Neural underpinnings of individual differences in emotion regulation: A systematic review

This systematic review synthesizes findings from 52 fMRI studies to understand how individual differences in brain activity correlate with success in emotion regulation (ER). Traditional neuroimaging has long treated emotion regulation as a uniform process across individuals, often averaging data to boost signal-to-noise ratios. This paper shifts the focus to how variation in neural responses—particularly between emotional reactivity (amygdala) and cognitive control (lateral prefrontal cortex, or PFC) systems—reflects individual differences in regulation capacity and trait tendencies.

The researchers categorized individual differences into online measures (real-time regulation success during scanning) and offline measures (habitual regulation traits and demographic factors). By analyzing both region-of-interest (ROI) and whole-brain data, the authors evaluated whether specific brain regions consistently track with these behavioral indicators. They prioritized self-reported regulation success and ER-related traits (e.g., reappraisal habits) due to a more robust evidence base, while treating demographic and physiological correlates as more preliminary due to limited data.

The analysis reveals a robust fronto-amygdalar pattern: individuals who report higher regulation success or possess stronger ER-related traits typically show higher activation in the lateral PFC and reduced activation in the amygdala during regulation tasks. While these results align with existing top-down models of emotion control, the review also highlights notable inconsistencies, particularly in the directionality of PFC activity, which may stem from differences in task difficulty, neural effort, or compensatory strategies. The review further notes that demographic and physiological measures (like heart rate or skin conductance) show no systematic overlap across the current literature, underscoring the need for more standardized future data.