The brain builds emotions regardless of the senses, neuroscientists find

In a study published in Science Advances, Italian neuroscientists from the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca and the University of Turin explored the link between emotions and perception. Led by Giada Lettieri, they used fMRI to examine brain activity while participants watched "101 Dalmatians," including individuals with sensory deprivation like blindness and deafness.

The researchers found emotions are represented abstractly in the brain, transcending sensory modalities. They identified a network in the brain, including sensory, prefrontal, and temporal areas, responsible for encoding emotional instances. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex emerged as key, storing abstract representations of emotions regardless of sensory experience.

Their findings challenge the idea that emotions depend solely on sensory stimuli. By including sensory-deprived individuals, they highlighted how the brain processes emotions independently of certain senses. This sheds light on emotion processing mechanisms and emphasizes understanding emotions in both typical and sensory-deprived individuals.