Chapter 13: Positive Emotions

Brain Activation – Consistency and Discriminable Brain Patterns

In Vytal and Hamann’s (2010) meta-analysis   (for a review, go here), happiness consistently activated the right superior temporal gyrus (STG; BA 22) and the left ACC (BA 24; see Figure 18).
Figure 18
Consistency Patterns for Emotion Happiness
An image consisting of several neuroimages of a brain. Different Hemisphers of the brain are shown.
Neuroimaging of a brain. Different neuroimages of hemispheres and angles are shown of the brain.

Adapted from “Neuroimaging support for discrete neural correlates of basic emotions: a voxel-based meta-analysis,” by K. Vytal and S. Hamann, 2010, . Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(12), p. 2870 (https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21366). Copyright 2012 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Discriminable Patterns for happiness are shown in Table 24.  These findings indicate that compared to other emotions, happiness resulted in more activation in the ACC and STG.

 

Table 24

Discriminable Patterns for Happiness from Vytal and Hamann (2010)

A table showing a comparison of happiness to different emotions, and where the happiness resultedd in more activation for.
Comparison Happiness Resulted in more Activation in…
Happiness vs. Disgust Left Rostral ACC
Happiness vs. Sadness Right STG (BA 22)
Happiness vs. Fear Right STG (BA 22)
Happiness vs. Anger Left Rostral ACC

Note: ACC = Anterior Cingulate Cortex, STG= Superior Temporal Gyrus, BA = Brodmann’s Area. Adapted from “Neuroimaging support for discrete neural correlates of basic emotions: a voxel-based meta-analysis,” by K. Vytal and S. Hamann, 2010, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(12), p. 2872 – 2874 (https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21366). Copyright 2012 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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