emotions

This year, neuroscience researchers made important discoveries related to how neurodegeneration attacks the human brain, hooked cultured neurons up to machinery to teach them to play a video game, and more.

The Boston University neuroscientist wants to take the edge off traumatic memories by manipulating how they’re processed in the brain.

Pet dogs produce a larger volume of tears when they are reunited with their owners than with acquaintances, possibly because of surging oxytocin levels—findings that could be the first evidence of emotional crying in nonhuman animals.

Researchers have discovered that the small structure is involved in language, emotion, and many other high-order brain processes.

Once thought of as a mere motor coordination center, the “little brain” is now appreciated as participating in higher neurological processes.

And how do scientists go about answering that question?

The University of Guelph neuroscientist is scoping out the brain regions and genes that change as a consequence of pain that lasts for months or even years.

In Chapter 1, “On Being,” author Antonio Damasio outlines the dawn of consciousness.

The idea that minds and consciousness might be generated by the nervous system alone is false.

A group of self-styled screamologists are sifting through the noisiness of nonverbal human vocalizations and finding previously undemonstrated forms of communication.

A combination of factors, from oxytocin release as an indicator of emotional investment to cortisol and other hormones that correlate with attention, can forecast what people will do after an experience.

A combination of videography, machine learning, and brain imaging has identified facial expressions and neural activity patterns in mice that are associated with their emotions.

MRI scans from more than 800 incarcerated men pinpoint distinct structural features of people who have committed homicide, compared with those who carried out other crimes.

An unusual experiment suggests that interrupted REM sleep can interfere with the amygdala’s ability to process emotional memories overnight—in this case, the distressing memories of listening to oneself sing out of tune.

Like dogs and horses, goats can discern happy from angry facial expressions. But whether these animals possess empathy remains unclear.

Researchers identified thousands of immature neurons in the brain region, countering a recent result showing little, if any, signs of neurogenesis.

An online survey finds that people report feeling most relaxed with a glass of red wine or beer, and most aggressive when drinking spirits.

Researchers are beginning to pinpoint the mechanisms by which emotions can be “spread” among people.

People are attracted to others whose emotions they feel they can easily understand, according to a neuroimaging study.