The association of emotion regulation with distress tolerance depends on a neural correlate of cognitive control.

Background: Distress tolerance is associated with transdiagnostic mental health problems. Theory and research implicate emotion regulation and cognitive control as factors in distress tolerance but their unique contributions and interdependency have been unclear. This study tested how emotion regulation and the N2, a neural index of cognitive control, uniquely and interactively predicted distress tolerance.

Methods: Undergraduate psychology students (N = 57) completed self-report measures and a Go-NoGo task, from which the N2 was extracted using PCA. The Go-NoGo task was counter-balanced to avoid confounding stimulus characteristics and frequency of stimulus presentation.

Results: Emotion regulation predicted distress tolerance, but the N2 did not. The association of emotion regulation with distress tolerance was moderated by the N2, such that the association was larger at higher N2 amplitudes.

Limitations: The use of a non-clinical student sample limits the generalizability of the results. The data are cross-sectional and correlational, preventing conclusions about causality.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that emotion regulation is associated with better distress tolerance at higher levels of N2 amplitude, a neural correlate of cognitive control. Emotion regulation may be more effective at enabling distress tolerance in individuals with better cognitive control. This supports past work indicating that distress tolerance interventions may provide benefit by developing emotion regulation skills. Additional research is needed to test if such an approach is more effective in individuals with better cognitive control.