Brain activation during cognitive reappraisal depending on regulation goals and stimulus valence.

Neural bases of cognitive reappraisal may depend on the direction of regulation (up- or downregulation) and stimulus valence (positive or negative). This study aimed to examine this using a cognitive reappraisal task and conjunction analysis on a relatively large sample of 83 individuals. We identified regions in which activations were common for all these types of emotion regulation. We also investigated differences in brain activation between the 'decrease' and 'increase' emotional response conditions, and between the regulation of negative and positive emotions. The common activation across conditions involved mainly the prefrontal and temporal regions. Decreasing emotions was associated with stronger involvement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while increasing with activation of the amygdala and hippocampus. Regulation of negative emotions involved stronger activation of the lateral occipital cortex, while regulation of positive emotions involved stronger activation of the anterior cingulate cortex extending to the medial prefrontal cortex. This study adds to previous findings, not only by doing a conjunction analysis on both emotional valences and regulation goals, but also doing this in a bigger sample size. Results suggest that reappraisal is not a uniform process and may have different neural bases depending on regulation goals and stimulus valence.

Development and Psychometric Properties of MisoQuest-A New Self-Report Questionnaire for Misophonia.

Background: Misophonia is a condition related to experiencing psychophysiological sensations when exposed to specific sound triggers. In spite of progress in research on the subject, a fully validated questionnaire assessing misophonia has not been published yet. The goal of this study was to create and validate a new questionnaire to measure misophonia. Methods: MisoQuest is based on the diagnostic criteria proposed by Schröder et al. in 2013, with minor changes implemented by the authors of MisoQuest. A total of 705 participants took part in the study, completing the online questionnaires. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and analyses using the Item Response Theory (IRT) were performed. Internal consistency was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha. Results: The reliability of the MisoQuest was excellent (α = 0.955). The stability at five weeks was strong. There was a significant difference in results between people classified as those with misophonia and those without misophonia. Conclusions: MisoQuest has good psychometric values and can be helpful in the identification of misophonia. A deeper analysis showed that certain triggers might be more specific for people with misophonia. Consideration of violent behavior in response to misophonic triggers as a symptom of misophonia was undermined.