Change in emotional self-concept following socio-cognitive training relates to structural plasticity of the prefrontal cortex.
Brain and Behavior April 1, 2018 Anna-Lena Lumma, Sofie L. Valk, Anne Böckler et al.
Training that improves perspective-taking can change how people describe themselves emotionally, and those changes are linked to structural brain changes. In a large longitudinal study, participants who increased their use of emotional words in self-descriptions after socio-cognitive training showed thickening in the right medial prefrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, regions involved in self-referential thinking and cognitive control. Increased use of negative emotional words was associated with thickening in the left pars orbitalis and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that restructuring the emotional self-concept, including reappraisal of negative aspects, relates to cortical plasticity, which could inform psychological interventions targeting the self-concept.