Researchers in Lucca, Italy, have delved into a groundbreaking study that sheds light on how the human brain processes emotions beyond the realm of sensory input. The study, published in Science Advances, challenges conventional beliefs about the relationship between emotions and perception, revealing an abstract coding system used by the brain to construct emotional experiences.
Led by Italian neuroscientists from the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, in collaboration with the University of Turin, the research aimed to uncover whether the brain relies on sensory-specific or abstract codes in shaping emotions. Their findings suggest that emotions are intricately intertwined with perception, offering critical insights into how the brain organizes and represents emotional information across various sensory modalities.
Giada Lettieri, a researcher in psychology at the IMT School and lead author of the study, emphasized the significance of understanding how the brain processes emotional instances. The study involved showing the movie 101 Dalmatians to a group of participants, including individuals with typical development and congenitally blind and deaf volunteers. By tracking brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers observed a consistent emotional response across different sensory experiences, highlighting a universal neural basis for emotions.
Luca Cecchetti, a researcher at the IMT School and senior author of the study, highlighted the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in storing abstract representations of emotions. This suggests that emotional categories are encoded in the brain independently of sensory experience, indicating a distributed network within the brain responsible for processing emotional instances. The study’s inclusion of sensory-deprived individuals aims to dissect the neural mechanisms underlying emotions, shedding light on how the brain generates emotional meaning regardless of sensory input.
Overall, the discovery of an abstract coding system for emotions challenges the conventional belief that emotions are solely influenced by immediate sensory input. By understanding how the brain constructs emotional experiences, researchers aim to further advance our knowledge of emotions and the complexities of the human brain. The study underscores the importance of considering the unique experiences of sensory-deprived individuals in expanding our understanding of emotions and neural representations.