PLoS Biol: Use video games to reveal the origins of emotions

December 8, 2020 // -- Emotions are complex phenomena that affect our thoughts, bodies, and behaviors.
many studies have tried unsuccessfully to link a given emotion, such as fear or pleasure, to specific areas of the brain.
theoretical models suggest that emotions occur through the coordination of multiple psychological processes triggered by events.
these models involve the brain coordinating adapted emotional responses through the synchronization of excitation, expression, and visceral mechanisms.
to study this hypothesis, a team at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) used functional MRIs to study brain activity.
they analyzed the volunteers' feelings, expressions and physiological reactions when playing video games, which were developed specifically to create different emotions depending on the progress of the game.
results, published in the journal PLOS Biology, show that different emotional components distribute multiple neural networks in parallel throughout the brain, and that their instantaneous synchronization produces emotional states.
and motion path are two areas involved in this synchronization process, validating the idea that emotion-based action-oriented functionality allows for an appropriate response to events.
(Photo Source: Www.pixabay.com) Most studies use passive stimulation to understand the appearance of emotions: they usually evoke fear, anger, joy or sadness when providing volunteers with photos, videos or images, while using electroencephalograms or imaging to record brain reactions.
aim is to identify specific neural networks for each emotion.
problem is that these areas overlap with different emotions, so they are not specific.
more importantly, these images, while well expressed, do not evoke them," said Joanna Leitão, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Basic Neuroscience (NEUFO) at the UNIGE School of Medicine.
"Although there has been no experimental evidence to date, several neuroscience theories have attempted to model the appearance of emotions.
the UNIG team agrees with the hypothesis that emotions are "subjective": two people in the same situation may experience different emotions.
Leitão continued: "Everyone evaluates a particular event differently because they have different views.
" In a theoretical model designed by Professor Klaus Scherer, the process produces multiple reactions in the organism.
these are related to components of cognitive assessment (novelty or consistency with goals or norms), motivation, physiological processes (sweat or heart rate), and expressions (smiling or shouting).
these different components dynamically affect each other in situations that cause emotional responses.
their transient synchronization may correspond to the emotional state.
neuroscientist in Geneva designed a video game to assess the model's suitability.
: "The aim is to arouse emotions that correspond to different forms of assessment.
participants were not watching simple images, but playing video games that put them in situations where they had to be evaluated so they could move forward and win rewards.
" is an arcade game similar to the famous Bean Eater.
players must grab coins, touch "beautiful monsters", ignore "neutral monsters" and avoid "bad guys" earning points and move on to the next level.
scenario involves triggering the four components of the CPM model in different ways.
, the researchers were able to measure brain activity through imaging.
to express facial expressions by analyzing muscles, and to reflect physiological states through measurements of skin and cardiopulmonary function.
all of these components involve different circuits distributed throughout the brain, " the researchers said.
by using computational models to cross-reference image data, we can determine how these components interact over time and when they synchronize to generate emotion.
" () Source: Using a video game to understand the origin of the origin of emotions Original source: Joana Leitão et al, Computational imaging when video game playing show dynamics of the statistics of the nationality of the cortical and subcortical networks of the emotions, PLOS Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000900。