Altered task-induced deactivation in individuals with nonsuicidal self-injury during an emotional working memory task

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is associated with altered emotional processing. However, the neural correlates of cognitively demanding emotion regulation remain elusive. This fMRI study explored the neural underpinnings of emotional working memory (WM) in individuals with NSSI, focusing on task-induced deactivation as a potential neural response to emotionally demanding contexts. Thirty-two individuals with NSSI and 28 controls completed an emotional WM task that varied WM load (0-back vs. 2-back) and emotional distractor types (Neutral vs. Negative). Neural activity was analyzed for associations with self-reported emotion dysregulation, emotion reactivity, and behavioral performance. Despite comparable behavioral performance across groups, the NSSI group showed greater task-induced deactivation in early visual processing regions (e.g., calcarine sulcus). The deactivation patterns in the bilateral calcarine sulci were positively associated with reaction time and negatively associated with accuracy, suggesting a link to task performance efficiency. These findings provide tentative evidence that NSSI may be associated with altered task-induced deactivation in early visual processing regions. This pattern may reflect increased visual-perceptual suppression when emotional interference is anticipated, highlighting the potential relevance of task-induced deactivation for understanding emotion-cognition interactions in this clinical population.