A meta-analysis of 48 neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, reveals that reappraisal consistently activates cognitive control regions, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), and posterior parietal cortex. It also modulates the bilateral amygdala, but not other brain regions. Reappraisal does not consistently recruit the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), contradicting some theories that suggest vmPFC is involved in modulating amygdala activity through fear extinction. Instead, reappraisal appears to involve the lateral temporal cortex, which supports semantic and perceptual representations of stimuli. These altered representations in turn reduce amygdala activity, suggesting that reappraisal modulates emotional responses by changing how stimuli are interpreted. The study highlights the role of cognitive control in emotion regulation and the importance of the amygdala in emotional processing. While the findings support the idea that reappraisal involves cognitive control processes, they also indicate that vmPFC is not a key region in this process. The results suggest that reappraisal primarily affects the amygdala, but further research is needed to understand how other brain regions might be involved in emotional regulation. The study underscores the need for more diverse stimuli and research methods to fully understand the neural mechanisms underlying reappraisal.A meta-analysis of 48 neuroimaging studies on cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy, reveals that reappraisal consistently activates cognitive control regions, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), and posterior parietal cortex. It also modulates the bilateral amygdala, but not other brain regions. Reappraisal does not consistently recruit the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), contradicting some theories that suggest vmPFC is involved in modulating amygdala activity through fear extinction. Instead, reappraisal appears to involve the lateral temporal cortex, which supports semantic and perceptual representations of stimuli. These altered representations in turn reduce amygdala activity, suggesting that reappraisal modulates emotional responses by changing how stimuli are interpreted. The study highlights the role of cognitive control in emotion regulation and the importance of the amygdala in emotional processing. While the findings support the idea that reappraisal involves cognitive control processes, they also indicate that vmPFC is not a key region in this process. The results suggest that reappraisal primarily affects the amygdala, but further research is needed to understand how other brain regions might be involved in emotional regulation. The study underscores the need for more diverse stimuli and research methods to fully understand the neural mechanisms underlying reappraisal.