{
  "abstract": "Cognitive reappraisal is a fundamental emotion regulation strategy for mental and physical well-being, but how its neural mechanisms relate to individual differences remains poorly understood. In a consortium effort analyzing 40 fMRI datasets ( N =2,175), we examined the relationship between neural activation during reappraisal tasks and three core individual difference indices of reappraisal capabilities: (1) trait questionnaires, (2) task-based affective ratings, and (3) amygdala down-regulation. Strikingly, there was no shared overlap across these three common indices. Only a very weak correlation emerged between amygdala down-regulation and task-based affective ratings. Whole-brain analyses revealed no reliable neural associations with trait questionnaires, and associations with task-based affective ratings fell outside canonical emotion regulation networks (e.g., prefrontal circuitry). Moreover, amygdala down-regulation, often interpreted as a stable individual marker, was confounded by person-specific whole-brain responses — a limitation extending to fMRI research beyond the emotion regulation domain. These findings challenge the assumption that an individual’s prefrontal activity is a valid indicator of their reappraisal capabilities and suggest that common trait, behavioral, and neural measures might capture distinct facets of emotion regulation. More broadly, our results highlight concrete methodological challenges for fMRI research on individual differences, with implications extending beyond emotion regulation to the neuroscience of personality, psychopathology, and general well-being.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. maurizio.sicorello@zi-mannheim.de",
    "Partner Site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Mannheim, Germany. maurizio.sicorello@zi-mannheim.de",
    "Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany",
    "Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA",
    "Department of Psychology, Center for Mind-Body Science and Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA",
    "Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland",
    "Psychiatry and Neurosciences CCM, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany",
    "Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy in Adults, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany",
    "International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, Berlin, Germany",
    "Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA",
    "Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea",
    "DKFZ Hector Cancer Institute, University Medical Center Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany",
    "Department of Neuropsychology and Psychological Resilience Research, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany",
    "Division of Cancer Survivorship and Psychological Resilience, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany",
    "Partner Site Mannheim-Heidelberg-Ulm, German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Mannheim, Germany",
    "Department of Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience of Resilience, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany",
    "Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Women's Mental Health and Brain Function, Tübingen Center for Mental Health (TüCMH), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany",
    "Partner Site Tübingen, German Center for Mental Health (DZPG), Tübingen, Germany",
    "Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare National Health Service Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK",
    "University Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK",
    "Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Medical Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands",
    "Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain",
    "Mind Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC-UGR), University of Granada, Granada, Spain",
    "Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, Mind Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC-UGR), University of Granada, Granada, Spain",
    "The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
    "Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany",
    "Faculty of Psychology, TUD Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany",
    "Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA",
    "Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA",
    "Social Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany",
    "Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany",
    "Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK",
    "Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine and Health, TUM Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany",
    "Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia",
    "Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health, TUM Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany",
    "TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine and Health, TUM Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany",
    "Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA",
    "Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland",
    "Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland",
    "Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 64,
  "authors": [
    {
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        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Maurizio Sicorello",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5022-3590"
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    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jenny Zähringer"
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    {
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Thomas E. Kraynak",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0510-0866"
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        4
      ],
      "name": "Peter J. Gianaros",
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      ],
      "name": "Stephan Nebe",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3968-9557"
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      ],
      "name": "Lena M. Paschke",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8054-1151"
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      "name": "Rosa Steimke",
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      "name": "Christine Stelzel",
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      "name": "Henrik Walter"
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      "name": "Kevin S. LaBar",
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      "name": "John L. Graner",
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      "name": "Sang Hee Kim"
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      "name": "Birgit Derntl"
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      "name": "Nathan T. M. Huneke"
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      "name": "Guillén Fernández",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5522-0604"
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      "affs": [
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      ],
      "name": "Guillén Fernández"
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      "name": "Linlin Yan",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7192-8074"
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        22
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      "name": "Agar Marín‐Morales",
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        22
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      "name": "Juan Verdejo-Román"
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        24
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      "name": "Trevor Steward"
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    {
      "affs": [
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      "name": "Ben J. Harrison"
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      "name": "Christopher G. Davey",
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      "name": "Denise Dörfel",
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      "name": "Maital Neta",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8586-0963"
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        28
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      "name": "Jordan E. Pierce",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2985-3640"
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      "affs": [
        29
      ],
      "name": "David Sören Stolz",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7239-7268"
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    {
      "affs": [
        30
      ],
      "name": "Johanna Maria Kissler",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4567-1997"
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    {
      "affs": [
        30
      ],
      "name": "Anissa Benzait",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4473-6576"
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    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Susanne Erk",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0961-3543"
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      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Stella Berboth",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9272-4465"
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      "affs": [
        31
      ],
      "name": "Carien M. van Reekum",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1516-1101"
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    {
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        31
      ],
      "name": "Emma Tupitsa",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4503-125X"
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        32,
        33
      ],
      "name": "Satja Mulej Bratec",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2810-2095"
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        34,
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      ],
      "name": "Christian Sorg",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9995-0548"
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      "name": "Laura Müller‐Pinzler",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5567-5430"
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      "name": "Andrzej Sokołowski",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0220-2365"
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      "affs": [
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      ],
      "name": "Wojciech Łukasz Dragan",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3349-6562"
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        39
      ],
      "name": "Monika Folkierska-Żukowska",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5393-3483"
    },
    {
      "name": "Valerie L. Jentsch",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9318-9540"
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    {
      "name": "Christian Josef Merz",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5679-6595"
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      "name": "Christoph Scheffel",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5963-9229"
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      "name": "Kersten Diers",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3800-4026"
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    {
      "name": "Kaoru Nashiro",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8227-4712"
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    {
      "name": "Jungwon Min"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mara Mather"
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    {
      "name": "Steve Heinke"
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      "name": "Anne Gärtner",
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      "name": "Kateri Mcrae A",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6629-9733"
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      "name": "John Powers",
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      "name": "Nick Doren",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9868-5399"
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      "name": "Silvia U. Maier",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9759-8613"
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    {
      "name": "Isabel Dziobek"
    },
    {
      "name": "Simón Guendelman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6053-9425"
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      "name": "Michael Gaebler",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4442-5778"
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    {
      "name": "Judith Karina Daniels",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6304-2310"
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    {
      "name": "Matthias Burghart",
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    {
      "name": "Stephanie Nicole Lyn Schmidt",
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  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6wm0y53vecn7x.bib",
  "cited_by": 5,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41586-026-11203-1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6wm0y53vecn7x",
  "issns": [
    "0028-0836",
    "1476-4687"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11203-1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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  "openalex": "W4413306246",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": "42951968",
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6wm0y53vecn7x.ris",
  "sources": [
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11203-1"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
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  ],
  "title": "Emotion regulation capacity lacks a shared neural signature",
  "title_text": "Emotion regulation capacity lacks a shared neural signature",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:14Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6wm0y53vecn7x",
  "venue": "Nature",
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