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Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions

Nature Neuroscience volume 3, pages 1049–1056 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

In a series of [15O]PET experiments aimed at investigating the neural basis of emotion and feeling, 41 normal subjects recalled and re-experienced personal life episodes marked by sadness, happiness, anger or fear. We tested the hypothesis that the process of feeling emotions requires the participation of brain regions, such as the somatosensory cortices and the upper brainstem nuclei, that are involved in the mapping and/or regulation of internal organism states. Such areas were indeed engaged, underscoring the close relationship between emotion and homeostasis. The findings also lend support to the idea that the subjective process of feeling emotions is partly grounded in dynamic neural maps, which represent several aspects of the organism's continuously changing internal state.

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Figure 1: Neural correlates of feeling sadness and happiness.
Figure 2: Neural correlates of feeling anger and fear.
Figure 3: Emotion-related activity in anterior pontine nuclei.

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Acknowledgements

Supported in part by grants from the Mathers Foundation and NIH Grant 1 P50 DC 03189-01A1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology (Division of Cognitive Neuroscience) and PET Imaging Center, University of Iowa College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, 52242, Iowa, USA

    Antonio R. Damasio, Thomas J. Grabowski, Antoine Bechara, Hanna Damasio, Laura L.B. Ponto, Josef Parvizi & Richard D. Hichwa

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  1. Antonio R. Damasio
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  2. Thomas J. Grabowski
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Correspondence to Antonio R. Damasio.

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Damasio, A., Grabowski, T., Bechara, A. et al. Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nat Neurosci 3, 1049–1056 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79871

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