Attentional deployment training impacts neural responses to subsequent regret

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Mental Health

Background:

• Regret is a common negative emotion impacting mental health.
• Modulating regret is crucial for well-being.
• Understanding the neural mechanisms of regret modulation is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how attentional deployment training affects subsequent regret.
• To explore the neural correlates of regret modulation using fMRI.
• To assess the efficacy of focusing on gains versus missed opportunities.

Main Methods:

• A sequential risk-taking task involving opening boxes with rewards or a "devil" outcome.
• fMRI was used to monitor brain activity during a testing phase.
• Attentional deployment training involved highlighting gains or missed chances during outcome feedback.

Main Results:

• Behaviorally, participants trained to focus on gains reported less regret.
• Neural analysis revealed increased activity in reward (right putamen) and cognitive control regions (dmPFC, SFG, MFG) after gain-focused training.
• These brain regions are implicated in processing rewards and executive functions.

Conclusions:

• Attentional deployment training effectively modulates subsequent regret.
• The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and middle frontal gyrus (MFG) are key brain regions in this modulation process.
• This research offers a potential strategy for mitigating the negative impact of regret.