Background: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has confronted millions of people around the world with an unprecedented stressor, affecting physical and mental health. Accumulating evidence suggests that emotional and cognitive self-regulation is particularly needed to effectively cope with stress. Therefore, we investigated the predictive value of affective and inhibitory prefrontal control for stress burden during the COVID-19 crisis. Method: Physical and mental health burden were assessed using an online survey, which was administered to 104 participants of an ongoing German at-risk birth cohort during the first wave in April 2020. Two follow-ups were carried out during the pandemic, one capturing the relaxation during summer and the other the beginning of the second wave of the crisis. Prefrontal activity during emotion regulation and inhibitory control were assessed prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Results: Increased inferior frontal gyrus activity during emotion regulation predicted lower stress burden at the beginning of the first and the second wave of the crisis. In contrast, inferior and medial frontal gyrus activity during inhibitory control predicted effective coping only during the summer, when infection rates decreased but stress burden remained unchanged. These findings remained significant when controlling for sociodemographic and clinical confounders such as stressful life events prior to the crisis or current psychopathology. Conclusions: We demonstrate that differential stress-buffering effects are predicted by the neural underpinnings of emotion regulation and cognitive regulation at different stages during the pandemic. These findings may inform future prevention strategies to foster stress coping in unforeseen situations.

中文翻译：

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应对压力：前额叶控制可预测 COVID-19 危机期间的压力负担

背景：冠状病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行使全世界数百万人面临前所未有的压力，影响身心健康。越来越多的证据表明，特别需要情绪和认知自我调节才能有效应对压力。因此，我们研究了情感和抑制性前额叶控制对 COVID-19 危机期间压力负担的预测价值。方法：使用在线调查评估身心健康负担，该调查在 2020 年 4 月第一波期间对一个正在进行的德国高危出生队列的 104 名参与者进行了评估。在大流行期间进行了两次随访，一次捕获夏季的放松和第二波危机的开始。在 COVID-19 危机之前评估了情绪调节和抑制控制期间的前额叶活动。结果：情绪调节期间额下回活动的增加预示着危机第一波和第二波开始时的压力负担较低。相比之下，抑制控制期间的额下回和内侧额回活动仅在夏季预测有效应对，此时感染率下降但压力负担保持不变。在控制社会人口统计学和临床​​混杂因素（例如危机之前的压力生活事件或当前的精神病理学）时，这些发现仍然很重要。结论：我们证明了在大流行期间不同阶段的情绪调节和认知调节的神经基础可以预测不同的压力缓冲效应。这些发现可能会为未来的预防策略提供信息，以促进在不可预见的情况下应对压力。