Differentiate to reappraisal: negative emotion differentiation modulates the electrocortical effects of situation-focused and self-focused reappraisal

Situation-focused and self-focused reappraisal represent two prevalent cognitive reappraisal strategies. Despite evidence linking negative emotion differentiation (NED) to better reappraisal outcomes overall, little is known about how NED differentially relates to these two strategies, especially with respect to their electrocortical correlates. To this end, a photo-based emotion differentiation task was used to assess participants' NED. The event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants engaged in three conditions to regulate negative emotions. Behavioural results showed that both strategies reduced self-reported negative emotions in all NED groups. However, differential ERP patterns were observed. During the cue processing stage, the high-NED group showed enhanced stimulus preceding negativity for situation-focused (vs. self-focused) reappraisal cues, whereas the low-NED group showed the opposite pattern. During the emotional image processing stage, high-NED individuals had increased early posterior negativity relative to low-NED individuals, irrespective of strategy. Furthermore, during situation-focused but not self-focused reappraisal, high-NED individuals exhibited reduced late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes compared to the passive viewing condition. In contrast, low-NED individuals showed no LPP modulation for either regulatory strategy. Taken together, the present findings suggest that NED modulates the neural dynamics of situation-focused and self-focused reappraisal. These results also have clinical implications for individuals with low differentiation.