The neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal stress resilience

Resilience refers to the fact that some individuals cope well with stressful experiences. Many factors contribute to this sort of resilience, such as the early environment, the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTPLR), the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis, the sympathetic-adrenal medullary (SAM) axis, and emotion regulation techniques. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which factors contribute to resilience, with a particular focus on the emotion regulation technique of cognitive reappraisal. The results show that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala each play a crucial role when it comes to stress regulation. Studies have found that the PFC inhibits the amygdala response, but that the PFC is vulnerable to exposure to chronic stress. As a result, the PFC might fail to inhibit the amygdala response. Individuals who use cognitive reappraisal techniques – which has been associated particularly with frontal and parietal brain activity – seem to be less prone to this sort of problem, and, as a result, more resilient to stress