Measuring the executive regulation of emotion with self-rating scales in a nonclinical population

Prefrontal systems play an important role in the regulation of emotion as evidenced by clinical neuroimaging studies. Both subjective and objective neuropsychological tests provide functional evidence of executive dysfunction in emotional deregulation. The present authors evaluated these relationships here in a nonclinical community sample using the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale, Profile of Mood States (POMS), and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). Positive correlations uniformly emerged between prefrontal system dysfunction and negative emotional states (anger, depression, anxiety, stress, confusion, and fatigue), whereas positive emotion (vigor) showed a modest inverse correlation with prefrontal system dysfunction, even after control for demographic influences. These relationships may result from cognitive strategies for managing emotion mediated by reciprocal connections between prefrontal systems and the limbic system. The findings corroborated those of other methodologies, supporting the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) as a valid tool to measure prefrontal function in nonclinical populations.