Regulate Negative Emotions by Training Your Brain

A simple, computer-training task can change the brain’s wiring to regulate emotional reactions, according to a recent study published in NeuroImage by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) researchers.

“These findings are the first to demonstrate that non-emotional training that improves the ability to ignore irrelevant information can result in reduced brain reactions to emotional events and alter brain connections,” says Dr. Noga Cohen. Cohen conducted the study as part of her Ph.D. research at BGU’s Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab under the supervision of Prof. Avishai Henik of the Department of Psychology. “These changes were accompanied by strengthened neural connections between brain regions involved in inhibiting emotional reactions.”

The researchers hope to examine the impact of this non-emotional training on individuals who are depressed or anxious. It may also be helpful for those at high risk of developing high blood pressure reactions to emotional information.

Brain scan with the amygdala highlighted in red.
Participants who completed the more intense version of the training showed reduced activity in the amygdala. Image is for illustrative purposes only.

“Such future directions carry important potential clinical implications for a large percentage of the population,” the researchers explain. “This cognitive training can be easily employed with different populations, such as children, elderly adults, and individuals with neurological or psychiatric disorders.”

In the study, the brains of 26 healthy volunteers were monitored before and after multiple computerized training sessions using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the training, participants were required to identify whether a target arrow points to the right or to the left, while ignoring the direction of arrows on either side of it. The researchers conducted a “resting-state fMRI scan” to assess connections between brain regions during no specific task and later during an emotional reactivity task in which they had to ignore negative pictures used to study emotion.

“As expected, participants who completed the more intense version of the training (but not the other participants) showed reduced activation in their amygdala – a brain region involved in negative emotions, including sadness and anxiety. In addition, the intense training resulted in increased connectivity between participants’ amygdala and a region in the frontal cortex shown to be involved in emotion regulation,” said Dr. Cohen, who collaborated with Dr. Hadas Okon-Singer from the University of Haifa and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany.

“It is our hope that the current work would lead to further testing and potentially the development of effective intervention for individuals suffering from maladaptive emotional behavior,” Dr. Cohen says. “While acknowledging the limitations of this study, which was based on a relatively small number of healthy participants and focused on short-term effects of the training, this may prove effective for individuals suffering from emotion dysregulation.”

A previous study led by these authors has already shown that similar training can reduce the tendency to be submersed in a repetitive-thinking cycle about a negative life event.

About this psychology research

Funding: The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), and Minerva provided funding for this research. This research was also supported by Marie Curie Actions (CIG grant 34206) and the National Institute for Psychobiology in Israel Young Investigator Research Grant (145-14-15).

Source: Andrew Lavin – BGU
Image Source: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Abstract for “Using executive control training to suppress amygdala reactivity to aversive information” by N. Cohen, D.S. Margulies, S. Ashkenazi, A. Schaefer, M. Taubert, A. Henik, A. Villringer, and H. Okon-Singer in NeuroImage. Published online January 5 2015 doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.069


Abstract

Using executive control training to suppress amygdala reactivity to aversive information

The ability to regulate emotions is essential for adaptive behavior. This ability is suggested to be mediated by the connectivity between prefrontal brain regions and the amygdala. Yet, it is still unknown whether the ability to regulate emotions can be trained by using a non-emotional procedure, such as the recruitment of executive control (EC).

Participants who were trained using a high-frequent executive control (EC) task (80% incongruent trials) showed reduced amygdala reactivity and behavioral interference of aversive pictures. These effects were observed only following multiple-session training and not following one training session. In addition, they were not observed for participants exposed to low-frequent EC training (20% incongruent trials). Resting-state functional connectivity analysis revealed a marginally significant interaction between training group and change in the connectivity between the amygdala and the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Amygdala–IFG connectivity was significantly increased following the training only in the high-frequent EC training group. These findings are the first to show that non-emotional training can induce changes in amygdala reactivity to aversive information and alter amygdala–prefrontal connectivity.

“Using executive control training to suppress amygdala reactivity to aversive information” by N. Cohen, D.S. Margulies, S. Ashkenazi, A. Schaefer, M. Taubert, A. Henik, A. Villringer, and H. Okon-Singer in NeuroImage. Published online January 5 2015 doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.10.069

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  1. It’s excellent to study such clean precise information based on valid investigation. The way neuro knowledge hs been explored to us is superb.
    Though it’s general common experience that wen depressed sad angry or ppl wud emotional disorders n evn general ppl keep themselves bust n persue sm new study, education ,activity or indulge in new learning’s they tend to overcome their own inner imbalance n gloomy feelings.

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