Neural Predictors of Social Emotion Regulation Training

Prior research has demonstrated that helping others regulate their emotions has benefits for the support provider. But little is known about the basic brain mechanisms underlying this ability or how this ability can change with practice. To address these questions, this study has two parts. In the first, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to gain insight into the brain systems involved in helping others regulate negative emotions by comparing them to the brain systems involved in regulating the participants' own negative emotions. In the second part, participants engage in three weeks of structured practice, or training, in either socially regulating others' emotions or in self-regulating their own emotions. The investigators predict that helping others regulate their emotions will involve many of the same brain regions implicated in regulating one's own emotions, in addition to regions involved in perspective taking and the reward of helping others. Further, when relating the brain data from part 1 to the regulation practice data from part 2, the investigators expect that individuals who in part 1 show greater activity in brain regions supporting either social or self-regulation may be more likely in part 2 to show corresponding improvements in regulation performance. The results of these studies are intended to lay the groundwork for future studies investigating the social regulation of emotion in older adults and clinical populations for whom social support can be beneficial.

Inclusion criteria

• Native English speaker
• Right handed

Exclusion criteria

• Current or past history of neurological or psychiatric illness
• Use of psychoactive drugs
• Individuals who have metal devices or implants that cannot be removed from their body (e.g., piercings, pacemakers, copper intrauterine devices (IUDs))
• Pregnant women