Emotion Regulation Modulates Affective Responses Without Altering Memory Traces: A Study of Negative Social Feedback from Acquaintances

Negative social feedback can cause social pain and may damage physical and mental health. In particular, negative social feedback from acquaintances deeply activates the social pain brain network between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the anterior insula, and the amygdala, inducing stronger emotional responses and memories. This study used a social appraisal paradigm to investigate the potential benefits of emotional regulation in the face of negative social feedback from acquaintances, as measured by emotional responses and memories. The results showed that negative social feedback sent by acquaintances induced stronger emotional experiences and deeper negative memories than those sent by strangers. Cognitive reappraisal and distraction could reduce the negative emotions induced by negative social feedback sent by acquaintances; however, they did not affect the forgetting of memories of negative social feedback. Further analyses revealed that the emotion regulation strategy was more effective in alleviating negative emotions in the group with self-reported low-depressive symptoms compared to the group with self-reported high-depressive symptoms. Thus, the study suggests that the effectiveness of emotional regulation strategies varies across different relational contexts.