Emotion Regulation in the Preadolescent Brain and the Role of Individual Temperamental Differences

This study investigated the association between emotion regulation, brain maturation, and self-regulation traits in preadolescents, a developmental stage marked by substantial brain changes. An imbalance between hyperactive subcortical regions and an immature prefrontal cortex often leads to emotional instability and increased risk-taking behaviors.

We conducted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on preadolescents (N = 23; 10 females; mean age = 10.5 ± 1.3 years) using an emotional color flanker task to examine whole-brain activation and seed-based functional connectivity. Additionally, we assessed temperament traits to explore the relationship between neural correlates of emotional conflict resolution and self-regulation abilities.

Negative emotions impaired cognitive processing, particularly during conflict resolution. Preadolescents with stronger self-regulation were quicker at resolving conflict under negative emotional conditions and showed reduced functional connectivity between cognitive-emotional regions when processing negative versus neutral stimuli. Conversely, those with weaker self-regulation showed heightened connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex and ventral anterior insula when processing negative words.

Our findings underscore the role of individual differences in brain connectivity and temperamental traits in emotion regulation during preadolescence. Enhanced self-regulation is linked to more efficient emotion processing and distinct neural connectivity patterns, highlighting the importance of incorporating neurobiological and temperamental factors in developmental studies of emotion regulation.