Self-control is commonly assumed to depend on executive functions (EFs). However, it is unclear whether real-life self-control failures result from deficient EF competencies or rather reflect insufficient conflict-induced mobilization of executive control, and whether self-control depends more critically on function-specific EF competencies or general executive functioning (GEF), that is, common competencies that underlie all EFs. Here we investigated whether failure-related action versus state orientation, a personality trait related to the conflict-induced mobilization of cognitive control, moderates the effect of general and function-specific control competencies on self-control. To this end, 240 young adults completed questionnaire measures of action-state orientation and trait self-control, reported everyday self-control failures during 7 consecutive days via smartphone-based experience sampling, and completed 9 EF tasks from which latent variables reflecting GEF as well as inhibition-, updating-, and shifting-specific competencies were derived. Structural equation models confirmed that the effect of GEF on self-control was moderated by action-state orientation: action-oriented compared with more state-oriented participants showed a stronger inverse association between GEF and everyday self-control failures. Corresponding effects of function-specific competencies on self-control were not found. These results highlight that high executive functioning may enable self-controlled behavior only if control is sufficiently mobilized when needed and suggest that self-control may depend more critically on general than function-specific control competencies. More generally, the present study demonstrates the fruitfulness of combining latent-variable models of well-controlled EF tasks with experience sampling of daily self-control and measures of individual differences in control modes to bridge the gap between laboratory research and real-life behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Despite their immense relevance, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying real-life self-control failures (SCFs) are insufficiently understood. Whereas previous studies have shown that SCFs were associated with decreased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG; a region involved in cognitive control), here we consider the possibility that the reduced implementation of cognitive control in individuals with low self-control may be due to impaired performance monitoring. Following a brain-as-predictor approach, we combined experience sampling of daily SCFs with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a Stroop task. In our sample of 118 participants, proneness to SCF was reliably predicted by low error-related activation of a performance-monitoring network (comprising anterior mid-cingulate cortex, presupplementary motor area, and anterior insula), low posterror rIFG activation, and reduced posterror slowing. Remarkably, these neural and behavioral measures predicted variability in SCFs beyond what was predicted by self-reported trait self-control. These results suggest that real-life SCFs may result from deficient performance monitoring, leading to reduced recruitment of cognitive control after responses that conflict with superordinate goals.

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Deficient self-control leads to shortsighted decisions and incurs severe personal and societal costs. Although neuroimaging has advanced our understanding of neural mechanisms underlying self-control, the ecological validity of laboratory tasks used to assess self-control remains largely unknown. To increase ecological validity and to test a specific hypothesis about the mechanisms underlying real-life self-control, we combined functional MRI during value-based decision-making with smartphone-based assessment of real-life self-control in a large community sample ( N = 194). Results showed that an increased propensity to make shortsighted decisions and commit self-control failures, both in the laboratory task as well as during real-life conflicts, was associated with a reduced modulation of neural value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in response to anticipated long-term consequences. These results constitute the first evidence that neural mechanisms mediating anticipations of future consequences not only account for self-control in laboratory tasks but also predict real-life self-control, thereby bridging the gap between laboratory research and real-life behavior.