Anticipation of difficult tasks: neural correlates of negative emotions and emotion regulation.
Adult
Anticipation, Psychological
/ physiology
Anxiety
/ psychology
Anxiety Disorders
/ physiopathology
Brain
/ pathology
Brain Mapping
/ methods
Cerebral Cortex
Cognition
/ physiology
Cues
Emotions
/ physiology
Female
Gyrus Cinguli
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
/ methods
Male
Mathematical Concepts
Young Adult
Cognition and emotion
Difficult math
Emotion regulation
Task difficulty
fMRI
Journal
Behavioral and brain functions : BBF
ISSN: 1744-9081
Titre abrégé: Behav Brain Funct
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101245751
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
18 Mar 2019
18 Mar 2019
Historique:
received:
24
08
2018
accepted:
08
03
2019
entrez:
20
3
2019
pubmed:
20
3
2019
medline:
8
1
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Difficult cognitive tasks are often associated with negative feelings. This can be already the case for the mere anticipation of having to do a difficult task. For the case of difficult math tasks, it was recently suggested that such a negative emotional response may be exclusive to highly math-anxious individuals. However, it is also conceivable that negative emotional responses simply reflect that math is perceived as difficult. Here we investigated whether non-math-anxious individuals also experience negative emotional responses when anticipating to do difficult math tasks. We compared brain activation following the presentation of a numerical cue indicating either difficult or easy upcoming proportion magnitude comparison tasks. Comparable to previous results for highly math-anxious individuals we observed a network associated with negative emotions to be activated in non-math-anxious individuals when facing cues indicating a difficult upcoming task. Importantly, however, math anxiety scores did not predict the neural response. Furthermore, we observed activation in areas associated with processes of cognitive control areas such as anterior cingulate cortex, which were suggested to play a key role in emotion regulation. Activation in the emotion processing network was observed when anticipating an upcoming difficult (math) task. However, this activation was not predicted by individual' degree of math anxiety. Therefore, we suggest that negative emotional responses to difficult math tasks might be a rather common reaction not specific to math-anxious individuals. Whether or not this initial negative response impairs math performance, however, might depend on the ability to regulate those emotions effectively.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Difficult cognitive tasks are often associated with negative feelings. This can be already the case for the mere anticipation of having to do a difficult task. For the case of difficult math tasks, it was recently suggested that such a negative emotional response may be exclusive to highly math-anxious individuals. However, it is also conceivable that negative emotional responses simply reflect that math is perceived as difficult. Here we investigated whether non-math-anxious individuals also experience negative emotional responses when anticipating to do difficult math tasks.
METHODS
METHODS
We compared brain activation following the presentation of a numerical cue indicating either difficult or easy upcoming proportion magnitude comparison tasks.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Comparable to previous results for highly math-anxious individuals we observed a network associated with negative emotions to be activated in non-math-anxious individuals when facing cues indicating a difficult upcoming task. Importantly, however, math anxiety scores did not predict the neural response. Furthermore, we observed activation in areas associated with processes of cognitive control areas such as anterior cingulate cortex, which were suggested to play a key role in emotion regulation.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
Activation in the emotion processing network was observed when anticipating an upcoming difficult (math) task. However, this activation was not predicted by individual' degree of math anxiety. Therefore, we suggest that negative emotional responses to difficult math tasks might be a rather common reaction not specific to math-anxious individuals. Whether or not this initial negative response impairs math performance, however, might depend on the ability to regulate those emotions effectively.
Identifiants
pubmed: 30885230
doi: 10.1186/s12993-019-0155-1
pii: 10.1186/s12993-019-0155-1
pmc: PMC6421679
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
4Subventions
Organisme : Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
ID : MO 2525/2-1
Références
Trends Cogn Sci. 2000 Jun;4(6):215-222
pubmed: 10827444
J Psychosom Res. 2000 Apr-May;48(4-5):485-91
pubmed: 10880670
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2001 Jun;130(2):224-37
pubmed: 11409101
Psychophysiology. 2002 May;39(3):281-91
pubmed: 12212647
J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Nov 15;14(8):1215-29
pubmed: 12495527
Neuron. 2003 Feb 20;37(4):719-25
pubmed: 12597867
Assessment. 2003 Jun;10(2):178-82
pubmed: 12801189
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2004 Apr;14(2):198-202
pubmed: 15082325
J Cogn Neurosci. 2004 May;16(4):609-20
pubmed: 15165351
Neuroimage. 2004 Oct;23(2):483-99
pubmed: 15488398
Neuron. 2004 Oct 28;44(3):547-55
pubmed: 15504333
Neuropsychologia. 2005;43(5):744-53
pubmed: 15721187
Neuroimage. 2005 May 1;25(4):1325-35
pubmed: 15850749
J Pers Assess. 2005 Oct;85(2):188-96
pubmed: 16171419
Neuroreport. 2005 Nov 7;16(16):1769-73
pubmed: 16237324
Trends Cogn Sci. 2007 Jul;11(7):307-16
pubmed: 17553730
Physiol Behav. 1991 Nov;50(5):1039-45
pubmed: 1805266
Cereb Cortex. 2012 Sep;22(9):2102-10
pubmed: 22016480
Psychol Sci. 2012 May 1;23(5):492-501
pubmed: 22434239
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2012 Jul;103(1):54-69
pubmed: 22612667
Trends Cogn Sci. 2012 Aug;16(8):404-6
pubmed: 22784928
PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e48076
pubmed: 23118929
J Neurosci. 2013 Apr 17;33(16):6709-15
pubmed: 23595729
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 2014 Feb;40(1):71-82
pubmed: 23750968
Neuron. 2013 Jul 24;79(2):217-40
pubmed: 23889930
Brain Cogn. 2014 Jun;87:39-51
pubmed: 24681435
Front Psychol. 2015 Sep 01;6:1333
pubmed: 26388824
Psychol Res. 2017 Jan;81(1):278-288
pubmed: 26515447
J Neurosci. 2016 Jan 6;36(1):88-97
pubmed: 26740652
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016;923:209-214
pubmed: 27526145
Neuroimage. 2017 Feb 1;146:376-394
pubmed: 27769786
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Nov 15;113(46):E7277-E7286
pubmed: 27821758
Psychophysiology. 1987 Nov;24(6):648-56
pubmed: 3438428
Psychophysiology. 1984 Nov;21(6):638-46
pubmed: 6514940
Science. 1982 Oct 29;218(4571):483-5
pubmed: 7123248
Zh Vyssh Nerv Deiat Im I P Pavlova. 1994 Nov-Dec;44(6):932-43
pubmed: 7879447
Psychol Bull. 1993 Nov;114(3):510-32
pubmed: 8272468
Br J Psychol. 1993 Aug;84 ( Pt 3):375-88
pubmed: 8401989
Cortex. 1997 Jun;33(2):219-50
pubmed: 9220256
J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1997 Summer;9(3):382-402
pubmed: 9276841
J Anxiety Disord. 1998 Jul-Aug;12(4):343-55
pubmed: 9699118