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Negative anticipatory biases can affect the way we interpret and subjectively experience events. Through its role in emotion regulation, positive future thinking may provide an accessible way to attenuate these biases. However, it is unclear whether positive future thinking works ubiquitously, independent of contextual relevance. Here, we used a positive future thinking intervention (task-relevant; task-irrelevant and control condition) prior to a social stress task to adapt the way this task was experienced. We assessed subjective and objective stress measures and also recorded resting state electroencephalography (EEG) to assess intervention related differences in the level of frontal delta-beta coupling, which is considered a neurobiological substrate of stress regulation. Results show that the intervention reduced subjective stress and anxiety, and increased social fixation behavior and task performance, but only if future thinking was task-relevant. Paradoxically, task-irrelevant positive future thoughts enhanced negative perceptual biases and stress reactivity. This increase in stress reactivity was corroborated by elevated levels of frontal delta-beta coupling during event anticipation, which suggests an increased demand for stress regulation. Together, these findings show that positive future thinking can mitigate the negative emotional, behavioral and neurobiological consequences of a stressful event, but that it should not be applied indiscriminately., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: In resting-state EEG, the ratio between frontal power in the slow theta frequency band and the fast beta frequency band (the theta/beta ratio, TBR) has previously been negatively related to attentional control. Also, increased theta and reduced beta power were observed during mind wandering (MW) compared to episodes of focused attention. Thus, increased resting-state frontal TBR could be related to MW, suggesting that previously observed relationships between TBR and attentional control could reflect MW episodes increasing the average resting state TBR in people with low attentional control., Goals: To replicate and extend the previous theta and beta MW effects for frontal TBR recordings and test if MW related changes in frontal TBR are related to attentional control., Method: Twenty-six healthy participants performed a 40-minute breath-counting task, after a baseline EEG recording, while EEG was measured and participants indicated MW episodes with button presses., Results: Frontal TBR was significantly higher during MW episodes than during on-task periods. However, no relation between frontal TBR and attentional control was found., Conclusions: This confirms that frontal TBR varies with MW, which is thought to reflect, among other things, a state of reduced top-down attentional control over thoughts., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Spontaneous EEG theta/beta ratio (TBR) probably marks prefrontal cortical (PFC) executive control, and its regulation of attentional threat-bias. Caffeine at moderate doses may strengthen executive control through increased PFC catecholamine action, dependent on basal PFC function., Goal: To test if caffeine affects threat-bias, moderated by baseline frontal TBR and trait-anxiety., Methods: A pictorial emotional Stroop task was used to assess threat-bias in forty female participants in a cross-over, double-blind study after placebo and 200 mg caffeine., Results: At baseline and after placebo, comparable relations were observed for negative pictures: high TBR was related to low threat-bias in low trait-anxious people. Caffeine had opposite effects on threat-bias in low trait-anxious people with low and high TBR., Conclusions: This further supports TBR as a marker of executive control and highlights the importance of taking baseline executive function into consideration when studying effects of caffeine on executive functions., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Low spontaneous EEG theta/beta ratio (TBR) is associated with greater executive control. Their role in regulation of attentional bias for stimuli of different threat-levels is unknown., Objectives: To provide the first relations between frontal TBR, trait anxiety and attentional bias to mildly and highly threatening stimuli at different processing-stages., Methods: Seventy-four healthy volunteers completed spontaneous EEG measurement, a self-report trait anxiety questionnaire and a dot-probe task with stimuli of different threat-level and 200 and 500 ms cue-target delays., Results: Participants with high TBR directed attention towards mildly threatening and avoided highly threatening pictures. Moreover, the most resilient participants, (low TBR and low trait anxiety) showed attention towards highly threatening stimuli. There were no effects of delay., Conclusions: These data confirm that executive control is crucial for the study of threat-related attentional bias and further support the notion that TBR is a marker of cognitive control over emotional information., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)