Temporal brain network analysis of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression based on dynamic functional connectivity

Functional brain networks must undergo dynamic reorganization within brief time intervals to effectively process and respond to affective stimuli. The traditional static network method only could reflect the whole brain activity on an independent time scale. Based on the emerging temporal brain network analysis framework, the current study explored the difference between cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in the reorganization of dynamic functional connectivity. Temporal brain network in the gamma band was estimated using the sliding window method and the phase lag index to quantitatively compare the differences between cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The results showed that the regulative effect of cognitive reappraisal was better than that of negative viewing and expressive suppression. In the global temporal brain networks, temporal clustering coefficients of cognitive reappraisal was increased compared with expressive suppression. The frontal and parietal lobes were essential for the process of emotion regulation, and the difference of nodal temporal betweenness centrality between the two strategies was mainly concentrated in the frontal and parietal lobes. The spatiotemporal topological network of dynamic functional connectivity for cognitive reappraisal was significantly segregated, and the frontal and parietal lobes region revealed the different performance of the two strategies at the nodal level.