Lotte F. van Dillen

Tuning down the emotional brain: an fMRI study of the effects of cognitive load on the processing of affective images

The present research examines whether cognitive load can modulate the processing of negative emotional stimuli, even after negative stimuli have already activated emotional centers of the brain. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed neutral and negative stimuli that were followed by an attention-demanding arithmetic task. As expected, exposure to negative stimuli led to increased activation in emotional regions (the amygdalae and the right insula). Subsequently induced task load led to increased activation in cognitive regions (right dorsolateral frontal cortex, right superior parietal cortex). Importantly, task load down-regulated the brains response to negative stimuli in emotional regions. Task load also reduced subjectively experienced negative emotion in response to negative stimuli. Finally, coactivation analyses suggest that during task performance, activity in right dorsolateral frontal cortex was related to activity in the amygdalae and the right insula. Together, these findings indicate that cognitive load is capable of tuning down the emotional brain.

Desire The New Hot Spot in Self-Control Research

Traditionally, self-control research has put a strong focus on the mechanisms that support the control of behavior in the face of temptation. This emphasis in the field has led to some neglect of desire as an impelling force that needs to be controlled. However, the focus appears to be shifting, as recent research has led to novel insights into the nature of desire. In this review, we integrate these insights into how desire emerges, how it operates, and how it may best be controlled. Drawing on competitive-access models of working memory and dynamical reprocessing models, we highlight, among other factors, the role of top-down attentional resources in preventing the early conscious processing and subsequent escalation of desire.Traditionally, self-control research has put a strong focus on the mechanisms that support the control of behavior in the face of temptation. This emphasis in the field has led to some neglect of desire as an impelling force that needs to be controlled. However, the focus appears to be shifting, as recent research has led to novel insights into the nature of desire. In this review, we integrate these insights into how desire emerges, how it operates, and how it may best be controlled. Drawing on competitive-access models of working memory and dynamical reprocessing models, we highlight, among other factors, the role of top-down attentional resources in preventing the early conscious processing and subsequent escalation of desire.

Turning a Blind Eye to Temptation: How Cognitive Load Can Facilitate Self-Regulation

The present research shows in 4 studies that cognitive load can reduce the impact of temptations on cognition and behavior and, thus, challenges the proposition that distraction always hampers self-regulation. Participants performed different speeded categorization tasks with pictures of attractive and neutral food items (Studies 1-3) and attractive and unattractive female faces (Study 4), while we assessed their reaction times as an indicator of selective attention (Studies 1, 3, and 4) or as an indicator of hedonic thoughts about food (Study 2). Cognitive load was manipulated by a concurrent digit span task. Results show that participants displayed greater attention to tempting stimuli (Studies 1, 3, and 4) and activated hedonic thoughts in response to palatable food (Study 2), but high cognitive load completely eliminated these effects. Moreover, cognitive load during the exposure to attractive food reduced food cravings (Study 1) and increased healthy food choices (Study 3). Finally, individual differences in sensitivity to food temptations (Study 3) and interest in alternative relationship partners (Study 4) predicted selective attention to attractive stimuli, but again, only when cognitive load was low. Our findings suggest that recognizing the tempting value of attractive stimuli in our living environment requires cognitive resources. This has the important implication that, contrary to traditional views, performing a concurrent demanding task may actually diminish the captivating power of temptation and thus facilitate self-regulation.

Secure attachment partners attenuate neural responses to social exclusion: An fMRI investigation

Research has shown that social exclusion has devastating psychological, physiological, and behavioral consequences. However, little is known about possible ways to shield individuals from the detrimental effects of social exclusion. The present study, in which participants were excluded during a ball-tossing game, examined whether (reminders of) secure attachment relationships could attenuate neurophysiological pain- and stress-related responses to social exclusion. Social exclusion was associated with activation in brain areas implicated in the regulation and experience of social distress, including areas in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and hypothalamus. However, less activation in these areas was found to the extent that participants felt more securely attached to their attachment figure. Moreover, the psychological presence (i.e., salience) of an attachment figure attenuated hypothalamus activation during episodes of social exclusion, thereby providing insight into the neural mechanisms by which attachment relationships may help in coping with social stress.

On the Role of Attention and Emotion in Morality: Attentional Control Modulates Unrelated Disgust in Moral Judgments

The emotion of disgust can influence people’s moral judgments, even if this emotion objectively is unrelated to the moral judgment in question. The present work demonstrates that attentional control regulates this effect. In three studies, disgust was induced. In an unrelated part of the studies, participants then judged a moral transgression. Disgust resulted in more severe moral judgments when attentional control (either measured by means of individual predisposition or manipulated with experimental control) was weak as opposed to strong (Studies 1-3). Findings further showed that attentional control mediated the positive relation between the intensity of participants’ disgust responses and the severity of their moral judgments (Study 2). Moreover, attentional control has its effects through the regulation of affective processing (Study 3). Taken together, the findings suggest that unrelated influences of disgust on moral judgments are contingent on the attention system.The emotion of disgust can influence people’s moral judgments, even if this emotion objectively is unrelated to the moral judgment in question. The present work demonstrates that attentional control regulates this effect. In three studies, disgust was induced. In an unrelated part of the studies, participants then judged a moral transgression. Disgust resulted in more severe moral judgments when attentional control (either measured by means of individual predisposition or manipulated with experimental control) was weak as opposed to strong (Studies 1-3). Findings further showed that attentional control mediated the positive relation between the intensity of participants’ disgust responses and the severity of their moral judgments (Study 2). Moreover, attentional control has its effects through the regulation of affective processing (Study 3). Taken together, the findings suggest that unrelated influences of disgust on moral judgments are contingent on the attention system.

Leaving a Flat Taste in Your Mouth: Task Load Reduces Taste Perception

In recent years, people have tended to pay less attention to their meals, often consuming them while engaging in other activities. At the same time, foods have become increasingly sweet and salty. We therefore investigated how performing concurrent activities affects taste perception and how this relates to actual consumption. Participants tasted sour, sweet, and salty substances in various concentrations under differing task loads. Our results demonstrated that under high task load (relative to low task load), participants rated the substances as less intense, consumed more of the substances, and preferred stronger tastants. Our findings suggest that increased task load reduces people’s taste perception by limiting attentional capacity to assess taste intensity and that people adjust their consumption accordingly.In recent years, people have tended to pay less attention to their meals, often consuming them while engaging in other activities. At the same time, foods have become increasingly sweet and salty. We therefore investigated how performing concurrent activities affects taste perception and how this relates to actual consumption. Participants tasted sour, sweet, and salty substances in various concentrations under differing task loads. Our results demonstrated that under high task load (relative to low task load), participants rated the substances as less intense, consumed more of the substances, and preferred stronger tastants. Our findings suggest that increased task load reduces people’s taste perception by limiting attentional capacity to assess taste intensity and that people adjust their consumption accordingly.

Moral fixations: The role of moral integrity and social anxiety in the selective avoidance of social threat

People derive their sense of belonging from perceptions of being a moral person. Research moreover suggests that social cues of rejection rapidly influence visual scanning, and result in avoidant gaze behavior, especially in socially anxious individuals. With the current eye-tracking experiment, we therefore examined whether moral integrity threats and affirmations influence selective avoidance of social threat, and how this varies with individual differences in social anxiety. Fifty-nine participants retrieved a memory of a past immoral, moral, or neutral act. Next, participants passively viewed angry, happy, and neutral faces, while we recorded how often they first fixated on the eyes. In addition, we administered the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (1987). Participants first fixated less on angry eyes compared to happy or neutral eyes when their moral integrity was threatened, and this selective avoidance was enhanced with increasing social anxiety. Following a moral affirmation, however, participants no longer selectively avoided the eyes of angry faces, regardless of individual differences in social anxiety. The results thus suggest that both low and high socially anxious people adjust their social gaze behavior in response to threats and affirmations of their moral integrity, pointing to the importance of the social context when considering affective processing biases.

From Distraction to Mindfulness: Psychological and Neural Mechanisms of Attention Strategies in Self-Regulation

The current chapter examines attention strategies that may facilitate self-regulation. In particular, we focus on the attention strategies of distraction and mindfulness. By distraction, we mean shifting attention from the original object of attention onto a different focal object. Mindfulness, on the other hand, implies regulating the focus and the quality of one’s attention. This implies paying attention to the focal object, but at the same time observing one’s own thoughts and experiences and seeing them as mere mental events. We discuss evidence that distraction and mindfulness modulate the impact of affective information on thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Whereas the two strategies are seemingly opposing in nature, we have found that both distraction and mindfulness can undermine intrusive thinking patterns in response to affective information that normally result in more impulsive behavior. We show how the effectiveness of these strategies is reflected not only in behavioral measures of self-regulation success but in neurophysiological indices as well. Distraction seems to involve the increased engagement of prefrontal brain regions for task-related processing, whereas mindfulness training may affect the connectivity between control and affective brain regions. More broadly speaking, the present chapter shows that combining behavioral and neuroscience measures can be a particularly fruitful approach in understanding how attention strategies impact self-regulation.

Looking into the crystal ball of our emotional lives: emotion regulation and the overestimation of future guilt and shame

ABSTRACT In the present study, we examined the impact of emotion regulation on the intensity bias in guilt and shame. Fifty-two undergraduates either forecasted their emotions and emotion regulation following a guilt- and shame-eliciting situation or reported their actual experienced emotions and employed emotion regulation. Results showed a clear intensity bias, that is, forecasters predicted to experience more guilt and shame than experiencers actually experienced. Furthermore, results showed that forecasters predicted to employ less down-regulating emotion regulation (i.e. less acceptance) and more up-regulating emotion regulation (i.e. more rumination) than experiencers actually employed. Moreover, results showed that the intensity differences between forecasted and experienced guilt and shame could be explained (i.e. were mediated) by the differences between forecasted and actually employed emotion regulation (i.e. acceptance and rumination). These findings provide support for the hypothesis that the intensity bias can—at least in part—be explained by the misprediction of future emotion regulation.

Tuning down the hedonic brain: Cognitive load reduces neural responses to high-calorie food pictures in the nucleus accumbens

The present research examined whether cognitive load modulates the neural processing of appetitive, high-calorie food stimuli. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants quickly categorized high-calorie and low-calorie food pictures versus object pictures as edible or inedible while they concurrently performed a digit-span task that varied between low and high cognitive load (memorizing six digits vs. one digit). In line with predictions, the digit-span task engaged the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) when cognitive load was high compared to low. Moreover, exposure to high-calorie compared to low-calorie food pictures led to increased activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), but only when cognitive load was low and not when it was high. In addition, connectivity analyses showed that load altered the functional coupling between NAcc and right DLPFC during presentation of the high-calorie versus low-calorie food pictures. Together, these findings indicate that loading the cognitive system moderates hedonic brain responses to high-calorie food pictures via interactions between NAcc and DLPFC. Our findings are consistent with the putative cognitive nature of food motivation. Implications for future research are discussed. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.3758/s13415-018-0579-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.