Emotions

…breathing protocol on learning and emotions implemented in a public primary school. Using a pre-post treatment-control design, 60 primary school students completed a battery of two self-reported emotion questionnaires (Positive and Negative Affect Sch

…it comes to defining and expressing emotions across different species. The brain mechanisms responsible for driving evolutionarily conserved behaviors tied to internal states remain elusive. Ticklishness, a unique sensation observed in social species ranging from rodents to humans, is characterized by the emission of appetitive 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in response to tickling. Previous research (Ishiyama & Brecht, 2016) identified the activation of the trunk somatosensory cortex (S1) during tic

…ranging from motor learning to emotions, but comprehensive maps of their canonical synaptic architecture are missing. In mammals, three spatially separated main neuronal pathways through the BG were described - the direct, indirect, and hyperdirect pathways - that work together to orchestrate behavior. In songbirds, the cell types associated with these pathways appear intermingled in the basal ganglia nucleus Area X, essential for song learning. Here, we describe the first vertebrate basal ganglia connectome, compris

Time perception can be distorted by factors such as arousal, attention or emotions. Recently, it has been demonstrated that stimulation of the vestibular system causes a contraction of subjective time (1). Conversely, the greater the amplitude of a whole-body rotation, the longer it seems to last, i.e. it causes a dilation of subjective time (2).To resolve this apparent inconsistency, and to better understand mechanisms of time perception during whole-body rotations, we evaluated time reproduction (2 or 4 seconds) in static (shakes) vs. two rotatory conditions (40° and 80°).The perceived time

The research is based on the question "Why does the physically existing and physically functioning brain "paradoxically" process information biologically or socially expediently?" After all, we know that not a single physical law is "prone" to this. The short answer to this question is as follows: it happens because certain structures of the limbic region of the brain realize the ability of living beings to subjectively evaluate the biological/social value of world’s objects and phenomena, as well as the results and ways of information processing that occur in the brain. However, if so, we sho

The nature of emotions and their neural underpinnings remain debated. Appraisal theories such as the component process model propose that the perception and evaluation of events (appraisal) is the key to eliciting the range of emotions we experience. Here we study whether the framework of appraisal theories provides a clearer account for the differentiation of emotional episodes and their functional organisation in the brain. We developed a stealth game to manipulate appraisals in a systematic yet immersive way. The interactive nature of video games heightens self-relevance through the experie

…around questioning the extent to which emotions play a mechanistic and aetiological role in f

It has long been assumed that certain “basic” emotions emerge from anatomically ingrained circuits. Yet growing research suggests that emotions emerge from more basic networks that comprise the brain’s basic functional architecture. In this talk, I’ll discuss evidence that human emotional experiences are associated with the co-activation of broadscale networks subserving psychological functions that are not specific to emotion.

Anjan Chatterjee is a Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. His research explores the field of neuroaesthetics: how our brain experiences and responds to art. Lucas Kelly is a renowned visual artist, with work featured across several solo and group exhibitions, most notably in the survey of abstract painting “The Painted World” at PS1 Museum of Modern Art. As the inaugural Artist in Residence for the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, Lucas has collaborated with Anjan on a forthcoming exhibition, considering the emo

…thus how we think about social groups, emotions, or personality traits helps determine how we visually