Higher working memory facilitates the inhibition of emotional distraction

Abstract The current research aimed at investigating the influence of individual differences in working memory on the inhibition of emotional distraction and the neural mechanisms. Five hundred fifty participants were grouped based on their accuracy rates in the 2-back task. The top 10% were classified as the high working memory group (H_WM), and the bottom 10% as the low working memory group (L_WM). A total of 103 participants were finally included. We used their functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the emotion processing task to investigate the differences in emotional distraction between two groups and the specificity of functional connectivity. We found that the H_WM performed faster, meaning they processed the target stimuli more quickly and were better at inhibiting distractions. The results of the psychophysiological interaction analysis further revealed that H_WM have stronger task-specific functional connections between the right amygdala and the emotion regulation network (ERN). Moreover, the ERN-right Amygdala connection was positively correlated with the accuracy of the task. These results suggest that individuals with high working memory are able to inhibit emotional distractions quickly and focus on the current task. This helps to understand the influence of cognition on emotions and promotes the further development of emotional intervention.