Emotion regulation has been linked to specific brain networks based on functional neuroimaging, but networks causally involved in emotion regulation remain unknown.
We studied patients with focal brain damage (n=167) who completed the “managing emotion” subscale of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a measure of emotion regulation. First, we tested whether patients with lesions to an a priori network derived from functional neuroimaging showed impaired emotion regulation. Next, we leveraged lesion network mapping to derive a de novo brain network for emotion regulation. Finally, we used an independent lesion database (n=629) to test whether damage to this lesion-derived network would increase the risk of neuropsychiatric conditions associated with emotion regulation impairment.
First, patients with lesions intersecting the a priori emotion regulation network derived from functional neuroimaging showed impairments in the managing emotion subscale of the MSCEIT. Next, our de novo brain network for emotion regulation derived from lesion data was defined by functional connectivity (FC) to the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Finally, lesions from the independent database associated with mania, criminality, and depression intersected this de novo brain network more than lesions associated with other disorders.
The findings suggest that emotion regulation maps to a connected brain network centered on the left vlPFC. Lesion damage to part of this network is associated with reported difficulties in managing emotions and is related to increased likelihood of having one of several neuropsychiatric disorders.

Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.