Emotion regulation capacity lacks a shared neural signature

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dc.abstract.enCognitive reappraisal refers to changing how one thinks about a situation to alter its emotional impact. It is central to well-being1 and engages prefrontal regulatory circuits2, prompting the assumption that their activity reflects a person’s capacity to regulate emotions3,4,5. Yet evidence for this assumption remains inconclusive and has not been established at scale. Here we analysed 40 task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets in a preregistered consortium with 2,175 participants and show that three widely used indicators of reappraisal capacity—trait questionnaires, task-based affective ratings and amygdala down-regulation—do not converge on a common core. Moreover, none of the three indicators showed the expected association with canonical prefrontal regulatory circuits. Trait questionnaires showed no detectable neural associations across the brain and task-based affective ratings were instead associated with responses in the amygdala and sensorimotor cortices. At the process level, canonical control circuits were engaged during both emotion generation and reappraisal, challenging their presumed specificity for emotion regulation. These findings caution against using activation in putatively regulatory brain regions to infer how well a person regulates emotions, with implications for neural biomarkers, interventions and psychoeducation that link emotion regulation difficulties to specific regional brain deficits.
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Warszawie
dc.contributor.authorSicorello, Maurizio
dc.contributor.authorZaehringer, Jenny
dc.contributor.authorKraynak, Thomas E.
dc.contributor.authorGianaros, Peter J.
dc.contributor.authorNebe, Stephan
dc.contributor.authorPaschke, Lena M.
dc.contributor.authorSteimke, Rosa
dc.contributor.authorStelzel, Christine
dc.contributor.authorWalter, Henrik
dc.contributor.authorLaBar, Kevin S.
dc.contributor.authorGraner, John L
dc.contributor.authorKim, Sang Hee
dc.contributor.authorWessa, Michèle
dc.contributor.authorSandner, Magdalena
dc.contributor.authorWeinmar, Franziska
dc.contributor.authorDerntl, Birgit
dc.contributor.authorHuneke, Nathan T. M.
dc.contributor.authorFagan, Harry A.
dc.contributor.authorFernández, Guillén
dc.contributor.authorYan, Linlin
dc.contributor.authorMarín-Morales, Agar
dc.contributor.authorVerdejo-Román, Juan
dc.contributor.authorSteward, Trevor
dc.contributor.authorHarrison, Ben J.
dc.contributor.authorDavey, Christopher G.
dc.contributor.authorDörfel, Denise
dc.contributor.authorNeta, Maital
dc.contributor.authorPierce, Jordan
dc.contributor.authorStolz, David S.
dc.contributor.authorKissler, Johanna
dc.contributor.authorBenzait, Anissa
dc.contributor.authorErk, Susanne
dc.contributor.authorBerboth, Stella
dc.contributor.authorvan Reekum, Carien M.
dc.contributor.authorTupitsa, Emma
dc.contributor.authorBratec, Satja Mulej
dc.contributor.authorSorg, Christian
dc.contributor.authorMüller-Pinzler, Laura
dc.contributor.authorSokołowski, Andrzej
dc.contributor.authorDragan, Wojciech
dc.contributor.authorFolkierska-Żukowska, Monika
dc.contributor.authorJentsch, Valerie L.
dc.contributor.authorMerz, Christian J.
dc.contributor.authorScheffel, Christoph
dc.contributor.authorDiers, Kersten
dc.contributor.authorNashiro, Kaoru
dc.contributor.authorMin, Jungwon
dc.contributor.authorMather, Mara
dc.contributor.authorHeinke, Steve
dc.contributor.authorGärtner, Anne
dc.contributor.authorMcRae, Kateri
dc.contributor.authorPowers, John P.
dc.contributor.authorDoren, Nick
dc.contributor.authorMaier, Silvia U.
dc.contributor.authorDziobek, Isabel
dc.contributor.authorGuendelman, Simón
dc.contributor.authorGaebler, Michael
dc.contributor.authorDaniels, Judith K.
dc.contributor.authorBurghart, Matthias
dc.contributor.authorSchmidt, Stephanie N. L.
dc.contributor.authorHofhansel, Lena
dc.contributor.authorHabel, Ute
dc.contributor.authorKohn, Nils
dc.contributor.authorMorawetz, Carmen
dc.date.access2026-10-28
dc.date.accessioned2026-10-30T08:08:43Z
dc.date.available2026-10-30T08:08:43Z
dc.date.created2026-09-23
dc.date.issued2026-10-28
dc.description.abstract<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> Cognitive reappraisal refers to changing how one thinks about a situation to alter its emotional impact. It is central to well-being <jats:sup>1</jats:sup> and engages prefrontal regulatory circuits <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> , prompting the assumption that their activity reflects a person’s capacity to regulate emotions <jats:sup>3–5</jats:sup> . Yet evidence for this assumption remains inconclusive and has not been established at scale. Here we analysed 40 task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets in a preregistered consortium with 2,175 participants and show that three widely used indicators of reappraisal capacity—trait questionnaires, task-based affective ratings and amygdala down-regulation—do not converge on a common core. Moreover, none of the three indicators showed the expected association with canonical prefrontal regulatory circuits. Trait questionnaires showed no detectable neural associations across the brain and task-based affective ratings were instead associated with responses in the amygdala and sensorimotor cortices. At the process level, canonical control circuits were engaged during both emotion generation and reappraisal, challenging their presumed specificity for emotion regulation. These findings caution against using activation in putatively regulatory brain regions to infer how well a person regulates emotions, with implications for neural biomarkers, interventions and psychoeducation that link emotion regulation difficulties to specific regional brain deficits. </jats:p>
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.sdgNoSDGsAreRelevantForThisPublication
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.identifier.eissn1476-4687
dc.identifier.issn0028-0836
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2706
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOTHER
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleEmotion regulation capacity lacks a shared neural signature
dc.title.journalNature
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle