Background/Objectives: Opting to perform emotion regulation when facing high-arousal stimuli enhances the reduction in negative emotions. Previous research has indicated that self-choice, that is, personally choosing from multiple alternatives, can improve performance. However, it is unclear whether the emotion regulation strategy chosen among multiple alternatives in daily life enhances stress reduction compared to a forced strategy. This study aimed to reveal the effects of self-choice emotion regulation and its underlying neural basis. Methods: Participants were 40 healthy adults who met the inclusion criteria; they performed self-choice emotion regulation, forced emotion regulation, and no emotion regulation (the control condition) while their brain activity was captured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. First, the participants were shown a stressful scenario. Secondly, they rated the stress they experienced. Thirdly, they performed self-choice or forced emotion regulation or did nothing. Finally, participants rated their stress level again. Results: Self-choice emotion regulation reduced stress better than forced-choice emotion regulation. The stress reduction was associated with decreases in the activation of the left opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Conclusions: Self-choice can improve emotion regulation, and this effect is likely mediated by the neural efficiency of the left inferior frontal gyrus.

Mindfulness meditation has two components: focused attention (FA) meditation and open-monitoring (OM) meditation. Based on traditional Buddhist principles, it is recommended that FA meditation be practiced prior to OM meditation. However, the influence of the order in which these meditations are practiced on the efficacy of interventions has not yet been empirically investigated. This study examined the effects of the order of FA and OM meditation on the level and process of acquiring mindfulness skills. Thirty-three Japanese undergraduate and graduate students who were meditation novices completed the intervention. Participants were assigned to three groups: the group practicing 4-week FA meditation prior to 4-week OM meditation (FA-OM group), the group practicing meditation in reverse order (OM-FA group), and the wait-list control group. Each meditation training session consisted of one 1-hour group session per week and a 15-min daily homework. All participants were assessed for trait mindfulness once a week. The results showed that the FA-OM group scored higher than the control group for most mindfulness skills. In addition, awareness, describing, acceptance, and observing skills increased earlier in the FA-OM group than in the OM-FA group. However, the skill of staying aware at the present moment increased earlier in the OM-FA group than in the FA-OM group. These results suggest that the order of practicing the two meditations primarily influences the process of acquiring mindfulness skills rather than the level of skills, and that it is reasonable to practice FA meditation prior to OM meditation to cultivate mindfulness skills for novices.