The self-regulating brain: Cortical-subcortical feedback and the development of intelligent action

Abstract

To speak of cognitive regulation versus emotion regulation may be misleading. However, some forms of regulation are carried out by executive processes, subject to voluntary control, while others are carried out by "automatic" processes that are far more primitive. Both sets of processes are in constant interaction, and that interaction gives rise to a stream of activity that is both cognitive and emotional. Studying the brain helps us understand these reciprocal regulatory influences in some detail. Cortical activities regulate subcortical activities through executive modulation of prepotent appraisals and emotional responses. Subcortical systems regulate the cortex by tuning its activities to the demands or opportunities provided by the environment. Cortical controls buy us time, as needed for planning and intelligent action. Subcortical controls provide energy, focus, and direction, as needed for relevant emotion-guided behaviour. We review the neural processes at work in both directions of regulatory activity, looking at the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as a hub of cortical systems mediating downward control, and discussing limbic, hypothalamic, and brainstem systems that mediate upward control. A macrosystem that displays both directions of control includes the ACC and the amygdala within a feedback circuit whose features vary with clinical-personality differences. Developmental changes in ACC-mediated self-regulation support advances in directed attention, response inhibition, and self-monitoring. Developmental changes in amygdala-mediated self-regulation involve the compilation of meanings that direct thought and behaviour, thus consolidating individual differences over the lifespan. In this way, the capacity to exert voluntary control develops alongside the accumulation of associations that trigger the responses that demand control. The balance between these developmental progressions has implications for personality formation and mental health.

Electrophysiological correlates of attention networks in childhood and early adulthood

“…However, young children show larger conflictrelated amplitude effects compared to adults in later latencies, from about 600 to 800 ms post-target in anterior mid-frontal leads (Rueda, Posner et al, 2004). From about 6 to 8 years of age, the conflict-related amplitude effects are observed in more adult-like latencies, and the size of the effect appears to decrease with age (Jonkman, 2006;Lewis & Todd, 2007).…”

Affect-biased attention as emotion regulation

“…Drawing on Gross' influential process model [2], we divide emotion regulation strategies into those that modulate emotional responses either before or after an emotionally salient event ( Figure 1, x axis). However, distinct from dual-process models that draw a line between conscious and unconscious processes, or propose distinct neural pathways for each [8,32], we draw on developmental research to incorporate the notion of multiple levels of control processes [47]. Drawing on Eisenberg's notion of levels of reactive and effortful control, we suggest that these range from reflexive strategies to more cognitively 'effortful' ones ( Figure 1, y axis).…”

“…This pattern does not necessarily illustrate age-related differences in the degree of affective bias or for the capacity for suppression of biases, but simply a change in what is more motivationally important at a given stage of life. However, it is important to note that, beyond normative developmental trends, individual differences in specific biases may become more entrenched with age [47].…”

A Model of Socioemotional Flexibility at Three Time Scales

“…Taken together, these primary DS concepts of variability and multiple interacting time scales enable a more precise modeling of flexibility. Borrowing from the pioneering modeling of Lewis and colleagues (Lewis, 1997(Lewis, , 2000(Lewis, , 2005Lewis & Ferrari, 2001;Lewis & Liu, 2011;Lewis & Todd, 2007), we propose our model of flexibility at three time scales.…”