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An fMRI experiment examining emotion regulation and its aftereffects on amygdala activation and unwanted mental intrusions

Jönsson, Stefan LU and Gäddlin, Anders LU (2020) PSPR14 20201
Department of Psychology
Abstract (Swedish)
Since the 1980s emotion regulation (ER) has been more in focus for its connection to psychopathology, such as in anxiety-, mood- and substance disorders. Walter et al. (2009) proposed that one possible explanation for an activation his team found after a certain emotion regulation strategy (ERS) being employed, i.e. detachment, could be the rebound effect as it has been described by Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White (1987) in their White Bear experiment. Their rebound effect consisted of the resurfacing of unwanted mental materials, in Walter et al. (2009) it’s the surge of activation in the amygdala after ER in comparison to a baseline ER. GAD- and PTSD-groups were also part of the experiment. In this study, data was analyzed from a... (More)
Since the 1980s emotion regulation (ER) has been more in focus for its connection to psychopathology, such as in anxiety-, mood- and substance disorders. Walter et al. (2009) proposed that one possible explanation for an activation his team found after a certain emotion regulation strategy (ERS) being employed, i.e. detachment, could be the rebound effect as it has been described by Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White (1987) in their White Bear experiment. Their rebound effect consisted of the resurfacing of unwanted mental materials, in Walter et al. (2009) it’s the surge of activation in the amygdala after ER in comparison to a baseline ER. GAD- and PTSD-groups were also part of the experiment. In this study, data was analyzed from a block design fMRI experiment in Germany with N=102 participants who were instructed to either permit emotions or regulate them by detachment when looking at aversive or neutral pictures. A rebound effect was found both for time window 4s post-presentation and for 10s. Against our hypotheses we found no differences between the subclinical GAD- and PTSD-groups in comparison to control groups in level of rebound effect. Possible long-term costs of detachment as an ERS, and other implications of these results are discussed. (Less)
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author
Jönsson, Stefan LU and Gäddlin, Anders LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSPR14 20201
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
fMRI, emotion regulation, detachment, permit, rebound effect, GAD, PTSD, amygdala, dlPFC, ACC, amygdala aftereffects
language
English
id
9026925
date added to LUP
2020-08-25 11:03:19
date last changed
2020-08-25 11:03:19
@misc{9026925,
  abstract     = {{Since the 1980s emotion regulation (ER) has been more in focus for its connection to psychopathology, such as in anxiety-, mood- and substance disorders. Walter et al. (2009) proposed that one possible explanation for an activation his team found after a certain emotion regulation strategy (ERS) being employed, i.e. detachment, could be the rebound effect as it has been described by Wegner, Schneider, Carter, and White (1987) in their White Bear experiment. Their rebound effect consisted of the resurfacing of unwanted mental materials, in Walter et al. (2009) it’s the surge of activation in the amygdala after ER in comparison to a baseline ER. GAD- and PTSD-groups were also part of the experiment. In this study, data was analyzed from a block design fMRI experiment in Germany with N=102 participants who were instructed to either permit emotions or regulate them by detachment when looking at aversive or neutral pictures. A rebound effect was found both for time window 4s post-presentation and for 10s. Against our hypotheses we found no differences between the subclinical GAD- and PTSD-groups in comparison to control groups in level of rebound effect. Possible long-term costs of detachment as an ERS, and other implications of these results are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Jönsson, Stefan and Gäddlin, Anders}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{An fMRI experiment examining emotion regulation and its aftereffects on amygdala activation and unwanted mental intrusions}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}