Frontal EEG and emotion regulation: Electrocortical activity in response to emotional film clips is associated with reduced mood induction and attention interference effects

Frontal EEG activity is thought to reflect affective dispositions, but may also reflect the emotional demands of a specific context combined with the capability to regulate emotions in that context. The present study examined this hypothesis by testing whether frontal EEG activity during mood inductions versus a resting baseline predicted emotion regulation. EEG was recorded while participants (N = 66, 40 females) received a fearful, sad, or neutral mood induction. Emotion regulation was measured following the mood inductions as self-reported change in negative mood and as attention interference in a task with mood-congruent emotional distracters. Greater frontal EEG activity during the mood inductions versus baseline was associated with more effective emotion regulation: less post-induction sadness and anxiety and reduced mood-congruent attention interference effects. Effects did not differ between the left and right hemispheres. Results support the hypothesis that frontal EEG activity reflects both emotional context and emotion-regulatory capabilities.

Research highlights▶ Greater frontal EEG during mood inductions promotes emotion regulation. ▶ Effects did not differ between the left and right hemispheres. ▶ Frontal EEG indexes both emotional context and emotion-regulatory capabilities.