Cognitive neuroscience of self-regulation failure

Abstract

Self-regulatory failure is a core feature of many social and mental health problems. Self-regulation can be undermined by failures to transcend overwhelming temptations, negative moods and resource depletion, and when minor lapses in self-control snowball into self-regulatory collapse. Cognitive neuroscience research suggests that successful self-regulation is dependent on top-down control from the prefrontal cortex over subcortical regions involved in reward and emotion. We highlight recent neuroimaging research on self-regulatory failure, the findings of which support a balance model of self-regulation whereby self-regulatory failure occurs whenever the balance is tipped in favor of subcortical areas, either due to particularly strong impulses or when prefrontal function itself is impaired. Such a model is consistent with recent findings in the cognitive neuroscience of addictive behavior, emotion regulation and decision-making.

Figure 1

(A) When restrained eaters’ diets are broken by consuming a high-calorie milkshake preload, they subsequently show disinhibited eating (e.g. increased grams consumed of ice-cream) compared to control subjects and restrained eaters who did not drink the milkshake (figure based on data from [30]). (B) Restrained eaters whose diets are broken by a milkshake preload show increased activity in the Nucleus Accumbens compared to restrained eaters who did not consume the preload as well as satiated non-dieters [64]. Nacc = Nucleus Accumbens.

Figure 2

Schematic of a balance model of self-regulation and its failure highlighting the four threats to self-regulation identified in the text and their putative impact on brain areas involved in self-regulation. This model suggests that self-regulatory failure occurs whenever the balance is tipped in favor of subcortical regions involved in reward and emotion, either due to the strength of an impulse or due to a failure to appropriately engage top-down control mechanisms.