The functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex underlying...

Delay discounting is the tendency for people to devalue future rewards as the time required to obtain them increases over time. Self-control is the ability to regulate behavior, emotions and cognition to achieve goals or adhere to social norms despite temptations, impulses or distractions. Previous studies have found that self-control was negatively correlated with delay discounting. However, the neural mechanism underlying the relationship between self-control and delay discounting remains unclear. To address this question, we examined the neural basis of the relationship between self-control and delay discounting using voxel-based morphometry(VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity analysis(RSFC). The behavioral results demonstrated a negative correlation between delay discounting and self-control. Furthermore, the voxel-based morphometry results showed a positive correlation between self-control and gray matter volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex(dlPFC). Moreover, self-control was positively correlated with functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex(mPFC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. More importantly, the association between self-control and delay discounting was shown to be partially mediated by the functional connectivity between the dlPFC and mPFC. These findings suggested that dlPFC-mPFC functional connectivity could be the neural basis underlying the association between self-control and delay discounting, which provided novel insights into how self-control affected delay discounting and offered new explanations from a neural perspective.