Gender differences in emotion regulation: An fMRI study of cognitive reappraisal

Despite pervasive stereotypes that women are more emotional than men, empirical findings on gender differences in emotional reactivity are inconsistent. This study investigates whether these perceived differences arise not from initial emotional reactivity, but from differences in how men and women regulate their emotions. Specifically, the authors examine whether men and women differ in their neural and behavioral responses when using cognitive reappraisal to down-regulate negative emotions.

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity in 25 healthy young adults (13 women, 12 men) while they viewed negative and neutral images. Participants were instructed to either respond naturally (look) or use cognitive reappraisal (decrease) to reduce their emotional response to negative images. The study measured self-reported negative affect, amygdala activity (associated with emotional responding), and prefrontal cortex activity (associated with cognitive control).

Behaviorally, men and women reported comparable success in reducing their negative emotional experience through reappraisal. However, the neural data revealed distinct gender differences. Men showed greater down-regulation of the amygdala compared to women, yet they required less activity in prefrontal control regions. In contrast, women showed greater activity in the ventral striatum—a region linked to reward processing—during the reappraisal process.

These findings suggest two non-competing explanations: first, men may regulate emotions more automatically or efficiently, requiring less effortful prefrontal engagement. Second, women may be more likely to incorporate positive emotions as a strategy to counteract negative affect, which would explain the increased recruitment of reward-related brain regions.