Role of left lateral prefrontal cortex in positive emotion regulation: Insights from dyslexia

TL;DR

The study explores how the left prefrontal cortex in children's brains relates to regulating positive emotions, using children with and without dyslexia.

Contribution

The study reveals that left prefrontal gray matter volume is linked to positive emotion regulation in children, offering new insights into neurodevelopmental mechanisms.

Findings

Children with smaller left prefrontal gray matter volumes showed worse facial behavior during positive emotion regulation.

Smaller left prefrontal volumes were associated with more positive self-reported emotion regulation success during amusement trials.

Positive self-evaluation of emotion regulation was linked to better everyday emotion regulation reported by parents.

Abstract

Emotion regulation emerges during childhood and engages prefrontal brain systems. While most developmental studies focus on the neural underpinnings of negative emotion regulation, less is known about the neuroanatomical correlates of positive emotion regulation. In adults, prefrontal areas in the left hemisphere are critical for positive emotion regulation, but whether this association is present in children is unknown. We investigated whether smaller gray matter volume in left prefrontal regions related to worse positive emotion regulation in children with and without dyslexia. Because dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of reading in which there may be greater variability in left prefrontal structures, it offers a unique window into the neural basis of positive emotion regulation. Sixty-nine children (ages 7–13) were asked to hide their feelings while watching film clips that elicited either amusement or disgust, and evaluate their emotion regulation performance. Parents reported on children’s everyday emotion regulation. Across the sample, children with smaller volumes in left prefrontal regions (i.e., lateral orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) had greater facial behavior (i.e., suggesting worse positive emotion regulation) yet more positive self-reported emotion regulation success during the amusement trial (i.e., suggesting more favorable self-evaluation). These regions did not relate to disgust regulation, however. Children with more positive views of their emotion regulation success also had better everyday parent-reported emotion regulation. Results suggest that positive emotion regulation in childhood relies on left prefrontal regions and a more optimistic view of one’s emotion regulation abilities, regardless of one’s actual emotional behavior, may confer real-world advantages.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13415-025-01335-8.

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