What a difference timing makes: Cortisol effects on neural underpinnings of emotion regulation

Dong-Ni Pan; Valerie L Jentsch; Katja Langer; Bianca Hagedorn; Oliver Höffken; Oliver T Wolf; Christian J Merz

doi:10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100544

What a difference timing makes: Cortisol effects on neural underpinnings of emotion regulation

Neurobiol Stress. 2023 May 22:25:100544. doi: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100544. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Dong-Ni Pan^{1

2

3}, Valerie L Jentsch², Katja Langer², Bianca Hagedorn², Oliver Höffken⁴, Oliver T Wolf², Christian J Merz²

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
⁴ Department of Neurology, BG-University Clinic Bergmannsheil, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.

Abstract

The ability of emotion regulation under stress is of crucial importance to psychosocial health. Yet, the dynamic function of stress hormones for the cognitive control of emotions over time via non-genomic and genomic cortisol effects remains to be elucidated. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuroimaging experiment, 105 participants (54 men, 51 women) received 20 mg hydrocortisone (cortisol) or a placebo either 30min (rapid, non-genomic cortisol effects) or 90min (slow, genomic cortisol effects) prior to a cognitive reappraisal task including different regulatory goals (i.e., downregulate vs. upregulate negative emotions). On the behavioral level, cortisol rapidly reduced and slowly enhanced emotional responsivity to negative pictures. However, only slow cortisol effects improved downregulation of negative emotions. On the neural level, cortisol rapidly enhanced, but slowly reduced amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal activation as well as functional connectivity between both structures in the down- minus upregulate contrast. This interaction speaks for an effortful but ineffective regulation of negative emotions during rapid cortisol effects and improved emotion regulation capacities during slow cortisol effects. Taken together, these results indicate a functional shift of cortisol effects on emotion regulation processes over time which may foster successful adaptation to and recovery from stressful life events.

Keywords: Cognitive reappraisal; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Genomic cortisol effects; Glucocorticoids; Stress hormones.