Comparing reappraisal and acceptance strategies to understand the neural architecture of emotion regulation: a meta-analytic approach

Introduction: In the emotion regulation literature; the amount of neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal led the impression that the same top-down; control-related neural mechanisms characterize all emotion regulation strategies. However; top-down processes may coexist with more bottom-up and emotion- focused processes that partially bypass the recruitment of executive functions. A case in point is acceptance-based strategies. Method: To better understand neural commonalities and differences behind different emotion regulation processes; in the present study; we applied the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) method to perform a meta-analysis on fMRI studies investigating task-related activity of reappraisal and acceptance. Both increased and decreased brain activity was taken into account in the contrast and conjunction analysis between the two strategies. Results: Results showed increased activity in left-inferior frontal gyrus and insula for both strategies; and decreased activity in the basal ganglia for reappraisal; and decreased activity in limbic regions for acceptance. Discussion: These findings are discussed in the context of a model of common and specific neural mechanisms of emotion regulation that support and expand the previous dual-routes models. We suggest that emotion regulation may rely on a core inhibitory circuit; and on strategy-specific top-down and bottom-up processes distinct for different strategies