Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Nosing in on the emotional brain

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 106–108 (2003)Cite this article

Emotions can be defined by their intensity and pleasantness. A new fMRI study reports that these two attributes are processed independently by different brain regions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Dissociable brain regions coding for intensity and valence of emotional reactions to odors.

References

  1. Anderson, A.K. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 6, 196–202 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lang, P.J. Am. Psychol. 50, 372–385 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Smith, C.A. & Ellsworth, P.C. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 48, 813–838 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Adolphs, R. & Damasio, A.R. in The Neuropsychology of Emotion (ed. Borod, J.C.) 194–213 (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Canli, T., Zhao, Z., Brewer, J., Gabrieli, J.D. & Cahill, L. J. Neurosci. 20, 1–5 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hamann, S. Trends Cogn. Sci. 5, 394–400 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Price, J.L. in The Human Nervous System (ed. Paxinos, G.) 979–998 (Academic, New York, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Zald, D.H. & Pardo, J.V. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 36, 165–181 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Oya, H., Kawasaki, H., Howard, M.A. & Adolphs, R. J. Neurosci. 22, 9502–9512 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Davis, M. J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 9, 382–402 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dolan, R.J. in The Amygdala: a Functional Analysis 2nd Edn. (ed. Aggleton, J.P.) 631–653 (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Baxter, M.G. & Murray, E.A. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3, 563–567 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Hamann, S.B., Ely, T.D., Hoffman, J.M. & Kilts, C.D. Psychol. Sci. 13, 135–141 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bradley, M., Codispoti, M., Cuthbert, B.N. & Lang, P.J. Emotion 1, 276–298 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The author is at the Department of Psychology, Emory University, 532 North Kilgo Circle, Atlanta, 30322, Georgia, USA

    Stephan Hamann

Authors
  1. Stephan Hamann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hamann, S. Nosing in on the emotional brain. Nat Neurosci 6, 106–108 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0203-106

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0203-106

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing