Emotions and Facial Expressions We all know that emotions give our lives meaning, and life without emotions is impossible to imagine. Emotions are a vestige of our evolutionary history and are primarily controlled by an archaic part of the brain. This is why Dr. Matsumoto describes emotions as immediate, involuntary, automatic, and unconscious reactions to…
Read MoreDoes Music Elicit Universal Emotional Responses?
It’s no mystery that major and minor chords in western music makes us feel good. But could this be because of an evolutionary trait? Recent research led by Eline Adrianne Smit and colleagues from the MARCS Institute for Brain suggests this could be the case. Turn to any major pop radio station in the Western…
Read MoreDisgust and Fear Linked To More Acidity In Stomach
We’ve all experienced “gut feelings” but a new study out of Sapienza University supports the idea that these feelings could be tied to physiological changes. Researchers in Rome investigated how emotional states such as disgust and fear could affect acidity levels in the gut. The Methodology Giuseppina Porciello and her team asked 31 men whose…
Read MoreCan Humans Judge Animal Emotions? Yes, to an Extent.
Most people can discern how their pet cat or dog is feeling by just listening to them- happy kitties purr and angry dogs growl. But can this insight be extended to wild animals like a cow or a pig? A new study entitled “Age, empathy, familiarity, domestication and call features enhance human perception of animal…
Read More