Cognitive Regulation Research Articles

Impact of Covid-19 lockdown on the mood, behaviour, and social activities of people with brain injury in the UK: Results of a survey of brain injury professionals’ reports

The Covid-19 related lockdown of March–June 2020 in the United Kingdom (UK) may have negatively affected mood and behaviour of people with brain injuries. Conversely, there may have been beneficial effects due to reduced demand on cognition and emotional regulation. In this online survey study, care coordinators (n=19) assessed the consequences of lockdown on 130 individuals with ABI (range 3–29 clients per care co-ordinator; 10–65years+; and mostly living in residential care). The majority of reports were of no change to mood, behaviour, or social functioning (105 ratings). However, respondents reported that 88 (68 per cent) clients presented with changes: 63 clients (48 per cent) had lower mood, higher distress, and agitation, and were less engaged in usual activities; while 25 clients (19 per cent) were reported to have improved. Moreover, 13/19 (68 per cent) of respondents reported increased vulnerabilities in their clients, and 5/19 (26 per cent) reported online exploitation, controlling behaviour from partner and financial scams. These data present a mixed picture of how the first national lockdown affected people with ABI.

Screening for executive function difficulties: An evaluation of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2nd Edition Screener, Teacher Report (BRIEF2-TS).

Executive functions (EFs) correlate positively with many developmental outcomes, and ecologically valid measures of EFs may be more predictive of some outcomes than performance-based measures. Accordingly, there is a need to evaluate short EF rating scales, such as the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2nd Edition Screener, Teacher Report (BRIEF2-TS). Data from 1,322 kindergarten children in Singapore (50% girls; 61.3% Chinese, 10.6% Malay, 16.3% Indian, 4.0% other ethnicity, and 7.8% did not report their ethnicity), followed for 3 years, were used to examine the multilevel factor structure, gender and longitudinal invariance, reliability, and concurrent and predictive validity of BRIEF2-TS scores. Results indicated a two-factor within-level structure (11 items; cognitive and emotional-behavioral regulation) that was at least partially invariant across gender and time. Concurrent validity with direct EF measures and ratings of self-regulation, and predictive validity for socioemotional and academic skills were good. Overall, BRIEF2-TS scores showed evidence for good validity and reliability. Future research should consider correlates of the between-level structure and further consider structure and validity in clinical samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Social Affect and Cognition

Researchers have proposed that emotion regulation can enhance or hinder socioaffective and sociocognitive processes. However, an integration of the evidence is still lacking. The present preregistered meta-analysis disentangled the link between adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation and different aspects of social affect and cognition. Our findings, based on 549 effect sizes from 58 samples, show that adaptive emotion regulation is positively related to cognitive empathy (ρ = .22), affective empathy (ρ = .07), and compassion (ρ = .19) but negatively related to empathic distress (ρ = –.12). Furthermore, maladaptive emotion regulation is negatively related to cognitive empathy (ρ = –.11) and positively related to empathic distress (ρ = .19). Our findings open up new pathways for practitioners, as it might be possible to foster empathy and compassion and alleviate empathic distress through emotion regulation training. Furthermore, the results suggest a potential explanation for the link between mental disorders and interpersonal problems.

The mediating role of self-regulation on the link between child maltreatment and later substance use among Latinx youth

BackgroundChildren who experience maltreatment are at heightened risk for substance use initiation and mental health disorders later in life. Few studies have assessed the relationship between child maltreatment and substance use among Latinx youth. ObjectiveThe current study assessed the potential mediating effect of three aspects of self-regulation (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive) on the association between child maltreatment and substance use and examined whether effects varied depending on maltreatment type and severity. Participants and settingThis study involved a random sample of 504 Latinx youth (52 % girls, 48 % boys) between the ages of 10–12 at the start of the study. MethodsStudy hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling and bootstrapped random errors using the R programming language. ResultsOur results indicated that higher levels of child maltreatment predicted higher levels of later substance use, as mediated by emotional and behavioral dysregulation (β = 0.09, p < 0.01), but not cognitive regulation. When separating maltreatment by subtype, we found the mediating effect was present for abuse (β = 0.09, p < 0.01), but not neglect. ConclusionsFindings contribute to our understanding of potential causal mechanisms for the association between child maltreatment and substance use for Latinx youth.

The effects of childhood maltreatment on cortical thickness and gray matter volume: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.

Childhood maltreatment has been suggested to have an adverse impact on neurodevelopment, including microstructural brain abnormalities. Existing neuroimaging findings remain inconsistent and heterogeneous. We aim to explore the most prominent and robust cortical thickness (CTh) and gray matter volume (GMV) alterations associated with childhood maltreatment. A systematic search on relevant studies was conducted through September 2022. The whole-brain coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) on CTh and GMV studies were conducted using the seed-based d mapping (SDM) software. Meta-regression analysis was subsequently applied to investigate potential associations between clinical variables and structural changes. A total of 45 studies were eligible for inclusion, including 11 datasets on CTh and 39 datasets on GMV, consisting of 2550 participants exposed to childhood maltreatment and 3739 unexposed comparison subjects. Individuals with childhood maltreatment exhibited overlapped deficits in the median cingulate/paracingulate gyri simultaneously revealed by both CTh and GM studies. Regional cortical thinning in the right anterior cingulate/paracingulate gyri and the left middle frontal gyrus, as well as GMV reductions in the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was also identified. No greater regions were found for either CTh or GMV. In addition, several neural morphology changes were associated with the average age of the maltreated individuals. The median cingulate/paracingulate gyri morphology might serve as the most robust neuroimaging feature of childhood maltreatment. The effects of early-life trauma on the human brain predominantly involved in cognitive functions, socio-affective functioning and stress regulation. This current meta-analysis enhanced the understanding of neuropathological changes induced by childhood maltreatment.

Body regard disrupts emotional cascade processes in nonsuicidal self-injury.

This study sought to empirically examine the Emotional Cascade Model of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and to examine if body regard mitigates these variables' impact on NSSI in college students. We tested a three-way interaction between emotional reactivity, maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies, and body regard predicting NSSI frequency. Two thousand sixty-six undergraduate students (Mage = 20.38; 72.4% identified as female; 91.7% White; 22.7% with NSSI) completed measures of emotion reactivity, maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies, body regard, and lifetime NSSI frequency. The three-way interaction between emotion reactivity, maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies, and body regard was significant. The interaction effect of emotional reactivity and maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies on NSSI was significant when body regard was low but not significant at average and high levels of body regard. The highest NSSI frequency was reported by those high in emotion reactivity and maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies, and low in body regard. These results support the emotional cascade theory of NSSI, and support assertions that body regard might act as a protective barrier against NSSI in the context of heightened emotion reactivity and maladaptive cognitive regulation strategies.

Affective or cognitive interpersonal emotion regulation in couples: an fNIRS hyperscanning study.

Sadness regulation is crucial for maintaining the romantic relationships of couples. Interpersonal emotion regulation, including affective engagement (AE) and cognitive engagement (CE), activates social brain networks. However, it is unclear how AE and CE regulate sadness in couples through affective bonds. We recruited 30 heterosexual couple dyads and 30 heterosexual stranger dyads and collected functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning data while each dyad watched sad or neutral videos and while the regulator regulated the target's sadness. Then, we characterized interbrain synchronization (IBS) and Granger causality (GC). The results indicated that AE and CE were more effective for couples than for strangers and that sadness evaluation of female targets was lower than that of male targets. CE-induced IBS at CH13 (BA10, right middle frontal gyrus) was lower for female targets than for male targets, while no gender difference in AE was detected. GC change at CH13 during CE was lower in the sad condition for male targets than for female targets, while no gender difference in AE was discovered. These observations suggest that AE and CE activate affective bonds but that CE was more effective for regulating sadness in female targets, revealing different neural patterns of cognitive and affective sadness regulation in couples.

Predicting regulatory activities for socially shared regulation to optimize collaborative learning

This study utilized multimodal learning analytics and AI-based methods to examine the patterns of the socially shared regulation of collaborative learning (CL). The study involved multimodal data involving video and electrodermal activities (EDA) data collected from ninety-four secondary school students (N = 94) during five science lessons to reveal trigger events in CL. A novel concept of trigger events is introduced, which are challenging events and/or situations that may inhibit collaboration and will, therefore, require strategic adaptation in the regulation of cognition, motivation, and emotion within the group. The ANOVA results for the Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs) analysis indicated the disparity of physiological behavior activated in relation to different types of interactions for regulation. Process analysis and episode-rule mining were applied to reveal regulatory patterns in CL, while an AI approach with long short-term memory (LSTM) deep-learning networks were designed for pattern prediction. LSTM has emerged as the most widely applied artificial recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture for sequential data analysis and classification. The proposed AI network holds the potential for designing solutions for similar signal-processing problems in studying learning regulation. This study contributes to developing AI-enabled real-time support for regulation in collaborative learning.

Association between level of anxiety and degree of psychosomatic features in medical students at a private university in Northern Peru

Introduction. University students experience multiple academic and social activities that cause enormous anxiety and stress, affecting them psychologically and physically. In this case, the psychosomatic symptoms, resulting from stress and anxiety, are part of a physical ailment and their emergence can be linked to the setting and time when they occur. Objective. To determine the association between anxiety levels and the degree of psychosomatic features (PF). Method. A study with a cross-sectional analytical design was developed, which included a total of 352 medical students from the city of Piura, Peru, to whom the PHQ-15 test was administered through Google Forms. Those with a previous psychiatric diagnosis were excluded. Results. It was found that PF are influenced by being female (RPa = 1.45, CI 95% = [1.23, 1.71], p ≤ .001), and having mild (RPa = 1.11, CI 95% = [1.20, 1.63], p ≤ .001) and moderate anxiety levels (RPa = 1.7, CI 95% = [1.24, 2.34], p = .001). Discussion and conclusion. The presence of a mental condition is necessary for the presence of PF. These stressors create selective alterations of large-scale brain networks involved in the cognitive control, regulation and processing of emotions, stress, and somatic-visceral perception. The study concludes that psychosomatic features are found in approximately 75% of medical students and anxiety in approximately 15%. Mild and moderate anxiety is an influential factor in psychosomatic features, as is being female.

Examination of the Relationship Between Severity of Addiction and Personality: The Mediating Effect of Social Alienation and Emotional, Cognitive Regulation

Examination of the Relationship Between Severity of Addiction and Personality: The Mediating Effect of Social Alienation and Emotional, Cognitive Regulation

Female mice are protected from impaired parenchymal arteriolar TRPV4 function and impaired cognition in hypertension.

Hypertension is a leading modifiable risk factor for cerebral small vessel disease. Our laboratory has shown that endothelium-dependent dilation in cerebral parenchymal arterioles (PAs) is dependent on transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) activation, and this pathway is impaired in hypertension. This impaired dilation is associated with cognitive deficits and neuroinflammation. Epidemiological evidence suggests that women with midlife hypertension have an increased dementia risk that does not exist in age-matched men, though the mechanisms responsible for this are unclear. This study aimed to determine the sex differences in young, hypertensive mice to serve as a foundation for future determination of sex differences at midlife. We tested the hypothesis that young hypertensive female mice would be protected from the impaired TRPV4-mediated PA dilation and cognitive dysfunction observed in male mice. Angiotensin II (ANG II)-filled osmotic minipumps (800 ng/kg/min, 4 wk) were implanted in 16- to 19-wk-old male C56BL/6 mice. Age-matched female mice received either 800 ng/kg/min or 1,200 ng/kg/min ANG II. Sham-operated mice served as controls. Systolic blood pressure was elevated in ANG II-treated male mice and in 1,200 ng ANG II-treated female mice versus sex-matched shams. PA dilation in response to the TRPV4 agonist GSK1016790A (10-9-10-5 M) was impaired in hypertensive male mice, which was associated with cognitive dysfunction and neuroinflammation, reproducing our previous findings. Hypertensive female mice exhibited normal TRPV4-mediated PA dilation and were cognitively intact. Female mice also showed fewer signs of neuroinflammation than male mice. Determining the sex differences in cerebrovascular health in hypertension is critical for developing effective therapeutic strategies for women.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Vascular dementia is a significant public health concern, and the effect of biological sex on dementia development is not well understood. TRPV4 channels are essential regulators of cerebral parenchymal arteriolar function and cognition. Hypertension impairs TRPV4-mediated dilation and memory in male rodents. Data presented here suggest female sex protects against impaired TRPV4 dilation and cognitive dysfunction during hypertension. These data advance our understanding of the influence of biological sex on cerebrovascular health in hypertension.

Development of Metacognitive Skills through Digital Narratives in Higher Education

This paper focuses on metacognition facilitation through digital narratives. The objectives of the study were to explore how the creation of digital narratives strengthens the formation of metacognitive skills, and which teaching practices promote awareness of learning. The process of digital narrative creation connects literacy, language, technologies, and metacognitive planning, debugging, monitoring, and assessment strategies. A metacognitive awareness inventory questionnaire was used to assess the level of metacognitive skill formation, and content analysis and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze interviews and discussions. The study involved engineering and pedagogy students from three universities. Findings demonstrated improved metacognition subject to the implementation of appropriate teaching practices and the existence of an educational partnership between students and teachers. The most relevant practices were identified, and it was concluded that digital narratives may be an efficient strategy for the development of metacognitive skills including knowledge about cognition and regulation of cognition.

Effects of mutant huntingtin in oxytocin neurons on non-motor features of Huntington's disease.

Early non-motor features including anxiety, depression and altered social cognition are present in Huntington's disease (HD). The underlying neurobiological mechanisms are not known. Oxytocin (OXT) is involved in the regulation of emotion, social cognition and metabolism, and our previous work showed that the OXT system is affected early in HD. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential causal relationship between the selective expression of mutant huntingtin (mHTT) in OXT neurons and the development of non-motor features and neuropathology. To express mHTT only in OXT neurons, we used a novel flex-switch adeno-associated viral vector design to selectively express either mHTT or wild-type HTT in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus using OXT-Cre-recombinase mice. We also performed a mirror experiment to selectively delete mHTT in OXT neurons using the BACHD mouse model. Mice underwent a battery of behavioural tests to assess psychiatric and social behaviours 3months post-injection or at 2 months of age, respectively. Post-mortem analyses were performed to assess the effects on the OXT system. Our results show that selective expression of mHTT in OXT neurons was associated with the formation of mHTT inclusions and a 26% reduction of OXT-immunopositive neurons as well as increased anxiety-like behaviours compared with uninjected mice. However, selective deletion of mHTT from OXT neurons alone was not sufficient to alter the metabolic and psychiatric phenotype of the BACHD mice at this early time point. Our results indicate that mHTT expression can exert cell-autonomous toxic effects on OXT neurons without affecting the non-motor phenotype at early time points in mice.

The Microbiome-Gut-Brain axis regulates social cognition &craving in young binge drinkers.

Binge drinking is the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol in a short period of time. This pattern of consumption is highly prevalent during the crucial developmental period of adolescence. Recently, the severity of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) has been linked with microbiome alterations suggesting a role for the gut microbiome in its development. Furthermore, a strong link has emerged too between microbiome composition and socio-emotional functioning across different disorders including AUD. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential link (and its predictive value) between alcohol-related altered microbial profile, social cognition, impulsivity and craving. Young people (N=71) aged 18-25 reported their alcohol use and underwent a neuropsychological evaluation. Craving was measured at baseline and three months later. Diet was controlled for. Blood, saliva and hair samples were taken for inflammatory, kynurenine and cortisol analysis. Stool samples were provided for shotgun metagenomic sequencing and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were measured. Binge drinking was associated with distinct microbiome alterations and emotional recognition difficulties. Associations were found for several microbiome species with emotional processing and impulsivity. Craving showed a strong link with alterations in microbiome composition and neuroactive potential over time. In conclusion, this research demonstrates alterations in the gut microbiome of young binge drinkers (BDs) and identifies early biomarkers of craving. Associations between emotional processing and microbiome composition further support the growing literature on the gut microbiome as a regulator of social cognition. These findings are of relevance for new gut-derived interventions directed at improving early alcohol-related alterations during the vulnerability period of adolescence. C.C. and R.G-C. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 754535. APC Microbiome Ireland is a research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), through the Irish Government's National Development Plan [grant no. SFI/12/RC/2273_P2]. J.F.C has research support from Cremo, Pharmavite, DuPont and Nutricia. He has spoken at meetings sponsored by food and pharmaceutical companies. G.C. has received honoraria from Janssen, Probi, and Apsen as an invited speaker; is in receipt of research funding from Pharmavite, Fonterra, Nestle and Reckitt; and is a paid consultant for Yakult, Zentiva and Heel pharmaceuticals. All the authors declare no competing interests.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation Therapy with Cognitive-behavioral Therapy based on Mindfulness on Cognitive Regulation of Emotion and Executive Functions in People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Comparing the Effectiveness of Behavioral Activation Therapy with Cognitive-behavioral Therapy based on Mindfulness on Cognitive Regulation of Emotion and Executive Functions in People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Novel mitochondrial mechanisms of cognitive regulation in subjects with cognitive impairments

IntroductionPrior mechanistic studies in rodents showed decreased levels of the pivotal mitochondrial metabolite acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC) in relation to cognitive deficits and depressive-like behavior (Neuron 2017, 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.020, PNAS 2013, 10.1073/pnas.1216100110), providing the basis for the current translational study.ObjectivesThe main objective of this work was to ascertain the role of this specific mitochondrial signaling pathway in subjects with cognitive impairments (CI), and potential sex differences in these mechanisms.MethodsWe used computational approaches, ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and available plasma samples from a well-characterized cohort of 71 subjects, including subjects with CI and age- and sex-matched cognitively healthy controls (HC).ResultsOur newest findings showed decreased levels of LAC in subjects with CI as compared to age- and sex-matched HC. We also found important sex differences in carnitine levels in relation to cognitive function as assessed by using the Mini Mental Status Exam (MMSE). Specifically, the degree of carnitine deficiency reflected the severity of cognitive dysfunction in a sex-specific manner. Using computational approaches, we found that the integration of these mitochondrial measures with canonical biomarkers improves diagnostic accuracy.ConclusionsThe current findings of sex differences in carnitine deficiency in subjects with CI suggest a possible sex-specific mitochondrial phenotype of vulnerability to cognitive dysfunction, and point to LAC-related mitochondrial metabolism as a new signaling pathway of cognitive regulation.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Family-Work-School Conflicts, Self-Regulation, and Well-Being Among Transfer Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using multigroup structural equation modeling, this study examines whether family-work-school conflicts directly or indirectly predict transfer students’ well-being (via self-regulation) across the periods of pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 lockdown in the Chicago metropolitan area in Illinois, United States. The results indicate that family-school conflict predicted well-being regardless of lockdown status, but work-school conflict predicted well-being only during the lockdown period. This study also discusses the importance of cognitive regulation for transfer students’ transition in the middle of the pandemic.

The relationship between autonomy and cognitive emotion regulation among adolescents

Autonomy and cognitive emotion regulation both are important aspects of adolescent years. Previous research also indicates that an individual’s cognitive emotion regulation (CER) and autonomy is correlated. The present study aimed to gain more insight into the relationship between autonomy and cognitive emotion regulation of Bangladeshi adolescents. Cross sectional survey design was used covering 100 adolescents having an age range of 12-15 years of age for data collection. Participants completed the questionnaires including a demographic questionnaire, adolescent autonomy questionnaire and cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. Correlation analysis suggests that autonomy support showed an increase in the adaptive emotion regulation. Regression analysis models revealed that adolescent autonomy significantly explained 14.6% of variance for adaptive emotion regulation, and 4.6% of variance for less adaptive emotion regulation. Findings from the present study embodied that Bangladeshi adolescents use more adaptive cognitive regulation than maladaptive emotion regulation. These findings have implications for parents, primary caregivers, child psychologists, and other relevant professionals who are and will be working with children/ adolescents in helping them to learn and enhance their autonomy for their future and effective cognitive regulation of emotion. Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 32(1): 57-64, 2023 (January)

Individual differences in self-regulated learning profiles of Chinese EFL readers: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods study

AbstractThis study explored the latent profiles of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies (cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational regulation) endorsed by Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) readers in a high-stakes testing environment, and also their associations with individual factors (gender, grade, reading proficiency, and motivational beliefs). With a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, students in grades 11 and 12 (n = 1,113) completed a reading comprehension test and a questionnaire regarding their strategy use and individual factors, and some (n = 16) were randomly selected for follow-up semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed three SRL profiles, characterized by high, medium, and low levels of SRL-strategy use. Self-efficacy and extrinsic motivation most powerfully predicted an individual’s profile membership; all the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation variables were significantly higher for learners from the higher strategy-use profile. Moreover, reading proficiency did not significantly predict profile membership, but more self-regulated students still achieved higher reading scores as a group tendency.

Social context modulates autonomic responses to direct eye contact

Eye contact with another person (social gaze) can evoke emotions, produce autonomic arousal, and influence behavior. Gaze cues can be evocative even when presented in static pictures of faces suggesting that responses depend on low-level visual features of gaze stimuli. The current study examined whether emotional gaze responses depend on the physical stimulus properties of an eye contact experience versus the cognitive evaluation of the social context of gaze. This was done by comparing skin conductance responses (SCR), an index of emotional arousal, during episodes of social gaze and 'self-gaze' (gazing at one's own eyes in a mirror), keeping other aspects of the viewing conditions constant. We compared SCRs during social gaze and self-gaze in forty participant pairs. Each participant engaged in ten, 20 second eye contact trials, alternating between social and self-gaze. Self-gaze episodes produced significant SCRs but social gaze SCR's were larger and occurred more reliably. SCRs decreased across trials (habituation effect) in both conditions. We speculated that social gaze between opposite sex partners might yield larger SCRs but this was not found. Overall, these results conceptually replicate previous findings of (likely top-town) cognitive regulation of autonomic gaze responses based on evaluation of the social context.