Scientists intend to create a new science - neurobiology of emotions
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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It's not right to think that we all react to standard events in a standard way, according to Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley in an article in Newsweek, the authors of a new book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain (The Emotional Life of Your Brain by Richard J. Davidson, Ph. D., and Sharon Begley). "Why does one person recover quickly after a divorce, and another gets bogged down in self-esteem or despair? Why does one soon find himself using another job after retiring from work, and his brother has been a loser for many years?" - Ask the authors. In their opinion, the answer is science - "neurobiology of emotions".
The thing is, what Davidson calls an individual "emotional style." "This constellation of emotional reactions and adaptive responses, which differ in nature, intensity and duration," - write the authors. In their view, the "emotional profile" of each person is unique, just like fingerprints or a face.
Davidson points out the novelty of his approach: "Thanks to brain scanning and other methods, I have seen how the emotional style is related - and the six components of which it consists - with the characteristic patterns of brain activity."
Contrary to scientific "truisms", the emotional style is caused, among other things, by the activity of the brain departments, which are responsible for cognition, thinking and logic, Davidson believes. Meanwhile, traditionally it was believed that emotions are something low-minded, bestial, because they are caused by the activity of the brain departments that bring us closer to the animals. He makes an important practical conclusion: "You are able to change your emotional style by systematically exercising your mind."
Carrying out experiments to control the emotional state of people, the author discovered: the ability to quickly suppress grief, resentment or other negative emotions is associated with the activity of non-brain departments, which are considered centers of emotion, and the prefrontal lobe of the brain responsible for thinking. So, resistance to negative emotions - one of the 6 elements of emotional style - is associated with a more active work of the left side of the prefrontal lobe (if compared with the right part). In an emotionally stable person, the activity of this department can be 30 times greater than its activity in an unstable person.
After other experiments, scientists found out the mechanism: it turns out that the left side of the prefrontal lobe inhibits the amygdala in the brain, the department where negative emotions usually arise. It was also found out: the more axons in the brain that connect the prefrontal lobe with the amygdala, the easier a person recovers from negative emotions. "Thanks to these two mechanisms, our thinking brain successfully calms our sensitive soul, so that the brain can plan and act without distracting itself from negative experiences," the authors conclude.
The authors also believe that even in an adult human brain is plastic, and, consequently, the above mechanisms can be developed, including through proper thoughts and intentions. In Harvard, an experiment was conducted: the subjects merely imagined how a certain play on the piano played with the right hand, and a week later the motor cortex responsible for the fingers of the right hand increased in volume. "It is possible to change the structure of nerve cells in your brain," the authors conclude.
They advise you to get rid of the traits that you are unhappy with, by exercising for the mind: it can be meditation or so-called cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Those who are inclined to self-study, it is worthwhile practicing passive, detached observation of thoughts and feelings - the so-called "conscious meditation". The authors consider it to be one of the most effective means for changing the emotional style. It "weakens the chain of associations that compels us to fixate ourselves on failure." "As soon as you begin to mentally sort out all the catastrophes, your mind will help you to stop, to note how easy it is for the mind to be distracted, to notice that this is an entertaining process of the higher nervous system's activity, and the whirlpool will not drag you out," the authors write. They do not promise to turn an inveterate pessimist into an optimist, but they assure that it is possible to change the emotional style - that's just the technique should be strictly individual.
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