When confronted with unwanted negative emotions, individuals use a variety of cognitive strategies for regulating these emotions. The brain mechanisms underlying these emotion regulation strategies have not been fully characterized, and it is not yet clear whether these mechanisms vary as a function of emotion intensity. To address these issues, 30 community participants (17 females, 13 males, Mage = 24.3 years) completed a picture-viewing emotion regulation task with neutral viewing, reacting to negative stimuli, cognitive reappraisal, attentional deployment, and self-distancing conditions. Brain and behavioral data were simultaneously collected in a 3T GE MRI scanner. Findings indicated that prefrontal regions were engaged by all three regulation strategies, but reappraisal showed the least amount of increase in activity as a function of intensity. Overall, these results suggest that there are both brain and behavioral effects of intensity and that intensity is useful for probing strategy-specific effects and the relationships between the strategies. Furthermore, while these three strategies showed significant overlap, there also were specific strategy-intensity interactions, such as frontoparietal control regions being preferentially activated by reappraisal and self-distancing. Conversely, self-referential and attentional regions were preferentially recruited by self-distancing and distraction as intensity increased. Overall, these findings are consistent with the notion that there is a continuum of cognitive emotion regulation along which all three of these strategies lie.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in the generation and regulation of emotion. However, we lack an integrative framework for understanding how different emotion-related functions are organized across the entire expanse of the PFC, as prior reviews have generally focused on specific emotional processes (e.g., decision making) or specific anatomical regions (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex). Additionally, psychological theories and neuroscientific investigations have proceeded largely independently because of the lack of a common framework. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological, lesion, and structural connectivity studies on the emotion-related functions of 8 subregions spanning the entire PFC. We introduce the appraisal-by-content model, which provides a new framework for integrating the diverse range of empirical findings. Within this framework, appraisal serves as a unifying principle for understanding the PFC's role in emotion, while relative content-specialization serves as a differentiating principle for understanding the role of each subregion. A synthesis of data from affective, social, and cognitive neuroscience studies suggests that different PFC subregions are preferentially involved in assigning value to specific types of inputs: exteroceptive sensations, episodic memories and imagined future events, viscero-sensory signals, viscero-motor signals, actions, others' mental states (e.g., intentions), self-related information, and ongoing emotions. We discuss the implications of this integrative framework for understanding emotion regulation, value-based decision making, emotional salience, and refining theoretical models of emotion. This framework provides a unified understanding of how emotional processes are organized across PFC subregions and generates new hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying adaptive and maladaptive emotional functioning.

Even in predominantly religious societies, there are substantial individual differences in religious commitment. Why is this? One possibility is that differences in social conformity (i.e. the tendency to think and behave as others do) underlie inclination towards religiosity. However, the link between religiosity and conformity has not yet been directly examined. In this study, we tested the notion that non-religious individuals show dampened social conformity, using both self-reported and neural (EEG-based ERPs) measures of sensitivity to others' influence. Non-religious vs religious undergraduate subjects completed an experimental task that assessed levels of conformity in a domain unrelated to religion (i.e. in judgments of facial attractiveness). Findings showed that, although both groups yielded to conformity pressures at the self-report level, non-religious individuals did not yield to such pressures in their neural responses. These findings highlight a novel link between religiosity and social conformity, and hold implications for prominent theories about the psychological functions of religion.

Judgments of facial attractiveness are central to decision-making in various domains, but little is known about the extent to which they aremalleable. In this study, we used EEG/ERP methods to examine two novel influences on neural and subjective responses to facial attractiveness: an observer's expectation and repetition. In each trial of our task, participants viewed either an ordinary or attractive face. To alter expectations, the faces were preceded by a peer-rating that ostensibly reflected the overall attractiveness value assigned to that face by other individuals. To examine the impact of repetition, trials were presented twice throughout the experimental session. Results showed that participants' expectations about a person's attractiveness level powerfully altered both the neural response (i.e. the late positive potential; LPP) and self-reported attractiveness ratings. Intriguingly, repetition enhanced both the LPP and self-reported attractiveness as well. Exploratory analyses further suggested that both observer expectation and repetitionmodulated early neural responses (i.e. the early posterior negativity; EPN) elicited by facial attractiveness. Collectively, these results highlight novel influences on a core social judgment that underlies individuals' affective lives.

Emotional-intensity is a core characteristic of affective events that strongly determines how individuals choose to regulate their emotions. Our conceptual framework suggests that in high emotional-intensity situations, individuals prefer to disengage attention using distraction, which can more effectively block highly potent emotional information, as compared with engagement reappraisal, which is preferred in low emotional-intensity. However, existing supporting evidence remains indirect because prior intensity categorization of emotional stimuli was based on subjective measures that are potentially biased and only represent the endpoint of emotional-intensity processing. Accordingly, this study provides the first direct evidence for the role of online emotional-intensity processing in predicting behavioral regulatory-choices. Utilizing the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials, we evaluated online neural processing of stimuli's emotional-intensity (late positive potential, LPP) prior to regulatory-choices between distraction and reappraisal. Results showed that enhanced neural processing of intensity (enhanced LPP amplitudes) uniquely predicted (above subjective measures of intensity) increased tendency to subsequently choose distraction over reappraisal. Additionally, regulatory-choices led to adaptive consequences, demonstrated in finding that actual implementation of distraction relative to reappraisal-choice resulted in stronger attenuation of LPPs and self-reported arousal.

Erectile dysfunction is a major complication affecting the quality of life of patients and partners after radical prostatectomy. Evolving evidence suggests that early penile rehabilitation may provide better erectile function after surgery. Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors are routinely considered a first-line treatment option in most algorithms for penile rehabilitation owing to their efficacy, ease of use, wide availability and minimal morbidity. Tadalafil is a long-acting, potent PDE-5 inhibitor for erectile dysfunction, with demonstrated effect in animal studies at preserving penile smooth muscle content and prevention of fibrosis of cavernosal tissue. This article evaluates the existing literature on tadalafil and critically analyzes its impact on erectile function following radical prostatectomy.

Selective attention and working memory (WM) are central to our ability to internally represent and act on the world, and a growing body of research suggests that the two interact in several ways. These interactions hold critical implications for emotion regulation, as they may underlie distinct forms of cognitive control that enable individuals to alter emotion. In this dissertation, I examine two types of selective attention-working memory interactions that may be important for emotion regulation: the gating of affective content into WM, and the biasing of affective content active within WM. Study 1 examined the immediate and delayed emotional consequences of controlling the gating of affective content into WM. Participants were presented with affective (and neutral) images during two phases. In an initial regulation phase, participants attempted to restrict the access of image representations into WM by loading WM with unrelated content. In a subsequent re-exposure phase, participants simply attended to these images. Results showed that, during the regulatory episode, loading WM while exposed to images rapidly and powerfully attenuated a robust electrocortical index of emotional response, the late positive potential (LPP). Upon re-exposure, however, images with a WM-load history paradoxically elicited heightened LPP responses (compared to images with a simple-viewing history). This pattern of findings diverged significantly from those obtained for another major form of emotion regulation – cognitive reappraisal – that permits encoding affective inputs into WM. Together, these results suggest that blocking the access of affective events into WM can quickly dampen emotion during the regulatory episode, a feature that may have unintended consequences upon passive re-exposure. Study 2 examined the emotional consequences of biasing affective content active within WM. Participants were cued to attend to either an arousing or neutral aspect of an affective image representation maintained within WM. Results showed that, relative to focusing on an arousing portion of a negative image representation within WM, focusing on a neutral portion reduced both LPP responses and self-reported negative emotion. These data suggest that deploying attention within affective representations active within WM can successfully alter emotion. Study 3 sought to replicate the findings obtained in Study 2, using a novel system to record electrocortical responses. Even under different recording conditions, results showed strong preservation of the original findings. Specifically, attending to a neutral (versus arousing) aspect of an unpleasant image representation within WM reduced both LPP responses and self-reported negative emotion. Study 4 examined whether the ability to bias affective content within WM via attention is impaired in a particular form of psychopathology – generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) – that may be characterized by deficits in the control of affective WM representations. Participants diagnosed with GAD and…

Distraction is a powerful and widely-used emotion regulation strategy. Although distraction regulates emotion sooner than other cognitive strategies (Thiruchselvam, Blechert, Sheppes, Rydstrom, & Gross, 2011), it is not yet clear whether it is capable of blocking the earliest stages of emotion generation. To address this issue, we capitalized on the excellent temporal resolution of EEG by focusing on occipital theta dynamics which were associated with distinct stages of visual processing of emotional stimuli. Individually defined theta band dynamics were extracted from a previously published EEG dataset (Thiruchselvam et al., 2011) in which participants attended to unpleasant (and neutral) images or regulated emotion using distraction and reappraisal. Results revealed two peaks within early theta power increase, both of which were increased by emotional stimuli. Distraction did not affect theta power during an early peak (150–350 ms), but did successfully decrease activity in a second peak (350–550 ms). These results suggest that although distraction acts relatively early in the emotion-generative trajectory, it does not block fast detection of emotional significance. Given that theta dynamics were uncorrelated with Late Positive Potential activity, the present results also encourage researchers to add the occipital theta to the growing toolkit of EEG-based measures of emotion regulation.

Selective attention plays a fundamental role in emotion regulation. To date, research has examined individuals’ use of selective attention to regulate emotional responses during stimulus presentation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention can be used to regulate emotional responses during a poststimulus period when representations are active within working memory (WM). On each trial, participants viewed either a negative or a neutral image. After the offset of the image, they maintained a representation of it in WM and were cued to focus their attention on either neutral or arousing aspects of that representation. Results showed that, relative to focusing on an arousing portion of a negative-image representation within WM, focusing on a neutral portion of the representation reduced both self-reported negative emotion and the late positive potential, a robust neural measure of emotional reactivity. These data suggest that selective attention can alter emotional responses arising from affective representations active within WM.

Selective attention plays a fundamental role in emotion regulation. To date, research has examined individuals' use of selective attention to regulate emotional responses during stimulus presentation. In the present study, we examined whether selective attention can be used to regulate emotional responses during a poststimulus period when representations are active within working memory (WM). On each trial, participants viewed either a negative or a neutral image. After the offset of the image, they maintained a representation of it in WM and were cued to focus their attention on either neutral or arousing aspects of that representation. Results showed that, relative to focusing on an arousing portion of a negative-image representation within WM, focusing on a neutral portion of the representation reduced both self-reported negative emotion and the late positive potential, a robust neural measure of emotional reactivity. These data suggest that selective attention can alter emotional responses arising from affective representations active within WM.

Distraction and reappraisal are two widely used forms of emotion regulation. The process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998) holds that they differ (1) in when they act on the emotion-generative process, and (2) in their impact on subsequent responses to regulated stimuli. We tested these two predictions by measuring electrocortical responses to neutral and emotional images during two phases. In the regulation phase, images were watched or regulated using distraction or reappraisal. During the re-exposure phase, the same images were passively watched. As predicted, during regulation, distraction reduced the late positive potential (LPP) earlier than reappraisal. Upon re-exposure, images with a distraction (but not reappraisal) history elicited a larger LPP than images with an attend history. This pattern of results suggests that distraction and reappraisal intervene at separate stages during emotion generation, a feature which may have distinct consequences that extend beyond the regulatory episode.