Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The extinction of a previously conditioned response can be modulated through cognitive processes, including feature‐based information, and explicit instruction. Here, we introduce a selective extinction through cognitive evaluation (SECE) task in which information is cognitively evaluated on a trial‐by‐trial basis to ascertain the extinction contingencies. Participants were conditioned to expect an electric shock during the presentation of one of two letters (CS+/CS−). During the SECE task, the letters were presented within words belonging to two categories, one of which indicated safety (COG−_CS+ trials), while risk of shock was maintained for the other category (COG+_CS+ trials). Skin conductance responses indicated that participants reduced their response to COG−_CS+ trials compared to COG+_CS+ trials. Clusters in bilateral insula and anterior cingulate cortex showed activation for COG+_CS+ trials that was reduced for COG−_CS+ trials. A network of brain regions, including left inferior frontal gyrus, and bilateral temporal and parietal cortices showed greater activation for COG−_CS+ versus COG+_CS+ trials. This is consistent with the semantic processing and decision‐making necessary to evaluate the trial contingencies. We compared activation in the SECE task to activation in a cognitive reappraisal task in which participants were asked to attend to, or regulate their emotional reactions to affective IAPS images. This task replicated prefrontal activation seen in previous reappraisal studies. A voxelwise conjunction analysis found no overlap between the cognitive reappraisal and the SECE task, but we did find evidence for common activation in follow‐up ROI analyses, supporting the idea of common lateral prefrontal mechanisms involved in both processes.</jats:p>