wagner and heatherton: self-regulation and its failures 709 61 Self-Regulation and its Failures

HEATHERTON ABSTRACT The ability to flexibly alter behavior in the service of future goals is one of the key evolutionary adaptations that has enabled humankind to flourish. Self-regulation refers to a set of mental processes for overriding impulses, selectively attending to goal-relevant information, and monitoring thoughts and behavior for signs of failure. Although self-regulation is of fundamental importance to an individual’s success, failures of self-regulation are common. In this chapter we focus on the role of exposure to tempting cues, negative emotions, and limited cognitive resources in bringing about self-regulation failure. We review evidence from neuropsy-chology and functional neuroimaging that successful self-regulation depends on the interaction between brain structures in the prefrontal cortex involved in representin