In Search of a Human Self-Regulation System
Year: 2015
Type: review
Abstract: The capacity for self-regulation allows people to control their thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and desires. In spite of this impressive ability, failures of self-regulation are common and contribute to numerous societal problems, from obesity to drug addiction. Such failures frequently occur following exposure to highly tempting cues, during negative moods, or after self-regulatory resources have been depleted. Here we review the available neuroscientific evidence regarding self-regulation and its failures. At its core, self-regulation involves a critical balance between the strength of an impulse and an individual's ability to inhibit the desired behavior. Although neuroimaging and patient studies provide consistent evidence regarding the reward aspects of impulses and desires, the neural mechanisms that underlie the capacity for control have eluded consensus, with various executive control regions implicated in different studies. We outline the necessary properties for a self-regulation control system and suggest that the use of resting-state functional connectivity analyses may be useful for understanding how people regulate their behavior and why they sometimes fail in their attempts.
Source: Annual Review of Neuroscience
Institutions: Dartmouth College, The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Neural Predictors of Self-Regulation Failure and Success for Appetitive Behavior, G1236645083, G246393321, Individual Differences in Resting State Connectivity and Self-Regulation Failure, G2870299741, Functional Anatomic Studies of Self-Affect: A Multimodal Approach, Alcohol Marketing and Underage Drinking, G731801182
OpenAlex ID: W2166992033