Relative frontal brain asymmetry and cortisol release after social stress: The role of action orientation

Stress Responses Among Individuals with Spiritual Struggles in Hungary: An Experimental Study

Individuals with a Religious or Spiritual Problem (RSP), as defined in the DSM-5, experience distress associated with faith-related moral dilemmas, existential meaning, and transpersonal attitudes toward other people. It is unclear whether a RSP reflects a generally heightened stress reactivity or whether the stress response is confined to religious and spiritual contexts. To elucidate this issue, we measured behavioral and physiological responses during social-evaluative stress (public speaking-Trier Social Stress Test) and in religious/spiritual contexts (Bible reading and listening to sacred music) in 35 individuals with RSP and 35 matched participants. We found no stress reduction in the religious/spiritual context in RSP, as indicated by increased heart rate, saliva cortisol, and relatively higher left than right frontal activity. Religious stimuli evoked physiological stress responses in RSP. Contrary to the physiological parameters, participants with RSP reported less anxiety in the religious/spiritual context. Religious individuals with and without RSP showed similar stress responses during public speaking. Religious individuals without RSP displayed reduced stress responses in the religious/spiritual context. These results indicate that specific physiological distress in religious/spiritual contexts should be considered in the psychological care of RSP.

Personal Growth and Motto Goals: Strengthening Emotion Regulation Ability via Affirmatory Metaphors Coaching

Interventions can foster personal growth. However, our understanding of the specific mechanisms for change and the types of interventions driving this growth process remains limited. In this study, we focused on emotion regulation ability as a potential mechanism. We examined the effects of an affirmation coaching intervention on changes in emotion regulation ability, an important facet of personality. In this coaching intervention, participants created a personal mantra/goal derived from a selected image and positive associations linked to this image (motto goals). This is considered to enhance emotion regulation abilities by internalizing self-stabilizing value. We assigned sixty-six participants to either this affirmation coaching intervention or one of two control coaching interventions: specific-goal versus indulgence coaching. Before and after each intervention, participants completed questionnaires. Only the affirmation coaching intervention significantly increased in adaptive aspects of personality. Notably, the affirmation coaching intervention increased emotion regulation ability, and this effect persisted even when controlling for extraversion and neuroticism. Furthermore, exploratory analysis showed that extraversion increased following the affirmation coaching, while neuroticism remained unchanged. Our results suggest that emotion regulation ability might be the key factor in personality growth. It could be more malleable and/or respond more strongly to short-term coaching, compared to neuroticism. Thus, the malleability of personality traits may not be an all-or-nothing phenomenon; rather, it could depend on the facet of emotion regulation ability. We discuss potential mechanisms of personality growth, distinguishing between emotion regulation and emotion sensitivity.

Individual differences in action‐state orientation moderate task difficulty effects on effort‐related cardiac response

A quasi experiment (N = 100 university students) tested whether individual differences in action-state orientation moderate task difficulty effects on resource mobilization assessed as cardiovascular response. According to action control theory, action-oriented individuals have higher self-regulation capacities in demanding situations than state-oriented persons. Action-orientated individuals should also self-generate positive affect in face of obstacles. Therefore, drawing on Wright's (1998) ability extension of motivational intensity theory and research on affective influences on effort-related cardiovascular response, we expected that action-orientation should lead to stronger effort-related cardiovascular responses in a difficult task, while state-orientation should do so in an easy task. Reactivity of cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) during performance on a short-term memory task corroborated this hypothesis. The present findings provide the first evidence of a link between action-state orientation and effort-related responses in the cardiovascular system.

Influence of Food Safety Concerns and Satisfaction with Government Regulation on Organic Food Consumption of Chinese Urban Residents

In order to study the impact of food safety concerns and government regulation on Chinese urban residents’ organic food consumption willingness and behavior, an “online + offline” survey of 799 urban residents in Beijing has been conducted. Based on the theory of planned behavior, a structural equation model (SEM) was established and the government’s food production support regulation (GP) and sales guarantee regulation (GC) were incorporated separately into the SEM as moderator variables. The path influence coefficients of respondents’ food safety concerns, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control on organic food consumption willingness were 0.065 (p < 0.05), 0.174 (p < 0.01) and 0.574 (p < 0.01), respectively. The influence of GP on organic food consumption willingness was 0.243 (p < 0.01), but its moderating effect on the promotion effect of food safety concerns and attitude to organic food consumption willingness was −0.001 (p < 0.01). The moderating effect of GC on the transformation from consumption willingness to behavior was 0.083 (p < 0.05). The results show that respondents attach the most importance to the comparison of costs and the benefits of organic food. Although the government’s food production regulation will weaken the driving effect of food safety concern and benefit perception of organic food consumption willingness, it will still promote organic food consumption willingness on the whole. The government’s supervision of food processing and sales is conducive to the occurrence of organic food consumption behavior.

Individual differences in frontal alpha asymmetry moderate the relationship between acute stress responsivity and state and trait anxiety in adolescents

Stress is a risk factor in the development and maintenance of psychopathology, particularly anxiety. Despite theory suggesting differences in stress responsivity may explain heterogeneity in anxiety, findings remain contradictory. This may be due to failure to account for individuals' neurobiological states and outdated methodologic analyses which confound conceptually and biologically distinct stress response pathways. In 145 adolescents, this study examined whether individual differences in neural activation underlying motivational states, indexed by resting frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) before and after the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), moderate the relationship between stress responsivity (measured by cortisol) and anxiety. Adolescents with rightward FAA activation (indexed by changes in resting FAA pre-to-post TSST) and high trait anxiety showed blunted cortisol reactivities while those with leftward FAA activation and high state anxiety showed prolonged cortisol recoveries. Our work reveals individual differences in vulnerability to psychosocial stressors and is the first study to show that FAA activation moderates the relationships between anxiety and distinct phases of the stress response in adolescents.

Psychological Stress = Physiological Stress?

Abstract. The present study analyzed experimentally the association between the experience of psychological stress and the physiological stress response of prospective teachers. The experienced stress was assessed by self-reported data. Cortisol concentrations via saliva samples reflected the physiological response. The results show no difference between the stress and the control group in the experience of psychological stress. However, the stress group had significantly increased cortisol concentrations compared to the control group. The study could not show any correlation between the two stress parameters. The results suggest that a stress response should be validated based not only on the experience of psychological stress but also on the physiological stress response. This is particularly crucial in light of the fact that the majority of studies concerning stress in teachers are limited to experiences of psychological stress so far. Due to this, the results may provide a first important contribution to a more comprehensive stress assessment for teachers.

Acute stress increases left hemispheric activity measured via changes in frontal alpha asymmetries

Frontal EEG alpha band asymmetries have been linked to affective processing in healthy individuals and affective disorders. As stress provides a strong source of negative affect, the present study investigated how acute stress affects frontal EEG alpha asymmetries. Continuous EEG data were acquired from 51 healthy adult participants during stress induction with the Trier Social Stress Test. EEG data were also collected during a non-stressful control condition. Furthermore, EEG resting state data were acquired after both conditions. Under stress, participants showed stronger left hemispheric activation over frontal electrodes as well as reduced left-hemispheric activation over occipital electrodes compared to the control condition. Our results are in line with predictions of the asymmetric inhibition model which postulates that the left prefrontal cortex inhibits negative distractors. Moreover, the results support the capability model of emotional regulation which states that frontal asymmetries during emotional challenge are more pronounced compared to asymmetries during rest.

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EEG recording during social stress induction

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Stronger left hemispheric frontal activation during emotional challenge

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No stress-related changes in resting state EEG after stress induction

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Support for asymmetric inhibition and the capability model of emotional regulation

Stress research during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic confronts stress researchers in psychology and neuroscience with unique challenges. Widely used experimental paradigms such as the Trier Social Stress Test feature physical social encounters to induce stress by means of social-evaluative threat. As lockdowns and contact restrictions currently prevent in-person meetings, established stress induction paradigms are often difficult to use. Despite these challenges, stress research is of pivotal importance as the pandemic will likely increase the prevalence of stress-related mental disorders. Therefore, we review recent research trends like virtual reality, pre-recordings and online adaptations regarding their usefulness for established stress induction paradigms. Such approaches are not only crucial for stress research during COVID-19 but will likely stimulate the field far beyond the pandemic. They may facilitate research in new contexts and in homebound or movement-restricted participant groups. Moreover, they allow for new experimental variations that may advance procedures as well as the conceptualization of stress itself. While posing challenges for stress researchers undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic may evolve into a driving force for progress eventually.

The Paradox of Fiction Revisited-Improvised Fictional and Real-Life Social Rejections Evoke Associated and Relatively Similar Psychophysiological Responses

Theatre-based practices, such as improvisation, are frequently applied to simulate everyday social interactions. Although the improvisational context is acknowledged as fictional, realistic emotions may emerge, a phenomenon labelled the 'paradox of fiction'. This study investigated how manipulating the context (real-life versus fictional) modulates psychophysiological reactivity to social rejection during dyadic interactions. We measured psychophysiological responses elicited during real-life (interview) and fictional (improvisation exercises) social rejections. We analysed the heart rate (HR), skin conductance, facial muscle activity, and electrocortical activity (electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetry) of student teachers (N = 39) during various social rejections (devaluing, interrupting, nonverbal rejection). All social rejections evoked negative EEG alpha asymmetry, a measure reflecting behavioural withdrawal motivation. Psychophysiological responses during real-life and fictional rejections correlated, and rejection type modified the responses. When comparing responses across all rejection types, facial muscle activity and EEG alpha asymmetry did not differ between real-life and fictional rejections, whereas HR decelerated and skin conductance increased during fictional rejections. These findings demonstrate that regardless of cognitive awareness of fictionality, relatively subtle social rejections elicited psychophysiological reactivity indicating emotional arousal and negative valence. These findings provide novel, biological evidence for the application of theatre-based improvisation to studying experientially everyday social encounters.

Emotion regulation ability compensates for the depression-related negativity bias

Emotion regulation ability (ERA) enables individuals to disengage from negative stimuli. In this study, we investigated the role of ERA in the depression-related negativity bias. Seventy-four individuals with major depressive disorder and eighty-three nonclinical individuals were screened for depressiveness using the Beck Depression Inventory. ERA was assessed using the Action Orientation After Failure Subscale of the Action Control Scale. We used a classical Stroop task variant, wherein the color words were preceded by either a self-relevant positive (success-related), negative (failure-related), or neutral word prime. The expected depressiveness × emotional prime interaction did not reach significance but the expected ERA × emotional prime interaction did. The latter effect was qualified by a three-way interaction between ERA, depressiveness, and emotional prime. Specifically, ERA predicted the negativity bias in individuals with high depressiveness scores. Using the Johnson-Neyman technique, we found that this effect was significant at the level of mild to moderate depression and beyond. Thus, poor ERA in individuals with depression may cause the depression-related negativity bias, whereas (at least) moderate ERA may protect individuals with depression from this bias. Future studies should assess ERA in individuals with depressive symptomatology and investigate how it influences their everyday functioning and treatment outcomes.

Misattribution of duties as free choices: The role of emotional awareness in self-infiltration

Individuals sometimes mistake others' expectations or imposed duties for self-chosen goals, even though they are not congruent with their emotional preferences or integrated values-a phenomenon coined as self-infiltration. Previous studies demonstrated that self-infiltration is more likely to occur in individuals with reduced self-regulation abilities. Here, we investigated in a sample of 250 students whether this association may be mediated by trait emotional awareness, the ability to recognize and understand one's emotions. This mediation hypothesis could be confirmed. We discuss our findings with respect to their potential relevance for research on motivated goal pursuit and health and practical applications.

Quantitative Assessment of Stress Through EEG During a Virtual Reality Stress-Relax Session

Recent studies have addressed stress level classification via electroencephalography (EEG) and machine learning. These works typically use EEG-based features, like power spectral density (PSD), to develop stress classifiers. Nonetheless, these classifiers are usually limited to the discrimination of two (stress and no stress) or three (low, medium, and high) stress levels. In this study we propose an alternative for quantitative stress assessment based on EEG and regression algorithms. To this aim, we conducted a group of 23 participants (mean age 22.65 ± 5.48) over a stress-relax experience while monitoring their EEG. First, we stressed the participants via the Montreal imaging stress task (MIST), and then we led them through a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) relaxation experience. Throughout the session, the participants reported their self-perceived stress level (SPSL) via surveys. Subsequently, we extracted spectral features from the EEG of the participants and we developed individual models based on regression algorithms to predict their SPSL. We evaluated stress regression performance in terms of the mean squared percentage error (MSPE) and the correlation coefficient (R²). The results yielded from this evaluation (MSPE = 10.62 ± 2.12, R² = 0.92 ± 0.02) suggest that our approach predicted the stress level of the participants with remarkable performance. These results may have a positive impact in diverse areas that could benefit from stress level quantitative prediction. These areas include research fields like neuromarketing, and training of professionals such as surgeons, industrial workers, or firefighters, that often face stressful situations.

Alpha frontal asymmetry underlies individual differences in reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in males

People vary in their responses to stress. The present study aimed to investigate whether and how alpha frontal asymmetry (AFA) measured in the resting state underlies the individual differences in psychological responses to acute psychosocial stress (e.g., increases in heart rate and cortisol) induced by the Trier social stress test. Forty-three healthy male adults were enrolled in this study. The results showed that the AFA score negatively predicted both heart rate and cortisol responses, that is relatively higher right-frontal activity during the resting state was related to a stronger physiological stress response. These results indicated that higher withdrawal motivation or effortful control is associated with a higher physiological stress response, which suggested that AFA in the resting state can serve as a biological predictor of acute stress responses in men.

Differentiating reactivity and regulation: Evidence for a role of prefrontal asymmetry in affect regulation

Prefrontal asymmetry (PFA) has originally been referred to as "affective style" and is said to be associated with an individual's personality. Therefore, previous research has focused on finding a link between PFA and trait variables associated with affective processing, such as the behavioral activation and inhibition systems (BAS/BIS). However, recent evidence suggests that PFA might be involved in regulatory processes rather than initial affective reactions. Here, we investigated if failure-related action orientation (AOF), as a personality variable reflecting the ability to disengage from negative experiences, is related to PFA. Forty-seven participants completed two trait questionnaires to assess BAS/BIS and AOF, followed by 8 min of resting EEG measurement. Results showed that higher AOF scores predicted a higher relative left-hemispheric PFA when BAS/BIS was controlled for. The findings suggest that a suppression effect might account for the inconsistencies in the literature regarding the association between PFA and BAS/BIS.

Virtual Reality Customized 360-Degree Experiences for Stress Relief

The latest studies in virtual reality (VR) have evidenced the potential of this technology to reproduce environments from multiple domains in an immersive way. For instance, in stress relief research, VR has been presented as a portable and inexpensive alternative to chromotherapy rooms, which require an adapted space and are expensive. In this work, we propose a portable and versatile alternative to the traditional chromotherapy color-loop treatment through four different 360-degree virtual experiences. A group of 23 healthy participants (mean age 22.65 ± 5.48) were conducted through a single-session experience divided into four phases while their electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. First, they were stressed via the Montreal imaging stress task (MIST), and then relaxed using our VR proposal. We applied the Wilcoxon test to evaluate the relaxation effect in terms of the EEG relative gamma and self-perceived stress surveys. The results that we obtained validate the effectiveness of our 360-degree proposal to significantly reduce stress (p-value = 0.0001). Furthermore, the participants deemed our proposal comfortable and immersive (score above 3.5 out of 5). These results suggest that 360-degree VR experiences can mitigate stress, reduce costs, and bring stress relief assistance closer to the general public, like in workplaces or homes.

Between-person variation in naturally occurring affect does not relate to working memory performance: a latent variable modelling study

Some studies have shown that induced positive and negative affective states have differential effects on verbal and spatial working memory (WM) performance, such that positive affect improves verbal WM and impairs spatial WM, while negative affect improves spatial WM and impairs verbal WM. However, other evidence based on mood induction procedures or clinical levels of negative affect has supported a nonspecific influence of affect on WM performance where negative affect impairs, and positive affect improves, both verbal and spatial WM. The present study employed a latent variable approach to investigate whether differences in naturally occurring affect between individuals are related to verbal and spatial WM performance across six WM tasks in an unselected sample of undergraduate students (N = 112, M age = 20; 84% female). Results were consistent with previous evidence demonstrating a hierarchical model of WM. Naturally occurring positive and negative affect were not significantly related to WM performance on each task, and this lack of significant association held for the overall WM latent variable, verbal and spatial WM latent variables, as well as complex span and 2-back latent variables. In contrast to research demonstrating a relationship between induced affect or clinical levels of negative affect and WM, the non-significant relationship between naturally occurring affect and WM performance in the current nonclinical unselected sample suggests that typical levels of affect are not related to WM differences across individuals.

Effects of Improvisation Training on Student Teachers’ Behavioral, Neuroendocrine, and Psychophysiological Responses during the Trier Social Stress Test

Objectives

Teaching involves multiple performance situations, potentially causing psychosocial stress. Since the theater-based improvisation method is associated with diminished social stress, we investigated whether improvisation lessened student teachers’ stress responses using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST; preparatory phase, public speech, and math task). Moreover, we studied the influence of interpersonal confidence (IC) – the belief regarding one’s capability related to effective social interactions – on stress responses.

Methods

The intervention group (n = 19) received a 7-week (17.5 h) improvisation training, preceded and followed by the TSST. We evaluated experienced stress using a self-report scale, while physiological stress was assessed before (silent 30-s waiting period) and during the TSST tasks using cardiovascular measures (heart rate, heart rate variability [HRV]), electrodermal activation, facial electromyography (f-EMG), and EEG asymmetry. Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-axis) reactivity was assessed through repeated salivary cortisol sampling.

Results

Compared to the control group (n = 16), the intervention group exhibited less f-EMG activity before a public speech and higher HRV before the math task. The low IC intervention subgroup reported significantly less stress during the math task. The controls showed a decreased heart rate before the math task, and controls with a low IC exhibited higher HRV during the speech. Self-reported stress and cortisol levels were positively correlated during the post-TSST preparatory phase.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that improvisation training might diminish stress levels, specifically before a performance. In addition, interpersonal confidence appears to reduce stress responses. The decreased stress responses in the control group suggest adaptation through repetition.

Towards a Pragmatic Approach to a Psychophysiological Unit of Analysis for Mental and Brain Disorders: An EEG-Copeia for Neurofeedback

This article proposes what we call an "EEG-Copeia" for neurofeedback, like the "Pharmacopeia" for psychopharmacology. This paper proposes to define an "EEG-Copeia" as an organized list of scientifically validated EEG markers, characterized by a specific association with an identified cognitive process, that define a psychophysiological unit of analysis useful for mental or brain disorder evaluation and treatment. A characteristic of EEG neurofeedback for mental and brain disorders is that it targets a EEG markers related to a supposed cognitive process, whereas conventional treatments target clinical manifestations. This could explain why EEG neurofeedback studies encounter difficulty in achieving reproducibility and validation. The present paper suggests that a first step to optimize EEG neurofeedback protocols and future research is to target a valid EEG marker. The specificity of the cognitive skills trained and learned during real time feedback of the EEG marker could be enhanced and both the reliability of neurofeedback training and the therapeutic impact optimized. However, several of the most well-known EEG markers have seldom been applied for neurofeedback. Moreover, we lack a reliable and valid EEG targets library for further RCT to evaluate the efficacy of neurofeedback in mental and brain disorders. With the present manuscript, our aim is to foster dialogues between cognitive neuroscience and EEG neurofeedback according to a psychophysiological perspective. The primary objective of this review was to identify the most robust EEG target. EEG markers linked with one or several clearly identified cognitive-related processes will be identified. The secondary objective was to organize these EEG markers and related cognitive process in a psychophysiological unit of analysis matrix inspired by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project.

EEG based Classification of Long-term Stress Using Psychological Labeling

Stress research is a rapidly emerging area in the field of electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing. The use of EEG as an objective measure for cost effective and personalized stress management becomes important in situations like the nonavailability of mental health facilities. In this study, long-term stress was classified with machine learning algorithms using resting state EEG signal recordings. The labeling for the stress and control groups was performed using two currently accepted clinical practices: (i) the perceived stress scale score and (ii) expert evaluation. The frequency domain features were extracted from five-channel EEG recordings in addition to the frontal and temporal alpha and beta asymmetries. The alpha asymmetry was computed from four channels and used as a feature. Feature selection was also performed to identify statistically significant features for both stress and control groups (via t-test). We found that support vector machine was best suited to classify long-term human stress when used with alpha asymmetry as a feature. It was observed that the expert evaluation-based labeling method had improved the classification accuracy by up to 85.20%. Based on these results, it is concluded that alpha asymmetry may be used as a potential bio-marker for stress classification, when labels are assigned using expert evaluation.

Personality, Stress, and Intuition: Emotion Regulation Abilities Moderate the Effect of Stress-Dependent Cortisol Increase on Coherence Judgments

Objective

Findings on the relationship between hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) activity and cognitive performance are inconsistent. We investigated whether personality in terms of emotion regulation abilities (ERA) moderates the relationship between stress-contingent HPA activity and accuracy of intuitive coherence judgments.

Method

ERA and cortisol responses to social-evaluative stress as induced by a variant of the Trier Social Stress Test were measured in N = 49 participants (32 female, aged 18 to 33 years, M = 22.48, SD = 3.33). Subsequently, in a Remote Associates Task they provided intuitive judgments on whether word triples, primed by either stress-reminding or neutral words, are coherent or not.

Results

Under relative cortisol increase participants low in ERA showed reduced performance whereas individuals high in ERA showed increased performance. By contrast, under conditions of low cortisol change, individuals low in ERA outperformed those high in ERA.

Conclusion

Personality can moderate the link between stress and cognition such as accurate intuition. This can happen to a degree that existing effects may not be become apparent in the main effect (i.e. without considering personality), which highlights the necessity to consider personality in stress research, ERA in particular. We discuss the findings with respect to individual differences in neurobehavioral mechanisms potentially underlying ERA and corresponding interactions with cognitive processing.

Childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms predict frontal EEG asymmetry in borderline personality disorder

Frontal EEG asymmetry (FEA) has been studied as both state and trait parameter in emotion regulation and affective disorders. Its significance in borderline personality disorder (BPD) remains largely unknown. Twenty-six BPD patients and 26 healthy controls underwent EEG before and after mood induction using aversive images. A slight but significant shift from left- to right-sided asymmetry over prefrontal electrodes occurred across all subjects. In BPD baseline FEA over F7 and F8 correlated significantly with childhood trauma and functional neurological "conversion" symptoms as assessed by respective questionnaires. Regression analysis revealed a predictive role of both childhood trauma and dissociative neurological symptoms. FEA offers a relatively stable electrophysiological correlate of BPD psychopathology that responds only minimally to acute mood changes. Future studies should address whether this psychophysiological association is universal for trauma- and dissociation-related disorders, and whether it is responsive to psychotherapy.

Resting Frontal Asymmetry and Reward Sensitivity Theory Motivational Traits

The revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (rRST) of personality has conceptualized three main systems: the behavioural approach system (BAS), behavioural inhibition system (BIS), and fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS). Research links greater relative left-frontal activity with BAS-related tendencies and impulsivity and greater relative right-frontal activity with "withdrawal" motivation that included both BIS and FFFS. Although rRST has addressed the separation of FFFS and BIS, much of personality neuroscience research does not indicate which system is related to right frontal activity. We administered the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire (RST-PQ) to measure the BAS and its facets (goal-drive persistence, reward interest, reward reactivity, and impulsivity), BIS, and the withdrawal FFFS. We examined the association of RST-PQ traits with resting electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha-asymmetry in female participants (N = 162) by considering the influence of experimenter's gender. In the total group, that included two subgroups with experimenters of different gender, BAS-impulsivity was related to greater left- than right-frontal activity, and FFFS, but not BIS, was related to greater relative right-frontocentral activity. These associations remained significant for the subgroup with a young same-sex experimenter, but not with opposite-sex experimenter.

The Structural and Functional Signature of Action Control

Individuals differ in their ability to initiate self- and emotional-control mechanisms. These differences have been explicitly described in Kuhl’s action-control theory. Although interindividual differences in action control make a major contribution to our everyday life, their neural foundation remains unknown. Here, we measured action control in a sample of 264 healthy adults and related interindividual differences in action control to variations in brain structure and resting-state connectivity. Our results demonstrate a significant negative correlation between decision-related action orientation (AOD) and amygdala volume. Further, we showed that the functional resting-state connectivity between the amygdala and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was significantly associated with AOD. Specifically, stronger functional connectivity was associated with higher AOD scores. These findings are the first to show that interindividual differences in action control, namely AOD, are based on the anatomical architecture and functional network of the amygdala.

Becoming who you are: An integrative review of self-determination theory and personality systems interactions theory

One of the enduring missions of personality science is to unravel what it takes to become a fully functioning person. In the present article, the authors address this matter from the perspectives of self‐determination theory (SDT) and personality systems interactions (PSI) theory. SDT (a) is rooted in humanistic psychology; (b) has emphasized a first‐person perspective on motivation and personality; (c) posits that the person, supported by the social environment, naturally moves toward growth through the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. PSI theory (a) is rooted in German volition psychology; (b) has emphasized a third‐person perspective on motivation and personality; and (c) posits that a fully functioning person can form and enact difficult intentions and integrate new experiences, and that such competencies are facilitated by affect regulation. The authors review empirical support for SDT and PSI theory, their convergences and divergences, and how the theories bear on recent empirical research on internalization, vitality, and achievement flow. The authors conclude that SDT and PSI theory offer complementary insights into developing a person's full potential.