Being able to attenuate fear by using information about the long-term reward associated with a scary prospect is a key aspect of emotional intelligence. Building up on our behavioural results (Neural mechanisms underlying the control of emotion -Part 1: Behavioural dataset - see 'Related Resources' section below), our goal here was to elucidate the neural correlates of this emotion regulation skill. Emotion regulation has often been studied in the laboratory with re-appraisal paradigm, where participants are asked to re-appraise stimuli that have been paired with aversive outcomes in a positive manner. For example, participants may be asked to use the color of a fear-conditioned stimulus to trigger an image of a relaxing scene. However, because the re-appraisal paradigm is open-ended, we know little about how re-appraisal instructions were implemented at a mechanistic level. Here we used joint appetitive-aversive classical conditioning paradigm to study this mechanism. In this paradigm, participants are able to use information about long-term monetary reward to regulate their fear response to a pain-inducing stimulus.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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