-Symposium Sessions
          • Symposium Sessions
          • Data Blitz Session Schedule
          • Poster Schedule & Session Information
          • JoCN Travel Fellowship Award
          • GSA/PFA Award Winners
          • Workshops, Socials & Special Events
        • Registration
          • Registration
          • Registration FAQ
          • Registration Policies, Cancellations & Refunds
        • News/Press
          • CNS 2023 Press Room
          • CNS 2022 Blog
          • CNS 2021 Blog
          • CNS 2020 Blog
        • Submissions
          • 2023 Poster Printing Discount
          • Submission Requirements
          • Submit a Poster
          • Submit a Symposium
          • GSA or PFA Application
          • Data Blitz
          • Frequently Asked Submission Questions
        • Archive
          • CNS 2020 Conference Videos
          • CNS 2019 Conference Videos
          • CNS 2018 Conference Videos
          • CNS 2017 Conference Videos
          • CNS 2016 Conference Videos
          • CNS 2015 Conference Videos
          • Previous Meetings Programs & Abstracts
  • About CNS
    • Boards and Committees
    • CNS Statement: Black Lives Matter
  • Membership
    • Information and Benefits
    • Join or Renew Membership
    • Membership FAQs
    • Member Discounts
    • Newsletter
      • Submit an Announcement
      • Current Newsletter
      • Newsletter FAQs
      • Past Newsletters
  • Awards
    • George A. Miller Award
    • Fred Kavli Distinguished Career Contributions Award
    • Young Investigator Award
    • Young Investigator Award Nominations
    • 2023 YIA Nomination Form
    • JoCN Travel Fellowship Award
  • News Center
    • CNS Blog
    • CNS 2023 Press Room
    • CNS 2023 Blog
    • CNS 2022 Blog
    • CNS 2021 Blog
    • CNS 2020 Blog
    • CNS 2019 Blog
    • Blog Archives
    • Quick Tips for Getting Started on Twitter
    • Media Contact
  • My CNS
  • Contact Us
post

Reshaping How Emotional We Feel About Negative Memories

October 4, 2012

Robert Adrian HillmanWe all have memories that bring us down, whether a bad breakup or a prolonged illness. New research suggests that we can reshape how we emotionally process those negative memories through simple instruction. And for those with the worst memories to process, such as victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), the research offers hope for new future therapies.

The new study is part of a body of research to better understand cognitive reappraisal – how people can either intensify or weaken their emotions in response to particular stimuli. Most past studies have used images or film clips as the stimuli. This study is one of only a handful to investigate personally relevant past experiences, says Alisha Holland of New York University, who conducted the research while at Boston College under senior researcher Elizabeth Kensinger. “Having a better understanding of how healthy individuals effectively regulate the emotions associated with autobiographical memories may ultimately have important clinical implications,” Holland says.

Because it takes a person time to recall an autobiographical memory, the researchers were able to specifically investigate different points in time during which neural processes contribute to emotional regulation of the memories. They examined neural activity with an fMRI scan during three phases: as participants viewed a reappraisal instruction; as they searched for the memory; and as they elaborated on the details of the memory. Participants could choose which negative events to recall, ranging from romantic break-ups and poor performance on an exam or paper, to the loss of a pet or an illness – or in some cases, neutral (neither negative nor positive) events for the control.

The reappraisal instruction was to either increase, decrease, or maintain emotions associated with the event. For example, if the negative event were about a friend forgetting a participant’s birthday, he or she might decrease the emotional reaction to that memory by focusing on the great time spent celebrating the birthday. To increase the emotional reaction to that event, the participant might focus how sad he or she felt upon realizing that the friend forgot.

Holland and Kensinger found a distinct pattern of neural activity for increasing emotion versus decreasing emotion based on the time phase of the scan. Both increasing and decreasing emotion engaged brain activity in regions associated with cognitive control (e.g., dorsal and ventral lateral prefrontal cortex), emotion generation and processing (e.g., amygdala, insula), and visual imagery (e.g., precuneus). However, the timing was different: the decrease in emotions activated these brain regions as participants searched for and recalled events, while the increase in emotions did so during the instruction and memory elaboration phases.

One unexpected outcome of the study was that participants still rated the same increase or decrease in their emotions associated with the memory 30 minutes after the scanning. “We weren’t sure how durable the changes in intensity would be and were excited to see that they were sustained over at least a short delay, as this is a promising area for future research,” Holland says. Indeed, Holland is continuing to investigate how long the effects of the cognitive reappraisal might last.

In general, “the research offers some preliminary evidence that changing the way we think about past negative events can help reduce or enhance the emotional intensity we experience during recall, depending on our goals,” Holland says. If researchers were able to pinpoint which types of regulation strategies lead to the most effective and long-lasting weakening of negative emotions for healthy individuals, perhaps it would be possible to train depressed individuals, or those suffering from PTSD, to use similar strategies when recalling negative experiences, she says.

The paper, “The Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal during Emotional Autobiographical Memory Recall” by Alisha C. Holland and Elizabeth A. Kensinger, appeared in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, online August 20, 2012.

For more information, contact: Lisa M.P. Munoz, CNS Public Information Officer, cns.publicaffairs@gmail.com

By lmunoz Filed Under: Uncategorized 1 Comment

Previous article: Moving Beyond Mere Blobology: Interview with Steven Pinker
Next article: From Age-Related Increase in Distractibility to Why Handshakes Matter

Trackbacks

  1. Alisha Holland’s work featured on CNS website - Davachi Memory Lab says:
    October 5, 2012 at 6:45 am

    […] autobiographical memories and reappraisal is currently being featured on the CNS website! See here for more information. Search […]

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Posts

  • CNS 2023: Day 4 Highlights
  • Psychedelics and Cognition: A New Look
  • CNS 2023: Day 3 Highlights
  • CNS 2023: Day 2 Highlights
  • Forget About It: Investigating How We Purge Thoughts from Our Minds

Blog Archives

Quick Tips for Getting Started on Twitter

Cognitive Neuroscience Society
c/o Center for Mind and Brain
267 Cousteau Place, Davis, CA 95618
916-955-6080: for CNS Membership Questions
805-450-7490: for annual meeting questions about- registration, posters, symposium
916-409-5069: Fax Line
email: meeting@cogneurosociety.org

Recent Posts

  • CNS 2023: Day 4 Highlights
  • Psychedelics and Cognition: A New Look
  • CNS 2023: Day 3 Highlights
  • CNS 2023: Day 2 Highlights
  • Forget About It: Investigating How We Purge Thoughts from Our Minds

Archives

Blog Archives

Previous Meeting Programs and Abstracts

Past Newsletters

All contents © Cognitive Neuroscience Society 1995-2019

Add to Calendar

Add to Calendar
04/16/2022 11:00 AM
04/16/2022 12:00 PM
America/Los_Angeles
How Prior Knowledge Shapes Encoding of New Memories
Description of the event
Grand Ballroom A
Create an Account

Login Utility