Neurobehavioral mechanisms of social cognition and emotion regulation: A behavioral and functional brain imaging approach

The ability to process relevant social and emotional information while inhibiting the impact of unwanted negative one is critical to everyday functioning and well-being. Deficits in these processes, related to social cognition and emotion regulation, are oftentimes a hallmark of psychopathological conditions. Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the neurobehavioral mechanisms associated with these socioemotional processes would provide unique insights into the factors that may render individuals susceptible to or resilient against socioemotional distress. Despite significant advances in cognitive neuroscience, however, a comprehensive approach to investigate the mechanisms of socioemotional functioning is still scarce. Therefore, there is a need to capitalize on a broad set of approaches for the examination of socioemotional factors at multiple levels (i.e., brain function, behavior, and individual differences), in order to better understand the interplay of emotion and cognition with increased ecological validity. These issues were investigated using a multi-method approach involving functional brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography) in conjunction with behavioral tasks (social evaluation, emotion regulation, episodic memory), and measures of individual differences. Such an approach is essential to elucidate the mechanisms of socioemotional functioning, which may inform the development of novel theoretical frameworks that will lead to the design of assessment tools and interventions that promote social and emotional well-being.LimitedAuthor requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD syste