Reframing

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Reframing is one of the core concepts found in OptimalWork. Reframing is the process of deliberately discovering how a perceived threat is actually an opportunity.

The major claims of OptimalWork pertaining to reframing, and their basis in the neuroscientific literature, can be found below.

The Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

First, it is our claim that a definite structure within the brain increases activity whenever reframing is performed, and that this structure is the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). We often call this the "appraisal center" of the brain. The vmPFC is a structure deep within the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain that controls executive function.

Known roles of the vmPFC

Per the scientific literature, the vmPFC is a multifaceted structure with three distinct but interrelated functions:

  1. First is the encoding of expected reward and punishment. When considering a potential action, the vmPFC's role is to provide an emotional "simulation" of the consequences of that action. Someone considering a choice may feel, in a very literal way, the joy or the embarrassment that would come from a choice. It appears that this capacity to weigh emotional consequences for oneself is necessary for the execution of a choice: patients with vmPFC damage can speak with full knowledge about consequences and are able to make good theoretical choices, but find themselves without the actual capacity for choice [Damasio 2000].
    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).
    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).
  2. A second established role of the vmPFC is the generation and regulation of negative emotion, primarily through its interactions with the amygdala. The vmPFC has an established role as the nidus for extinction (safety) learning.
    1. 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).
    2. Also implicated in present, in-the-moment positive reappraisal, turning a negative appraisal into a positive one (Nili 2010, Doré 2016).
    3. 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).
  3. Third, the vmPFC is involved in "multiple aspects of social cognition, such as facial emotion recognition, theory of mind ability, and processing self- relevant information" (Hiser 2018). All three of the functions of the vmPFC are mediated in part by the structure's connections with the amygdala.
    1. 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).
    2. 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).

Evidence for the vmPFC's role in reframing

  • Fear Thou Not (see below)


Reframing and the Autonomic Nervous System

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

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


Reframing and Left-Right Neuroscience

Reframing is the ability to see a challenge in its broadest (therefore truest) possible context, which touches on left-right neuroscience.

[To be continued]



Sources:

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/

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