Overview
- The Nature report published Wednesday, October 28, 2026, pooled 40 fMRI datasets from 32 teams and up to 2,175 people to test whether prefrontal activation tracks who is better at cognitive reappraisal.
- Across the pooled sample, activity in prefrontal cortex regions during reappraisal did not predict between-person differences in regulation ability.
- Three common measures — a trait questionnaire, participants’ in‑scanner reports of emotional change, and reduced amygdala activity — failed to converge as indicators of a single reappraisal capacity.
- Researchers identified broad methodological confounds that can produce spurious between-person effects, including differences in global brain responsiveness from blood flow, scanner noise, and head motion.
- The authors say clinical use of single-region biomarkers is premature and recommend more realistic, personally relevant tasks plus analytic controls for global response differences before using fMRI to guide diagnosis or treatment.