Wypych Marek, Potenza Marc N
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
Front Psychiatry. 2021 Jan 26;11:609874. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.609874. eCollection 2020.
Self-regulation (SR) is an important human function that relates to quality of life in multiple domains including mental health. Previous studies have found important correlates of low SR including impulsivity and poor emotional regulation; however, underpinnings of low SR are incompletely understood. Individuals low in SR frequently engage in maladaptive behaviors (substance abuse, procrastination, etc.) despite negative consequences. This phenomenon suggests that impaired learning from errors and punishments may be important mechanisms underlying low SR. Consistently, previous studies observed impaired error processing in a wide spectrum of individuals with low SR and impaired learning from errors and punishments in SR-related disorders. We also note a possible role for poor emotional regulation and refer to concepts suggesting that engaging in maladaptive behaviors may serve as short term emotion regulation strategies aimed at avoiding or alleviating negative affect. We speculate on transdiagnostic factors underlying poor SR. We propose that impaired error processing (possibly related to striatal functioning) may prevent subjects with low SR from learning from errors and punishments and thus learning better SR skills or tendencies. Additionally, impaired coping in emotionally challenging situations, possibly related to prefrontal-cortical functioning, may lead to maladaptive avoidance. Moreover, maladaptive behaviors may be reinforced by the temporary decreases in negative affect and rewarding values of behaviors. Given existing knowledge gaps, we call for more extensive research and describe possible directions and challenges for future studies.
自我调节（SR）是一项重要的人类功能，与包括心理健康在内的多个领域的生活质量相关。先前的研究发现低自我调节的重要相关因素包括冲动性和情绪调节能力差；然而，低自我调节的潜在机制尚未完全了解。自我调节能力低的个体尽管会产生负面后果，但仍经常从事适应不良行为（药物滥用、拖延等）。这种现象表明，从错误和惩罚中学习受损可能是低自我调节的重要潜在机制。一致的是，先前的研究在广泛的低自我调节个体中观察到错误处理受损，以及在与自我调节相关的障碍中从错误和惩罚中学习受损。我们还注意到情绪调节能力差可能起的作用，并提及一些概念，这些概念表明从事适应不良行为可能是旨在避免或减轻负面影响的短期情绪调节策略。我们推测低自我调节背后的跨诊断因素。我们提出，错误处理受损（可能与纹状体功能有关）可能会阻止低自我调节的个体从错误和惩罚中学习，从而无法学习更好的自我调节技能或倾向。此外，在情绪具有挑战性的情况下应对受损，可能与前额叶皮质功能有关，可能会导致适应不良的回避行为。此外，适应不良行为可能会因负面影响的暂时减少和行为的奖励价值而得到强化。鉴于现有的知识空白，我们呼吁进行更广泛的研究，并描述未来研究可能的方向和挑战。
