DescriptionEmotions influence our behavior by initiating adaptive response tendencies that affect our subsequent decision-making. Emotions are often elicited by cues in our environment that signal potential rewards or punishments. At times the influence of emotions on behavior can be maladaptive; for instance, the positive emotions elicited by a reward-conditioned cue (e.g., a McDonald’s sign) foster approach behavior (e.g., stopping at the drive thru), potentially leading to negative long-term consequences (e.g., obesity). One way to promote more goal-directed behavior in the face of environmental cues may be to engage in emotion regulation, strategies to change the emotions we experience (Gross, 1998). Previous research has shown that emotion regulation can increase or decrease the intensity of both positive and negative emotions (Ochsner & Gross, 2008). Researchers have begun to apply emotion regulation techniques to decision-making (Sokol-Hessner et al, 2009; Seo and Barrett, 2007), but little is known about the neural circuitry underlying the modulatory influences cognitive strategies have on decisions. The current experiments probed emotion regulation of cues associated with monetary rewards or punishments and effects on subsequent decision-making and affective response. Experiments 1 -3 examined the effect of emotion regulation strategies on decision-making. Imagery-focused regulation decreased risk-taking and associated striatum activity in Experiment 1, which tested simple financial decisions. In Experiment 2, the financial decisions were more complex, and the imagery strategy no longer affected risk-taking, suggesting this strategy is best suited to simple contexts. Experiment 3 showed that cognitive reappraisal regulation was effective with more complex decisions; reappraisal increased and decreased risk-taking, depending on the goal of the strategy. Experiment 4 examined the effect of regulation on emotions associated with loss cues. Here, imagery-focused regulation recruited cortical brain regions and ameliorated negative emotion experienced when faced with a cue signaling an unavoidable monetary loss. Taken together, the potential significance of these studies lies in understanding how individuals can employ regulation strategies to their benefit either by changing their decision-making in the face of potential rewards or by altering their subjective experience of emotion in negative situations in which they have no control over the outcomes.