Cognitive Reappraisal

Large multi-lab study finds no consistent brain signature for emotion regulation ability

A consortium of 32 research teams pooled 40 fMRI datasets from over 2,000 participants who performed cognitive reappraisal tasks, comparing brain activity during active down-regulation of negative emotions versus passive viewing. Combining data across studies that measured trait reappraisal tendency, the researchers found no single neural pattern reliably linked to a person's capacity to regulate emotion.

nature.com · 2026-10-28

Nature study questions how scientists measure cognitive reappraisal ability

A new study by Sicorello and colleagues, published in Nature, re-examines a long-standing assumption in emotion-regulation research: that commonly used tasks measuring cognitive reappraisal accurately capture how good someone is at this strategy. Cognitive reappraisal involves reframing one's thinking about an event to change its emotional impact, such as finding a 'silver lining', and has long been linked to social, occupational and health outcomes.

nature.com · 2026-10-28