Emotion regulation is the ability to use information about long-term goals to change how we feel. We investigated how participants respond to fear-inducing stimuli that subsequently predict long-term monetary reward. Here we took ratings, measured latency and accuracy, and skin-conductance responses, to lay down the foundations for the fMRI work in "Neural mechanisms underlying the control of emotion- Part 2: fMRI data" (see 'Related Resources'). Many social and psychological interventions are based on giving people information to facilitate a change in the way they feel. However, the success of interventions that provide information is often varied. The aim of this research is to improve understanding of the process by which information changes emotional responses. Three studies employ repeated sequences of learning, intervention, and test stages, to examine the influence of verbal information on an emotional response. Study 1 will establish optimal parameters for the following two studies. Studies 2 and 3 will use functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine neural correlates in the brain between working memory, which maintains the information that is given as part of an intervention, and emotional response systems. Our objectives are to test three hypotheses: (1) information can generate emotions, and emotions so generated will resemble ‘natural’ emotions that are acquired through experience; (2) information can enhance and attenuate emotions; (3) emotional responses result from predictions that the brain makes about the impact of an event on a person’s goals. An improved understanding of the processes involved in successful interventions and behaviour change will be critical to a number of social objectives, particularly those related to health and well being.

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