The brain activity corresponds to every human emotion

With the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) devices, for the first time, science can re-map the human emotional states based on neural activity. Research conducted by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) promises to help scientists shed light on the activities of gray matter.

"Emotions are an important part of our lives, but scientifically it is very difficult to define them," said Karim Kassam, lead author of the study . Gold standard to understand the feelings of a person is to ask them directly. However, the answer is not always accurate according to the attitude and opinions of the respondents.

Thus, professors at CMU's faculty of social sciences and humanities undertook research with a group of actors. They are asked to look at words describing emotional states such as anger, hatred, jealousy, fear, happiness, lust, haughty, sadness and shame. At the same time, every actor should try to put himself or herself in that emotional state. Their brain will be monitored by fMRI and a computer to model the results.

Based on brain scans, computer models can accurately predict the feelings of the actors when they are watching a series of suggestive images. Basically, each emotion has a specific neurological signal. Computers have learned the emotion of the brain from participating actors, and for a more objective test, the team invited a new actor who had not previously participated. As a result, the computer can still accurately determine the person's feelings.

CMU's research began to set a basis for measuring the feelings of a subject. "We realize that there are specific emotional patterns that distinguish between positive and negative emotions," Kassam said. By developing an emotional model from brain activity, the team has a deeper look at the difference between the emotional turmoil in the mind.

"As a person who studies emotions, I would love to find out what kind of" hunger "is good or bad, but after all, the answer is neither good nor bad. All the emotions, the computer has detected the best "craving" emotions, but its nerve signals are completely different from the rest of the emotions. "