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Does naming a feeling change it? What affect labeling research shows

Ask a Neuroscientist · posted October 26, 2026

The studies, records and images behind this post, each linked to the original. Where a slide shows a number card, the number is quoted from the study named on the card.

Education, not medical advice.

Research cited

  1. Lieberman MD, Inagaki TK, Tabibnia G, Crockett MJ (2011), Subjective responses to emotional stimuli during labeling, reappraisal, and distraction, Emotion 11(3):468-480, doi 10.1037/a0023503 (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC3444304, APA open access, facts only; PubMed 21534661) doi.org
  2. Burklund LJ, Creswell JD, Irwin MR, Lieberman MD (2014), The common and distinct neural bases of affect labeling and reappraisal in healthy adults, Frontiers in Psychology 5:221, doi 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00221 (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC3970015, CC BY; PubMed 24715880) doi.org
  3. Nook EC, Satpute AB, Ochsner KN (2021), Emotion naming impedes both cognitive reappraisal and mindful acceptance strategies of emotion regulation, Affective Science 2(2):187-198, doi 10.1007/s42761-021-00036-y (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC9383041, CC BY; PubMed 36043172) doi.org
  4. Levy-Gigi E, Shamay-Tsoory S (2022), Affect labeling: the role of timing and intensity, PLOS ONE 17(12):e0279303, doi 10.1371/journal.pone.0279303 (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC9799301, CC BY; PubMed 36580454) doi.org
  5. Liang J, Lin H (2023), Current and lasting effects of affect labeling on late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes elicited by negative pictures, Brain and Behavior 13(7):e3065, doi 10.1002/brb3.3065 (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC10338810, CC BY; PubMed 37183558) doi.org
  6. Davydova T, Marin Marin L, Cherednichenko A, et al. (2026), Affect labeling down-regulates amygdala only in a dominant native language, PNAS 123(36):e2603126123, doi 10.1073/pnas.2603126123 (full text read Oct 15, 2026, Europe PMC PMC13552847, CC BY-NC-ND, facts only; PubMed 42673452) doi.org

Images, slide by slide

Slide 1
Unknown maker, An écorché face showing the movements of facial muscles during laughterWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Slide 2
Unknown maker, Ten faces expressing the human passionsWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Slide 3
Unknown maker, Two faces expressing dejectionWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Slide 4
Unknown maker, A face expressing raptureWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Slide 5
Unknown maker, A woman's face expressing sadnessWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Slide 6
Illustration made for this post: what a name can do: name the feeling, distress drops now and pleasure drops too, then the feeling sets and is harder to reframe or accept later, from Lieberman et al. (2011) and Nook et al. (2021)Nook et al. (2021), Affective Science 2(2)Museum or journal record
Slide 7
Illustration made for this post: when naming helped and when it didn't: it helped with intense images, in the moment and in a dominant native language; it backfired or failed with mild images, before reframing and in balanced bilinguals, from Levy-Gigi & Shamay-Tsoory (2022), Nook et al. (2021) and Davydova et al. (2026)Levy-Gigi & Shamay-Tsoory (2022), PLOS ONE 17(12):e0279303Museum or journal record
Slide 8
Chart drawn to scale for this post: the 151 bilinguals scanned, 34 Spanish-English (Spanish-dominant) and 117 Spanish-Catalan (mixed dominance), one dot per person, from Davydova et al. (2026)Davydova et al. (2026), PNAS 123(36):e2603126123Museum or journal record
Slide 9
Unknown maker, Frontispiece to Le Brun's 'Passions' (left) and a face expressing tranquillity (right)Wellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Story 1
Unknown maker, A female face expressing admirationWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record
Story 2
Levy-Gigi and Shamay-Tsoory (2022), Fig 2: rated distress at baseline and with affect labeling for low- and high-intensity images (Experiment 2, 79 adults)Levy-Gigi and Shamay-Tsoory (2022), PLOS ONE, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0279303, CC BYMuseum or journal record
Story 3
Unknown maker, A face expressing 'simple bodily pain' (left) and a face (right) expressing sadnessWellcome Collection (public domain)Museum or journal record

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