Cited by 197Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentEarly Childhood Education and Development

The neuroscience of emotion regulation development: Implications for education

Open access
Martin, Rebecca E, Ochsner, Kevin N·2016·Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Emotion regulation is a critical life skill that can facilitate learning and improve educational outcomes. Developmental studies find that the ability to regulate emotion improves with age. In neuroimaging studies, emotion regulation abilities are associated with recruitment of a set of prefrontal brain regions involved in cognitive control and executive functioning that mature late in development. In this review we discuss the regulation of both negative and positive emotions, the role of other people in guiding our emotional responses, and the potential applications of this work to education.

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This review argues that emotion regulation is a critical life skill for learning, supported by prefrontal cognitive-control systems that mature slowly relative to subcortical affective systems. It synthesizes developmental neuroscience findings on negative and positive emotion regulation and social regulation, then suggests educational applications.

Key findings

  • Reappraisal modulates affective regions including the amygdala, ventral striatum, and insula via a prefrontal-parietal network including dlPFC, PPC, vlPFC, mPFC, and ACC; this network overlaps with general cognitive control.
  • For negative emotions, the behavioral ability to down-regulate, decrease amygdala activation, and increase lateral prefrontal activity tracks with age, and amygdala-prefrontal functional connectivity also increases with age.
  • For positive emotions and rewards, children may be especially responsive: in one study, all age groups performed better with positive feedback, and this trend was largest for 8–9 year olds, who showed greater dlPFC and parietal activation during positive versus negative feedback, whereas adults showed the reverse.
  • Social context matters: caregiver presence decreased risky choices and increased vlPFC/mPFC activation while decreasing ventral striatum and amygdala activation in adolescents; peer presence increased risky decision making and ventral striatum/vlPFC activation.

Methods

  • Narrative review of developmental neuroscience and behavioral studies on emotion regulation, including reappraisal, reward processing, feedback learning, and social regulation.
  • No primary data or sample are reported; the paper synthesizes cited neuroimaging and behavioral findings across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
  • Main analysis is qualitative synthesis rather than systematic review or meta-analysis; it cites a separate meta-analysis of 48 emotion-regulation studies but does not conduct one.

Limitations

  • Paper-stated: only a handful of studies have examined negative emotion regulation in children versus adults; developmental neuroimaging studies testing positive-emotion hypotheses have yet to be done; no imaging studies directly examine how other people help us reappraise across development or in adults; the imbalance theory may oversimplify complex cognition-emotion interactions; more studies on cortical-subcortical maturational patterns are needed.
  • Evident from the text: as a narrative review, it does not report a systematic search strategy, inclusion criteria, or quality appraisal, and its conclusions depend on the cited literature rather than new empirical data.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.06.006

Cites

56 of 56 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

0 of 72 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Interpretationcitation

    The imbalance between prefrontal and affective regions may contribute to mood instability and greater emotional reactivity in adolescence.

    “This imbalance is represented by a pattern of stronger activations in subcortical relative to cortical regions peaking during adolescence, which may contribute to mood instability and greater emotional reactivity in this age group [20].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Premisecitation

    Emotion regulation is a critical life skill that predicts positive life outcomes in adulthood.

    “Emotion regulation involves active attempts to maintain or change emotions and is a critical life skill that predicts positive life outcomes in adulthood [5,6].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [5] Casey BJ Somerville LH Gotlib IH Ayduk O Franklin NT Askren MK Jonides J Berman MG Wilson NL Teslovich T Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A 2011 108 14998 15003 21876169 PMC3169162 source

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    • cites [6] Duckworth AL Kim B Tsukayama E Life Stress Impairs Self-Control in Early Adolescence. Front. Psychol 2013 3 PMC3581033 23443890 source

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  • Premisecitation

    The ability to regulate emotion improves with age.

    “Developmental studies find that the ability to regulate emotion improves with age.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [26] McRae K Gross JJ Weber J Robertson ER Sokol-Hessner P Ray RD Gabrieli JDE Ochsner KN The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci 2012 7 11 22 22228751 PMC3252634 source

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    • cites [27] Silvers JA Shu J Hubbard AD Weber J Ochsner KN Concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response in adolescence and young adulthood. Dev. Sci 2014 doi:10.1111/desc.12260 PMC4459932 25439326 source

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  • Premisereasoning

    The set of regions recruited by reappraisal is not specific to emotion regulation but is also commonly activated in cognitive control tasks.

    “This set of regions is not specific to emotion regulation, but is also commonly activated in tasks involving cognitive control more generally.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Premisecitation

    The imbalance between prefrontal and affective regions is represented by stronger activations in subcortical relative to cortical regions peaking during adolescence.

    “This imbalance is represented by a pattern of stronger activations in subcortical relative to cortical regions peaking during adolescence, which may contribute to mood instability and greater emotional reactivity in this age group [20].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [20] Casey BJ Beyond Simple Models of Self-Control to Circuit-Based Accounts of Adolescent Behavior. Annu. Rev. Psychol 2015 66 295 319 Comprehensive recent review of developmental imaging studies related to self-control. Self-control for incentives and threats are discussed. 25089362 source

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  • May combine two claims. 27
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 9
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    Premisecitation

    The amygdala is important for signaling the presence, and modulating the encoding, of affect-relevant stimuli.

    “Chief among them is the amgydala, a subcortical structure important for signaling the presence, and modulating the encoding, of affect-relevant stimuli [11].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [11] Phelps EA LeDoux JE Contributions of the Amygdala to Emotion Processing: From Animal Models to Human Behavior. Neuron 2005 48 175 187 16242399 source

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    Premisecitation

    mPFC and ACC are commonly activated in tasks involving selection among competing responses, and may help in identifying when regulation is needed.

    “Finally, mPFC and ACC are commonly activated in tasks involving selection among competing responses, and may help in identifying when regulation is needed [17].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [17] Shenhav A Botvinick MM Cohen JD The Expected Value of Control: An Integrative Theory of Anterior Cingulate Cortex Function. Neuron 2013 79 217 240 23889930 PMC3767969 source

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  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The insula represents information about body states associated with affective responses.

    “and the insula, a cortical region representing information about the body states associated with affective responses [13].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [13] Uddin LQ Kinnison J Pessoa L Anderson ML Beyond the Tripartite Cognition–Emotion–Interoception Model of the Human Insular Cortex. J. Cogn. Neurosci 2013 26 16 27 23937691 PMC4074004

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  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation

    Prefrontal control regions like dlPFC and vlPFC mature at a slower rate relative to affective response regions like the amygdala and ventral striatum.

    “A popular theory is that prefrontal control regions like dlPFC and vlPFC mature at a slower rate relative to affective response regions like the amygdala and ventral striatum [18,19].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [18] Tamnes CK Walhovd KB Dale AM Østby Y Grydeland H Richardson G Westlye LT Roddey JC Hagler DJ Jr Due-Tønnessen P Brain development and aging: Overlapping and unique patterns of change. NeuroImage 2013 68 63 74 23246860 PMC5378867 source

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    • cites [19] Gogtay N Giedd JN Lusk L Hayashi KM Greenstein D Vaituzis AC Nugent TF Herman DH Clasen LS Toga AW Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A 2004 101 8174 8179 15148381 PMC419576 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    dlPFC is commonly active during selective attention and working memory tasks, which may aid in holding emotion-regulation strategies in mind.

    “The dlPFC is commonly active during selective attention and working memory tasks, which may aid in holding emotion-regulation strategies in mind [15].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [15] Wager TD Smith EE Neuroimaging studies of working memory Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci 2003 3 255 274 15040547 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationnone given

    Emotion regulation can facilitate learning and improve educational outcomes.

    “Emotion regulation is a critical life skill that can facilitate learning and improve educational outcomes.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The ventral striatum is implicated in signaling the reward value of stimuli.

    “Also impacted by reappraisal is the ventral striatum, another subcortical structure implicated in signaling the reward value of stimuli [12]”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [12] Haber SN Knutson B The Reward Circuit: Linking Primate Anatomy and Human Imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology 2009 35 4 26 PMC3055449 19812543 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    vlPFC is commonly active during response selection and inhibition, which may help with selecting an appropriate reappraisal tactic.

    “vlPFC is commonly active during response selection and inhibition, which may help with selecting an appropriate reappraisal tactic [16].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [16] Aron AR Robbins TW Poldrack RA Inhibition and the right inferior frontal cortex. Trends Cogn. Sci 2004 8 170 177 15050513 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Emotions can promote learning by capturing and holding attention as well as deepening encoding.

    “For example, emotions can promote learning by capturing and holding attention as well as deepening encoding [1–3].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [1] Clore GL Huntsinger JR How emotions inform judgment and regulate thought. Trends Cogn. Sci 2007 11 393 399 17698405 PMC2483304 source

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    • cites [2] Talmi D Enhanced Emotional Memory Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci 2013 22 430 436 source

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    • cites [3] Yiend J The effects of emotion on attention: A review of attentional processing of emotional information. Cogn. Emot 2010 24 3 47 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Growing up in poverty can have a negative effect on the developing brain and one's ability to regulate emotions.

    “Growing up in conditions of poverty also can have a negative effect on the developing brain and one's ability to regulate emotions.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [31] Kim P Evans GW Angstadt M Ho SS Sripada CS Swain JE Liberzon I Phan KL Effects of childhood poverty and chronic stress on emotion regulatory brain function in adulthood. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 2013 110 18442 18447 24145409 PMC3831978 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Younger individuals may be especially responsive to positive rewards and feedback and therefore might need to deploy regulation more often.

    “In sum, these findings suggest that while all ages are able to regulate positive emotions successfully, younger individuals may be especially responsive to positive rewards and feedback and therefore might need to deploy regulation more often.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Children in the eight to nine year old age group demonstrated greater brain activation during positive feedback compared to negative feedback, particularly in dlPFC and parietal regions, whereas adults showed the reverse trend.

    “At the neural level, children in the eight to nine year old age group demonstrated greater brain activation during positive feedback compared to negative feedback, particularly in dlPFC and parietal regions, whereas adults showed the reverse trend, activating similar regions more than the other age groups when receiving negative compared to positive feedback.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [42] Duijvenvoorde ACK van Zanolie K Rombouts SARB Raijmakers MEJ Crone EA Evaluating the Negative or Valuing the Positive? Neural Mechanisms Supporting Feedback-Based Learning across Development. J. Neurosci 2008 28 9495 9503 This study is the first to examine neural systems supporting feedback learning during across development and found that younger age groups have more activation in lateral prefrontal regions than adolescents and adults to positive feedback compared to negative feedback. In contrast adults had more activation in frontoparietal regions than children and adolescents to negative f source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Positive emotions broaden one's attentional scope, which can facilitate enhanced learning and memory.

    “While negative emotions are thought to focus attention on and promote encoding of potential threats, positive emotions are believed to broaden one's attentional scope which can then facilitate enhanced learning and memory [37].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [37] Fredrickson BL Branigan C Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought action repertoires. Cogn. Emot 2005 19 313 332 21852891 PMC3156609 source

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  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisenone given

    Emotions can be heavily influenced by the words and actions of other people.

    “Although our emotions are experienced individually, any parent or teacher knows that they can be heavily influenced by the words and actions of other people.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    All age groups performed better on a rule learning task when they received positive feedback compared to negative feedback, and this trend was largest for eight to nine year olds.

    “A study by Duijvenvoorde et al. comparing responses to positive and negative feedback across age found that all age groups performed better on a rule learning task when they received positive feedback compared to negative feedback, and this trend was the largest for eight to nine year olds [42].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [42] Duijvenvoorde ACK van Zanolie K Rombouts SARB Raijmakers MEJ Crone EA Evaluating the Negative or Valuing the Positive? Neural Mechanisms Supporting Feedback-Based Learning across Development. J. Neurosci 2008 28 9495 9503 This study is the first to examine neural systems supporting feedback learning during across development and found that younger age groups have more activation in lateral prefrontal regions than adolescents and adults to positive feedback compared to negative feedback. In contrast adults had more activation in frontoparietal regions than children and adolescents to negative f source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    The behavioral ability to down-regulate negative emotion, decrease amygdala activation, and increase activity in lateral prefrontal regions tracks with age.

    “Data suggest that the behavioral ability to down-regulate negative emotion, decrease amygdala activation [25] and increase activity in lateral prefrontal regions tracks with age [26,27].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [25] Stephanou K Davey CG Kerestes R Whittle S Pujol J Yücel M Fornito A López-Solà M Harrison BJ Brain functional correlates of emotion regulation across adolescence and young adulthood. Hum. Brain Mapp 2015 PMC6867496 26596970 source

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    • cites [26] McRae K Gross JJ Weber J Robertson ER Sokol-Hessner P Ray RD Gabrieli JDE Ochsner KN The development of emotion regulation: an fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal in children, adolescents and young adults. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci 2012 7 11 22 22228751 PMC3252634 source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [27] Silvers JA Shu J Hubbard AD Weber J Ochsner KN Concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response in adolescence and young adulthood. Dev. Sci 2014 doi:10.1111/desc.12260 PMC4459932 25439326 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    In certain positive domains, children's reward circuitry may be especially responsive to rewards and positive emotions, although they can successfully attempt to down-regulate these responses when desired.

    “Together these studies, though only a subset in a larger, more complex body of literature on reward processing, suggest that in certain positive domains, children's reward circuitry may be especially responsive to rewards and positive emotions, although they can successfully attempt to down-regulate these responses when desired.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Adolescents who were maltreated demonstrated more reactivity to negative emotional scenes in the amygdala and insula and greater recruitment of dlPFC and ACC when reappraising those scenes, suggesting more reactivity and more effortful regulation.

    “For example, one study found that adolescents who were maltreated demonstrated more reactivity to negative emotional scenes in the amygdala and insula and greater recruitment of dlPFC and ACC regions when reappraising those scenes, suggesting more reactivity and more effortful regulation [32].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [32] McLaughlin KA Peverill M Gold AL Alves S Sheridan MA Child Maltreatment and Neural Systems Underlying Emotion Regulation. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2015 54 753 762 26299297 PMC4548288

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Children were more likely to update accurately for good news compared to bad news, and with age, the differences in updating between good news and bad news decreased and lost significance in adulthood.

    “Similarly, in a belief-updating task on good and bad news by Moutsiana et al., children were more likely to update accurately for good news compared to bad news, and with age, the differences in updating between good news and bad news decreased and lost significance in adulthood [43].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [43] Moutsiana C Garrett N Clarke RC Lotto RB Blakemore S-J Sharot T Human development of the ability to learn from bad news. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 2013 110 16396 16401 24019466 PMC3799330 source

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    Premisecitation

    Acute stress and chronic stress can have deleterious effects on cognitive abilities.

    “However, acute stress (e.g. test anxiety) and outside factors contributing to chronic stress (e.g. poverty) can have deleterious effects on one's cognitive abilities [4,30,31].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [4] Lupien SJ McEwen BS Gunnar MR Heim C Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nat. Rev. Neurosci 2009 10 434 445 19401723 source

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    • cites [30] Supekar K Iuculano T Chen L Menon V Remediation of Childhood Math Anxiety and Associated Neural Circuits through Cognitive Tutoring. J. Neurosci 2015 35 12574 12583 26354922 PMC4563039 source

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    • cites [31] Kim P Evans GW Angstadt M Ho SS Sripada CS Swain JE Liberzon I Phan KL Effects of childhood poverty and chronic stress on emotion regulatory brain function in adulthood. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 2013 110 18442 18447 24145409 PMC3831978 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation

    Responses to positive feedback activate different neural circuitry than responses to negative feedback and may follow different neurodevelopmental trajectories, which may explain why children learn better from positive feedback.

    “Responses to positive feedback activate different neural circuitry than responses to negative feedback and may follow different neurodevelopmental trajectories, which may explain why children learn better from positive feedback [44].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [44] van den Bos W Güroğlu B van den Bulk BG Rombouts SARB Crone EA Better than expected or as bad as you thought? The neurocognitive development of probabilistic feedback processing. Front. Hum. Neurosci 2009 3 52 20140268 PMC2816174

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    The role of ventral striatum in response to rewards across development is complex and in some cases conflicting, with some studies finding increases in activation peaking during adolescence, whereas others find attenuations.

    “The role of ventral striatum in response to rewards across development is complex and in some cases conflicting, with some studies finding increases in activation in this region peaking during adolescence, whereas others find attenuations [20,23,38].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [20] Casey BJ Beyond Simple Models of Self-Control to Circuit-Based Accounts of Adolescent Behavior. Annu. Rev. Psychol 2015 66 295 319 Comprehensive recent review of developmental imaging studies related to self-control. Self-control for incentives and threats are discussed. 25089362 source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [23] Telzer EH Dopaminergic reward sensitivity can promote adolescent health: A new perspective on the mechanism of ventral striatum activation. Dev. Cogn. Neurosci 2016 17 57 67 26708774 PMC4727991 source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [38] Richards JM Plate RC Ernst M A systematic review of fMRI reward paradigms used in studies of adolescents vs. adults: The impact of task design and implications for understanding neurodevelopment. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev 2013 37 976 991 23518270 PMC3809756 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Negative emotions focus attention on and promote encoding of potential threats.

    “While negative emotions are thought to focus attention on and promote encoding of potential threats, positive emotions are believed to broaden one's attentional scope which can then facilitate enhanced learning and memory [37].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Application of reappraisal strategies led to decreased craving for rewarding foods and decreased activation in ventral striatum.

    “in one reward domain - appetitive reactivity to foods -several studies found that application of reappraisal strategies led to decreased craving for rewarding foods and decreased activation in ventral striatum”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [39] Silvers JA Insel C Powers A Franz P Weber J Mischel W Casey BJ Ochsner KN Curbing Craving Behavioral and Brain Evidence That Children Regulate Craving When Instructed to Do So but Have Higher Baseline Craving Than Adults. Psychol. Sci 2014 doi:10.1177/0956797614546001 PMC4268877 25193941 source

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    • cites [40] Giuliani NR Pfeifer JH Age-related changes in reappraisal of appetitive cravings during adolescence. NeuroImage 2015 108 173 181 25536500 PMC4817999 source

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  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    Groups who experienced greater adversity demonstrated greater neural reactivity to negative images in amygdala and different patterns of activation in prefrontal cortex compared to groups experiencing less adversity.

    “In both studies, the groups who had experienced greater adversity demonstrated greater neural reactivity to negative images in amygdala and different patterns of activation in prefrontal cortex compared to the groups experiencing less adversity.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [31] Kim P Evans GW Angstadt M Ho SS Sripada CS Swain JE Liberzon I Phan KL Effects of childhood poverty and chronic stress on emotion regulatory brain function in adulthood. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci 2013 110 18442 18447 24145409 PMC3831978 source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [32] McLaughlin KA Peverill M Gold AL Alves S Sheridan MA Child Maltreatment and Neural Systems Underlying Emotion Regulation. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 2015 54 753 762 26299297 PMC4548288 source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Brain regions associated with cognitive control may have a slower maturational trajectory relative to structures associated with emotional responding, so children and adolescents may have a harder time regulating their emotions.

    “Since brain regions associated with cognitive control structures – such as prefrontal cortex – may have a slower maturational trajectory relative to structures associated with emotional responding – like the amygdala and ventral striatum – children and adolescents may have a harder time regulating their emotions.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Interpretationnone given

    Emotion regulation is a type of emotion-cognition interaction where cognitive control systems are believed to aid in dampening or enhancing negative and positive emotions.

    “Emotion regulation is a type of emotion-cognition interaction where cognitive control systems are believed to aid in dampening or enhancing negative and positive emotions (Figure 1).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Interpretationnone given

    Attention, executive functioning, memory and learning are cognitive constructs critical in understanding how to improve learning and teaching, however, often before any of these cognitive functions can happen, they have to pass through the filter of an individual's emotional experience.

    “Attention, executive functioning, memory and learning are all cognitive constructs critical in understanding how to improve learning and teaching, however, often before any of these cognitive functions can happen, they have to pass through the filter of an individual's emotional experience.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based).

    Interpretationnone given

    Adolescents may be especially sensitive to the influence of their peers.

    “While we know that educators and caregivers can help reduce negative emotions in children – and adolescents may be especially sensitive to the influence of their peers – little is known about how such behavioral effects relate to the development of underlying neural systems.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    The presence of a similarly aged peer may increase risky decision making as well as ventral striatum and vlPFC activation in adolescents.

    “In contrast to the role of parents, however, the presence of a similarly aged peer may increase risky decision making as well as ventral striatum and vlPFC activation in adolescents [51,52].”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [51] Chein J Albert D O'Brien L Uckert K Steinberg L Peers increase adolescent risk taking by enhancing activity in the brain's reward circuitry. Dev. Sci 2011 14 F1 F10 21499511 PMC3075496 source

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    • cites [52] Smith AR Steinberg L Strang N Chein J Age differences in the impact of peers on adolescents’ and adults’ neural response to reward. Dev. Cogn. Neurosci 2014 doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.010 PMC4324356 25280778 source

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  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Interpretationnone given

    Dispositional factors such as depression and anxiety and situational factors outside the classroom such as stress or abuse can enhance emotional reactivity or impair prefrontal function, either of which may make emotion regulation more effortful.

    “Of course, dispositional factors such as depression and anxiety and situational factors outside the classroom such as stress or abuse can enhance emotional reactivity or impair prefrontal function, either of which may make emotion regulation more effortful.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning

    Positive emotions, feedback, and rewards may facilitate better learning.

    “For example, because positive emotions, feedback, and rewards may facilitate better learning, using regulation strategies to enhance positive emotions could be an effective approach in educational settings.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    In adolescents, the presence of a caregiver during a risky decision task decreased risky choices and increased activation in control regions including vlPFC and mPFC, and decreased ventral striatum and amygdala activation.

    “Similarly, in the reward domain, the presence of a caregiver during a risky decision task decreased risky choices and increased activation in control regions including vlPFC and mPFC, and decreased ventral striatum and amygdala activation in adolescents [50].”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [50] Telzer EH Ichien NT Qu Y Mothers know best: redirecting adolescent reward sensitivity toward safe behavior during risk taking. Soc. Cogn. Affect. Neurosci 2015 10 1383 1391 This study found that in the presence of their mothers, adolescents were more likely to activate prefrontal control regions during a risky decision making task compared to when they were alone. 25759470 PMC4590537 source

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  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Emotion regulation abilities can be improved through training or intervention in educational settings.

    “At the classroom level, training students on emotion regulation strategies (e.g. distancing, mindfulness, reinterpretation of negative scenarios – for examples see references [33–36]) could be an effective intervention approach particularly for individuals or populations exposed to situations of high stress and adversity.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Neural measures of emotion regulation in laboratory tasks are relevant to real-world classroom learning and behavior.

    “Importantly, these data could be leveraged to influence curricula and policy (Figure 2).”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The developmental trajectory of emotion regulation observed in lab tasks reflects how students regulate emotions in educational settings.

    “understanding how students regulate (or fail to regulate) emotions given their developmental stage and background can help educators better scaffold and manage their classrooms to enhance learning and successful student outcomes.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Positive feedback and rewards in the classroom operate similarly to lab reward stimuli and can be regulated by the same strategies.

    “because positive emotions, feedback, and rewards may facilitate better learning, using regulation strategies to enhance positive emotions could be an effective approach in educational settings.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The capacity to regulate emotion is key to promoting and maintaining emotional states that foster optimal learning.

    “The capacity to regulate emotion may be key in this regard.”
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  • By mapping these outcomes onto an overarching, interpretive tripartite pedagogical framework, this study offers university educators actionable structural categories (operative tools, methodological schedules, and socio-emotional feedback loops) to systematically operationalize basic cognitive science into multidisciplinary higher education curricula.

    “By mapping these outcomes onto an overarching, interpretive tripartite pedagogical framework, this study offers university educators actionable structural categories (operative tools, methodological schedules, and socio-emotional feedback loops) (Chee, 2025;Martin & Ochsner, 2016) to systematically operationalize basic cognitive science into multidisciplinary higher education curricula.”

    From Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Neurodidactic Spaced Learning Strategies in Long-Term Memory (2026) · cites this paper as Martin & Ochsner, 2016

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Silvers, 2014, Concurrent and lasting effects of emotion regulation on amygdala response in adolescence and young adulthood, Dev Sci

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Martin, R. E., & Ochsner, K. N.
Affiliations
Columbia University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Martin, Rebecca E
  • Ochsner, Kevin N
Venue
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-08
Volume
10
Pages
142-148
ISSN
2352-1546 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2469119618
Cited by
197
References
56
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
FWCI
0.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (5r01ag043463-05)
  • National Institute on Aging (R01-AG043463)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH107119)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD069178)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
Keywords
emotion regulation, prefrontal cortex, executive function, cognitive control, brain maturation, negative emotions, positive emotions, learning, educational outcomes

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Claims read by deepseek-v4.1-flash under definition version 3 (extract-v3) on 2026-10-10.

Classified by jev-1.13-20260917 (gold-guideline-v0.2) on 2026-10-10.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

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