Help them pass a stormy road: A preliminary study of emotional memory management training on executive functions and difficulties in emotional regulation in adolescents

Abstract

Adolescence is a critical period for developing neurobiological processes that create the basis for higher cognitive functions and emotional and social behaviour (Yurgelun-Todd, 2007). The adolescent's brain exhibits situational changes in structural and functional regions, especially the limbic and frontal cortex regions known to regulate emotions and functional processes (Ahmed et al., 2015). It is assumed that a developing brain reduces the ability of an adolescent to successfully regulate emotions and puts the adolescent at risk of anxiety and stress disorders (Powers & Casey, 2015). Moreover, physical and biological changes, the need for independence, and emotional and stressful reactions often follow academic pressure during this period (Ahmed et al., 2015;Hilt et al., 2011).