Reframing

Reframing is the process by which one deliberately discovers within a challenge an opportunity for growth.

Reframing has 2 core neurological concepts behind it:

(1) The relationship of the amygdala to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

According to the most up-to-date neuroscientific literature, the “appraisal center” of the brain is most likely located within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The vmPFC has connections, through the anterior cingulate cortex (a component of the limbic system), to the amygdala, which is well established as the brain’s automated detector of salient threats and opportunities.

The vmPFC is a multifaceted structure within the brain, and the literature assigns it 3 distinct but interrelated functions. - First is the ability to modulate the amygdala and thus serve as the nidus for extinction (safety) learning. When the vmPFC is activated, it is able to [increase the activity of the prefrontal cortex] and [turn up parasympathetic activity within the nervous system] and decrease the firing of the amygdala. This decreases the effects of the limbic system on one’s brain function, reducing the “fight or flight” impulse and allowing executive attention to retain dominion over the brain’s attention. It is able to eliminate the negative valence associated with certain stimuli through this method. - Second is the calculation of expected rewards. The vmPFC is capable of assigning emotional valence to a situation and to locate the expected rewards in each situation. It is in the vmPFC that the very substrate for decision- making resides; patients who have the vmPFC removed from the brain through injury or other lesion are able to express in words what they know should be done, but the capacity for choice itself is removed [citation needed]. - Third is the ability to create emotion. Most of the trials and reviews existing today agree that the vmPFC is at least involved in the creation of negative emotions.

(2) The ability to see the challenge faced in its broadest (therefore truest) possible context, which touches on left-right neuroscience.

[To be continued]

Claims associated with the vmPFC:

1. vmPFC is critical for the representation of rewards and value-based decision-making (Hiser 2018)

2. vmPFC is essential for value-based, moral decision making (Barrash 2000, Bechara 1994, Pujara 2015, Liu 2011, Cameron 2018)

3. vmPFC encodes a latent estimate of cumulative reward (Juechems 2017) and punishment and is thus largely implicated in economic decision-making (Koenigs 2007, Krajbich 2009), Bechara 2005).

[These seem in part to be an issue with (a) finding insufficient reward in value-based motives, i.e. insensitivity to future rewards, as well as (b) having an insufficient sense of future negative consequences. In short, a deficit in emotional processing — and weighing — of future rewards and punishments. Perhaps the issue isn’t the loss itself, but an error in expectation of the concomitant reward or guilt. It’s the weighing of the relevant expected emotions that’s primary.]

4. vmPFC encodes the reward properties of stimuli (Tremblay 1999, Lopatina 2016, Bartra 2013).

5. vmPFC encodes present pleasure as well as ancitipated future pleasure (Mobbs 2003, Sabatinelli 2007).

6. vmPFC is specifically activated in the extinction of a negative stimulus and the “reversal” learning associated with turning a negative experience into a positive one (Oschner 2005, Phelps 2019/08/04, Finger 2008, Schiller 2008). During recall of extinction too (Milad 2007/02).

7. Also implicated in present, in-the-moment positive reappraisal, turning a negative appraisal into a positive one (Nili 2010, Doré 2016).

8. vmPFC is active in the regulatory control of emotions (Etkin 2011); its activation suppresses conditioned fear expression by the amygdala (Quirk 2003, Rosenkranz 2003, Likhtik 2005).

9. vmPFC can also be “taken offline” and suppressed when someone views a situation as a threat (Thayer 2009, Arnsten 1998, ____________ )

10. There is some data to suggest that the vmPFC is involved in the generation of negative emotions, too, specifically guilt, fear, and anxiety (Hiser 2018).

11. Additionally, in certain circumstances — such as a cognitively demanding task, or even the mere anticipation of a painful shock — the vmPFC is more active the more anxiety the subject feels (Simpson et al. I and II, 2001).

12. vmPFC has substantial projections into the amygdala (Quirk 2003, Rosenkranz 2003, Likhtik 2005, Oschner 2002, Ghashghaei 2007).

More on the neuroscience of reframing incl. the ventromedial prefrontal cortex:

Hiser J, Koenigs M. The Multifaceted Role of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Emotion, Decision Making, Social Cognition, and Psychopathology. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Apr 15;83(8):638-647. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.10.030. Epub 2017 Nov 20. PMID: 29275839; PMCID: PMC5862740. [vmPFC determined to have 2 distinct functions, (a) the representation of reward and value-based decision-making, and (b) the generation and regulation of negative emotion, both with connections to amygdala]

Andrewes DG, Jenkins LM. The Role of the Amygdala and the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Emotional Regulation: Implications for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Neuropsychol Rev. 2019 Jun;29(2):220-243. doi: 10.1007/s11065-019-09398-4. Epub 2019 Mar 14. PMID: 30877420. ['This review... support[s] the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) as a moderator and inhibitor of the amygdala.'] [review]

Nili U, Goldberg H, Weizman A, Dudai Y. Fear thou not: activity of frontal and temporal circuits in moments of real-life courage. Neuron. 2010 Jun 24;66(6):949-62. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.06.009. PMID: 20620879. [subjects who chose to advance toward a feared stimulus (snake) saw subgenual ACC activity rise ~6 seconds before exposure to the snake] [also activity of the right temporal pole] [no similar activity in people who were unafraid of snakes, or in fearful subjects who approached a toy bear] [sgACC activity correlated with self-reported fear upon choice to advance] [several other areas within the right brain also] [randomized controlled trial]

Ochsner KN, Gross JJ. The cognitive control of emotion. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005 May;9(5):242-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010. PMID: 15866151. [unclear how beneficial the Ochsner articles are, as their definition of reappraisal is different from reframing]

Ochsner KN, Bunge SA, Gross JJ, Gabrieli JD. Rethinking feelings: an FMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. J Cogn Neurosci. 2002 Nov 15;14(8):1215-29. doi: 10.1162/089892902760807212. PMID: 12495527.

Jamieson JP, Mendes WB, Blackstock E, Schmader T. Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2010 Jan 1;46(1):208-212. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.015. PMID: 20161454; PMCID: PMC2790291. [we all know this one] [RCT]

For a good discussion of the neuroscience of reframing (support for dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and inverse relationship with amygalar activation): Modinos G, Ormel J, Aleman A. Individual differences in dispositional mindfulness and brain activity involved in reappraisal of emotion. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2010 Dec;5(4):369-77. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq006. Epub 2010 Feb 10. PMID: 20147457; PMCID: PMC2999757. Also here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20147457/