Linking Cognitive Control & Stress Regulation: A Brain-Based Perspective on Self-Regulatory Processes
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2008
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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eng
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Open Access
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Abstract
The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between cognitive control and stress regulation, two self-regulatory processes that utilize similar cognitive processes and brain regions. To examine cognitive control, the present study used EEG methodology to measure the ERN, a neural signal reflective of error-monitoring, during a Stroop task. Salivary cortisol production served as the primary measure of stress regulation and was measured at three time points through the experiment, including before and after a combined public speaking task and math task stress manipulation. Unexpectedly, cognitive control variables did not predict individuals’ cortisol responses to the stress manipulation but did predict individuals’ cortisol responses to the EEG and Stoop task. The results indicate that those individuals more effective at cognitive control, as evidenced by large ERN amplitudes, were also more effective at stress regulation during the EEG and Stroop task, as evidenced by small cortisol responses. The main finding supports the common-systems view of self-regulatory processes generated by the current literature.