Comparing the neural bases of self- and social-reappraisal

To manage life’s stressors, we can self-regulate our emotions or seek social regulatory support. One such strategy is reappraisal, where individuals reframe their own negative emotions (ie self-reappraisal) or help others reframe their negative emotions (ie social-reappraisal). Here, we compared the neural mechanisms underlying self- and social-reappraisal of negative autobiographical memories using standard univariate contrasts, Bayes factor, and multivariate classifier approaches. Both self- and social-reappraisal recruited regions associated with control and mentalizing, such as dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. However, social-reappraisal was qualitatively different from self-reappraisal in its recruitment of additional control and mentalizing regions, such as the right lateral prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and right temporal pole. Notably, multivariate patterns within regions associated with mentalizing—but not control—were distinguishable between self- and social-reappraisal, suggesting that different kinds of information are drawn upon when reappraising for self vs. others. Finally, both self- and social-reappraisal modulated activity in regions associated with affective responding and the perceptual representation of remembered scenes, including the mid-orbital frontal cortex, left insula, and posterior parahippocampal gyrus. Taken together, these data reveal the processes supporting self and social emotion regulation with implications for both basic and clinical research.