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Task-rest interactions, defined as the modulation of brain activation during fixation periods depending on the preceding stimulation and experimental manipulation, have been described repeatedly for different cognitively demanding tasks in various regions across the brain. However, task-rest interactions in emotive paradigms have received considerably less attention. In this study, we therefore investigated task-rest interactions evoked by the induction and instructed regulation of negative emotion. Whole-brain, functional MRI data were acquired from 55 healthy participants. Two-level general linear model statistics were computed to test for differences between conditions, separately for stimulation and for fixation periods, as well as for interactions between stimulation and fixation (task-rest interactions). Results showed that the regulation of negative emotion led to reverse task-rest interactions (decreased activation during stimulation but increased activation during fixation) in the amygdala as well as in visual cortex regions and to concordant task-rest interactions (increased activation during both, stimulation and fixation) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as in a number of brain regions at the intersection of the default mode and the dorsal attention networks. Thus, this first whole-brain investigation of task-rest interactions following the induction and regulation of negative emotion identified a widespread specific modulation of brain activation in regions subserving emotion generation and regulation as well as regions implicated in attention and default mode.

BACKGROUND: Neuroimaging has demonstrated that voluntary emotion regulation is effective in reducing amygdala activation to aversive stimuli during regulation. However, to date little is known about the sustainability of these neural effects once active emotion regulation has been terminated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We addressed this issue by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy female subjects. We performed an active emotion regulation task using aversive visual scenes (task 1) and a subsequent passive viewing task using the same stimuli (task 2). Here we demonstrate not only a significantly reduced amygdala activation during active regulation but also a sustained regulation effect on the amygdala in the subsequent passive viewing task. This effect was related to an immediate increase of amygdala signal in task 1 once active emotion regulation has been terminated: The larger this peak postregulation signal in the amygdala in task 1, the smaller the sustained regulation effect in task 2. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In summary, we found clear evidence that effects of voluntary emotion regulation extend beyond the period of active regulation. These findings are of importance for the understanding of emotion regulation in general, for disorders of emotion regulation and for psychotherapeutic interventions.