Implicit social-affective biases—reflected in a propensity to approach positive and avoid negative stimuli—have been documented in humans with paradigms, such as the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). However, the degree to which preemptively engaging cognitive control can help to down-regulate those behavioral tendencies remains poorly understood. While undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 24 healthy participants completed a cued version of the AAT, in which they responded to pictures of happy or angry faces by pulling a joystick toward themselves (approach) or pushing the joystick away (avoidance) based on the color of the stimulus frame. On some trials, they were cued to reverse the frame color/joystick action instructions. Before stimulus onset, a reverse cue was associated with deactivation of a visuo-spatial and motor planning network and subsequent slowing down in response to stimuli. During the stimulus phase, a reverse cue was associated with a) activation of cognitive control areas, including the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL); and b) reduced right precentral gyrus activation when having to push (avoid) a happy face. Overall, these results suggest that proactively engaging cognitive control can help fine-tune behavioral and neural adjustment to emotionally incongruent behavioral conditions.

内隐的社会情感偏见——反映在接近积极和避免消极刺激的倾向中——已经在人类中被记录在案，例如接近回避任务 (AAT)。然而，先发制人的认知控制可以帮助下调这些行为倾向的程度仍然知之甚少。在进行功能性磁共振成像 (fMRI) 时，24 名健康参与者完成了 AAT 的提示版本，其中他们通过将操纵杆拉向自己（接近）或推开操纵杆（回避）来对快乐或愤怒的面孔图片做出反应在刺激框的颜色上。在一些试验中，他们被提示反转框架颜色/操纵杆动作指令。在刺激开始之前，反向线索与视觉空间和运动规划网络的失活以及随后对刺激的反应减慢有关。在刺激阶段，反向线索与 a) 认知控制区的激活有关，包括右侧额下回 (IFG) 和右侧顶下小叶 (IPL)；b）当不得不推动（避免）一张快乐的脸时，右中央前回的激活减少。总体而言，这些结果表明，主动参与认知控制可以帮助微调行为和神经调整以适应情绪不一致的行为状况。包括右侧额下回 (IFG) 和右侧顶下小叶 (IPL)；b）当不得不推动（避免）一张快乐的脸时，右中央前回的激活减少。总体而言，这些结果表明，主动参与认知控制可以帮助微调行为和神经调整以适应情绪不一致的行为状况。包括右侧额下回（IFG）和右侧顶下小叶（IPL）；b）当不得不推动（避免）一张快乐的脸时，右中央前回的激活减少。总体而言，这些结果表明，主动参与认知控制可以帮助微调行为和神经调整以适应情绪不一致的行为状况。