Editorial: Neurotransmitters and Emotions

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Fushun Wang¹  Jiongjiong Yang²  Fang Pan³  Roger C. Ho⁴  Jason H. Huang⁵ 

[1] Institute of Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University;Department of Psychology, Beijing University;Department of Psychology, Shandong University;Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore;Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor Scott & White Health Center, United States;Department of Surgery, Texas A&M University, United States

关键词: neurotransmitters;    emotions;    dopamine;    monoamine;    norepinephrine;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00021

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Despite the central importance of emotions for human existence (LeDoux, 1995, 2000), manydebates are still had over the definition of emotion, the number of discrete basic emotions thatexists, and whether different emotions have different physiological signatures (Gu et al., 2015).Although there has been no shortage of psychological research on these matters involving emotions,many core issues remain unaddressed (Gu et al., 2016). However, discoveries on representations ofemotions in the brain may shed light on the nature of the complex emotional processes. In theefforts of elucidating the neural basis of emotions, the majority of the work focused on identifyingneural structures responsible for the experience of particular emotions, which culminated in thelimbic system theory of emotion in the mid-twentieth century. This approach to emotions hasoutlined the neural anatomical basis of emotions, and located important structures involved inbasic emotion (LeDoux, 2000). This is consistent with the proposal of Basic Emotion Theory,which suggests that every basic emotion has a specific brain locus. This work was demonstratedby fMRI studies. However, many recent studies revealed that multiple neural structures could beimplicated in one particular basic emotion, while a specific area could attribute to a number ofbasic emotions. For example, the amygdala has been recognized as the central site for all negativeemotions, including fear and anger (Gu et al., 2019). In all, inconsistent findings have invokednumerous disputations on the neural basis approach to the study of basic emotions (Lindquistet al., 2012, 2013; Gu et al., 2019).

【 授权许可】

CC BY