Brain substrates of behavioral programs associated with self-regulation
- 1
Experimental Psychology Section, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
- 2
Centre for Child and Family Studies, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands
- 3
Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
- 4
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- 5
RSM, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Netherlands
- 6
Electrical Geodesics, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA
- 7
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
The present paper proposes that four neuromodulator systems underpin highly generalized behavioral sets, but each targets either dorsomedial or ventrolateral cortical systems, where it produces its effects in either a proactive or reactive orientation to the environment. This way systems are discriminated that control reactive approach (dopaminergic), reactive avoidance (cholinergic), proactive behavior (noradrenergic), and withdrawal (serotonergic). This model is compared with models of temperament, affect, personality, and so-called two-system models from psychology. Although the present model converges with previous models that point to a basic scheme underlying temperamental and affective space, at the same time it suggest that specific additional discriminations are necessary to improve descriptive fit to data and solve inconsistencies and confusions. We demonstrate how proactive and reactive actions and controls can be confused, and that this has many potential implications for psychology and neurobiology. We uncover conceptual problems regarding constructs such as effortful control, positive affect, approach-avoidance, extraversion, impulsivity, impulse-control, and goal-directedness of behavior. By delineating those problems, our approach also opens up ways to tackle them.
Keywords:
dopamine, noradrenalin, acetylcholine, serotonin, motivation, predictability, temperament, self-regulation
Citation:
Tops M, Boksem MAS, Luu P and Tucker DM (2010) Brain substrates of behavioral programs associated with self-regulation. Front. Psychology 1:152 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00152
Received: 10 March 2010;
Paper pending published: 22 March 2010;
Accepted: 23 August 2010;
Published online: 16 September 2010.
Edited by:
Henk Barendregt, Radboud University, Netherlands
Reviewed by:
Antonino Raffone, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Marc M. D. Lewis, University of Toronto, Canada
Marco Del Giudice, University of Turin, Italy
Copyright:
© 2010 Tops, Boksem, Luu and Tucker .This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
*Correspondence:
Mattie Tops, Experimental Psychology Section, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS Groningen, Netherlands. e-mail: m.tops@rug.nl;