This is Part 3 of a four-part series on: What Actually Are Emotions? “Emotions are not what we think they are. They are not universally expressed and recognized. They are not hardwired brain reactions ...

Xiaowei Gu and Joshua Johansen at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science in Japan have discovered key circuitry in the rat brain that allows the learning of inferred emotions. The study reveals how the ...

For decades, neuroscientists have been trying to uncover the neural processes that allow humans and various other animals to ...

It is well established in psychology that humans conceptualize emotions by features known as valence (the degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness) and arousal (the intensity of bodily reactions, such ...

Countless parents across the country recently dropped their kids off at college for the first time. This transition can stir a whirlwind of feelings: the heartache of parting, sadness over a ...

Stress influences what we learn and remember. The hormone cortisol, which is released during stressful situations, can make emotional memories in particular stronger. But how exactly does cortisol ...

Researchers have discovered how inferred emotions are learned. The study shows that the frontal part of the brain coordinates with the amygdala -- a brain region important for simple forms of ...

Cartoon showing an example of how inferred emotions are learned. A child often watches wasps fly in and out of their nest in the woods near her house. One day she is stung by one of the wasps for the ...