Emotion Regulation Task¶
HED Task ID: hedtsk_emotion_regulation
Also known as: Cognitive Reappraisal Task, ER Task
View affective images under instructions to reappraise or passively view; self-reported affect, physiological responses, and neural activity index emotion regulation ability.
Description¶
Participants view emotionally evocative stimuli (typically IAPS images) and are instructed to either passively view them (“look” condition) or regulate their emotional response using cognitive reappraisal (e.g., reinterpreting a car accident as a movie scene). After each trial, participants rate their emotional experience. Reappraisal successfully reduces subjective negative affect and modulates neural activity: it increases dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC activation while decreasing amygdala activation, demonstrating top-down prefrontal regulation of emotion generation systems.
Inclusion test¶
Procedure |
Participants view emotionally evocative images and are instructed to regulate their emotional response using a specified strategy (e.g., cognitive reappraisal, suppression, or distraction) or to simply attend. |
Manipulation |
Regulation strategy (reappraise, suppress, distract, attend); image valence (negative, positive); regulation timing (before vs. during viewing). |
Measurement |
Self-reported affect (valence, arousal); physiological responses (SCR, corrugator EMG, startle); fMRI prefrontal-amygdala modulation; ERP (LPP reduction). |
Variations¶
Variation |
Description |
Justification |
|---|---|---|
Reinterpretation/Reappraisal |
Reinterpret emotional meaning of stimulus (core paradigm). |
Participant cognitively reframes stimulus meaning; changes cognitive strategy instructions |
Distancing/Detachment |
Adopt third-person or distant observer perspective. |
Third-person perspective taking; distinct cognitive strategy |
Distraction/Attentional Deployment |
Redirect attention to non-emotional aspects. |
Attention redirected away from stimulus; different regulatory mechanism |
Expressive Suppression |
Inhibit behavioral expression of emotion. |
Inhibit visible emotional response; behavioral output regulation |
Acceptance/Mindful Awareness |
Observe emotion without attempting to change it. |
Non-judgmental observation; different regulatory stance |
Situation Selection/Modification |
Choose or alter emotion-eliciting situations (rare in lab). |
Choice between stimuli or contexts; different task structure with decision component |
Up-Regulation |
Increase emotional response intensity (contrast with down-regulation). |
Amplify rather than down-regulate emotional response; opposite regulatory direction |
Regulation of Positive vs. Negative Emotions |
Separate paradigms for savoring and dampening. |
Valence manipulation changes emotional context of regulation |
Implicit Emotion Regulation |
Habitual/automatic regulation without instruction. |
No explicit instruction to regulate; tests implicit regulatory processes |
Cognitive processes¶
This task engages the following cognitive processes:
Key references¶
{‘authors’: ‘Gross, J. J.’, ‘year’: 1998, ‘title’: ‘The Emerging Field of Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review’, ‘venue’: ‘Review of General Psychology’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Review of General Psychology’, ‘volume’: ‘2’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘271-299’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271-299.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Ochsner, K. N., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J., & Gabrieli, J. D. E.’, ‘year’: 2002, ‘title’: ‘Rethinking Feelings: An fMRI Study of the Cognitive Regulation of Emotion’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience’, ‘volume’: ‘14’, ‘issue’: ‘8’, ‘pages’: ‘1215-1229’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1162/089892902760807212’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Ochsner, K. N., Bunge, S. A., Gross, J. J., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2002). Rethinking feelings: An fMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(8), 1215-1229.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1162/089892902760807212’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Ochsner, K. N., Silvers, J. A., & Buhle, J. T.’, ‘year’: 2012, ‘title’: ‘Functional imaging studies of emotion regulation: a synthetic review and evolving model of the cognitive control of emotion’, ‘venue’: ‘Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences’, ‘volume’: ‘1251’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘E1-E24’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06751.x’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Ochsner, K. N., Silvers, J. A., & Buhle, J. T. (2012). Functional imaging studies of emotion regulation: A synthetic review and evolving model of the cognitive control of emotion. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1251, E1-E24.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2012.06751.x’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
Recent references¶
{‘authors’: ‘Silvers, J. A., Wager, T. D., Weber, J., & Ochsner, K. N.’, ‘year’: 2014, ‘title’: ‘The neural bases of uninstructed negative emotion modulation’, ‘venue’: ‘Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience’, ‘volume’: ‘10’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘10-18’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1093/scan/nsu016’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Buhle, J. T., Silvers, J. A., Wager, T. D., et al. (2014). Cognitive reappraisal of emotion: A meta-analysis of human neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex, 24(11), 2981–2990.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsu016’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Kohn, N., Eickhoff, S., Scheller, M., Laird, A., Fox, P., & Habel, U.’, ‘year’: 2014, ‘title’: ‘Neural network of cognitive emotion regulation — An ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis’, ‘venue’: ‘NeuroImage’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘NeuroImage’, ‘volume’: ‘87’, ‘issue’: None, ‘pages’: ‘345-355’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.001’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Kohn, N., Eickhoff, S. B., Scheller, M., Laird, A. R., Fox, P. T., & Habel, U. (2014). Neural network of cognitive emotion regulation: An ALE meta-analysis and MACM analysis. NeuroImage, 87, 345–355.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.001’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Dörfel, D., Lamke, J., Hummel, F., Wagner, U., Erk, S., & Walter, H.’, ‘year’: 2014, ‘title’: ‘Common and differential neural networks of emotion regulation by Detachment, Reinterpretation, Distraction, and Expressive Suppression: A comparative fMRI investigation’, ‘venue’: ‘NeuroImage’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘NeuroImage’, ‘volume’: ‘101’, ‘issue’: None, ‘pages’: ‘298-309’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.051’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Dörfel, D., Lamke, J. P., Hummel, F., Wagner, U., Ott, S., & Sammer, G. (2014). Common and differential neural networks of emotion regulation by detachment, reinterpretation, distraction, and expressive suppression. NeuroImage, 101, 298–309.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.051’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Morawetz, C., Bode, S., Derntl, B., & Heekeren, H. R.’, ‘year’: 2017, ‘title’: ‘The effect of strategies, goals and stimulus material on the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies’, ‘venue’: ‘Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews’, ‘volume’: ‘72’, ‘issue’: None, ‘pages’: ‘111-128’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.014’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Morawetz, C., Bode, S., Derntl, B., & Heekeren, H. R. (2017). The effect of strategies, goals and stimulus material on the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 72, 111–128.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.014’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}