| Despite the prominent role of individual differences in emotion regulation, few studies have directly assessed their contribution to the neural circuitry underlying cognitive regulation of emotion. Using a trait-like psychophysiological measure of individual differences in emotion regulation, we examined how such measure modulates functional connectivity between amygdala and prefrontal cortex during cognitive reappraisal. In the first session, sixty men were instructed to reappraise negative emotion while their regulatory ability was objectively measured by corrugator electromyography. In the subsequent session, participants underwent the same regulation task using functional magnetic resonance imaging and collected saliva cortisol samples over four days following the scan. Replicating previous group-mean findings, our regulation instructions modulated amygdala responses and identified reappraisal-related activation regions. Functional connectivity analyses revealed that amygdala co-activated with prefrontal regions during reappraisal. This connectivity pattern was modulated by our individual differences measure of emotion regulation skill, such that successful regulators showed stronger amygdala-prefrontal coupling. Moreover, individuals who exhibited stronger coupling during down-regulation of negative affect evidenced more adaptive stress regulation. Integrating psychophysiology and neuroimaging, our data demonstrate the importance of frontolimbic interconnection in successful emotion regulation in the laboratory and everyday life, which suggests new avenues of clinical intervention. |
