The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) are both crucial structures involved in voluntary emotional regulation. However, it remains unclear whether the functions of these two cortical regions that are involved in emotional regulation, which are usually active in non-social situations, could be generalized to the regulation of social pain as well. This study employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to examine the causal relationship between the DLPFC/VLPFC and the emotional regulation of social pain via distraction and reappraisal. Ninety human participants (45 males and 45 females) initially underwent either active (DLPFC/VLPFC, n = 30/30) or sham (vertex, n = 30) TMS sessions. Participants were then instructed to use both distraction and reappraisal strategies to downregulate any negative emotions evoked by social exclusion pictures. Convergent results of the subjective emotional rating and electrophysiological indices demonstrated that: (1) both the DLPFC and VLPFC highly facilitate the downregulation of affective responses caused by social exclusion, revealing a causal role of these lateral PFCs in voluntary emotional regulation of both non-social and social pain; and (2) these two cortical regions showed relative functional specificity for distraction (DLPFC) and reappraisal (VLPFC) strategies, which helps to refine the cortical targeting of therapeutic protocols. In addition, the TMS effect was sustainable for at least 1 h, showcasing the potential feasibility of using this method in clinical practice. Together, these findings provide cognitive and neural evidence for the targeting of the VLPFC and/or the DLPFC to improve emotional regulation abilities, especially in social contexts.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study aimed to examine the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral PFC (VLPFC) in emotional regulation, particularly in response to social pain through the use of distraction and reappraisal strategies, as this is a relatively underexplored area of inquiry. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature because our results provide novel empirical information on the role of these cortical structures in the processing of negative emotions elicited within certain social contexts. As such, our findings have potential clinical implications, paving the way for future clinicians to be able to accurately target specific brain regions among patients struggling with impaired social cognition abilities, including those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, social anxiety disorder, and depression.

背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）和腹外侧PFC（VLPFC）都是参与自愿情绪调节的关键结构。但是，尚不清楚这两个参与情绪调节的皮层区域的功能（通常在非社会场合活跃）是否也可以推广到社会痛苦的调节。这项研究采用经颅磁刺激（TMS）来检查DLPFC / VLPFC与通过分心和重新评估对社会痛苦的情绪调节之间的因果关系。最初进行主动（DLPFC / VLPFC，n = 30/30）或假（顶点，n）的90名人类参与者（45男和45女）= 30）TMS会话。然后指示参与者使用分散注意力和重新评估策略来下调社交排斥图片引起的任何负面情绪。主观情绪等级和电生理指标的收敛结果表明：（1）DLPFC和VLPFC都高度促进了社会排斥引起的情感反应的下调，揭示了这些横向PFC在非社会性自愿情绪调节中的因果作用和社会痛苦；（2）这两个皮质区域表现出相对于分散注意力（DLPFC）和重新评估（VLPFC）策略的相对功能特异性，这有助于改善治疗方案的皮质靶向性。此外，TMS效果可持续至少1小时，展示了在临床实践中使用此方法的潜在可行性。在一起，这些发现为VLPFC和/或DLPFC的针对性提供了认知和神经证据，以改善情绪调节能力，尤其是在社交场合。

重要性声明这项研究旨在探讨背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）和腹侧PFC（VLPFC）在情绪调节中的作用，尤其是通过分心和重新评估策略应对社会痛苦时的作用，因为这是一个相对未充分研究的领域。这项研究为文献做出了重大贡献，因为我们的研究结果提供了有关这些皮质结构在某些社会环境中引起的负面情绪处理中作用的新颖经验信息。因此，我们的发现具有潜在的临床意义，为未来的临床医生能够准确地针对那些社会认知能力受损的患者（包括诊断为创伤后应激障碍，自闭症谱系障碍，