Neural characteristics of cognitive reappraisal success and failure: An ERP study

INTRODUCTION: Cognitive reappraisal, an important strategy of emotion regulation, can change emotional experience and attention to emotional information. However, not all individuals can deploy reappraisal strategies successfully. In the current study, we investigated event‐related potential (ERP) characteristics of reappraisal success and of reappraisal failure. METHODS: Twenty‐six participants were divided into the success group or the failure group based on self‐report ratings of how successful they were in reducing their response to negative images using cognitive reappraisal strategy. All participants viewed 30 neutral images and 30 negative images which they were asked to just watch, and 30 negative stimuli that they were asked to reappraise, while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. RESULTS: The success group reported a significant reduction in the unpleasantness of negative images than the failure group in the negative‐reappraisal condition. The ERP data indicated that two time windows differentiated between the success and failure groups. In 200–300 ms, P200 was significantly more positive to the negative‐watch condition relative to both negative‐reappraisal and neutral conditions in the failure group, while no difference was observed in the success group. In 300–5,000 ms, cognitive reappraisal led to increased late positive potential (LPP) relative to negative‐watch in the early and middle latency windows (300–3,100 ms) in both groups; in the late latency window (3,100–5,000 ms), the reappraisal success group showed the LPP amplitude to the negative‐reappraisal stimuli to be more positive than to the negative‐watch stimuli, while no difference was found in the reappraisal failure group. CONCLUSION: Our study provided direct evidence that different neurophysiological features were associated with reappraisal success and failure while engaging in the reappraisal of negative stimuli. This result will contribute to better understanding of the neural mechanism of emotion regulation in emotional disorders (i.e., depression and anxiety).