Neural correlates of conscious self-regulation of emotion

A fundamental question about the relationship between cognition and emotion concerns the neural substrate underlying emotional self-regulation. To add ress this issue, brain activation was measured in normal male subjects whil e they either responded in a normal manner to erotic film excerpts or volun tarily attempted to inhibit the sexual arousal induced by viewing erotic st imuli. Results demonstrated that the sexual arousal experienced, in respons e to the erotic film excerpts, was associated with activation in "limbic" a nd paralimbic structures, such as the right amygdala, right anterior tempor al pole, and hypothalamus. In addition, the attempted inhibition of the sex ual arousal generated by viewing the erotic stimuli was associated with act ivation of the right superior frontal gyrus and right anterior cingulate gy rus. No activation was found in limbic areas. These findings reinforce the view that emotional self-regulation is normally implemented by a neural cir cuit comprising various prefrontal regions and subcortical limbic structure s. They also suggest that humans have the capacity to influence the electro chemical dynamics of their brains, by voluntarily changing the nature of th e mind processes unfolding in the psychological space.