title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, 6207 Moore Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. heatherton@dartmouth.edu
authors.forename: Todd F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Heatherton
authors.forename: Dylan D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009488:Neurosciences; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D011287:Prejudice; D012919:Social Behavior; D012927:Social Control, Informal