# interesting new info on emotions



## trbell (Nov 1, 2000)

News Photos About Us Contact Search the UPI wire: Advanced Search View the UPI wire by desk: Washington Politics & Policy National International Business & Economics Science & Technology Life & Mind Sports Think Tanks & Research Photo Emotions influence memory, learning From the Science & Technology DeskPublished 11/7/2002 2:05 PMView printer-friendly versionLONDON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Emotion, the basis for much of human expression yet still poorly understood, exerts definite influences on parts of the brain that control attention, perception and learning, a new report released Thursday suggests.The report, which appears in the Nov. 8 issue of the journal Science, traces the biological bases of emotions in findings that could have implications for treating mood and psychiatric disorders. It also could open windows to better understanding of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia. Researcher R. J. Dolan of the Institute of Neurology in London reviewed current medical literature about the brain and emotion and drew some key conclusions.For example, the emotional machinery, as Dolan describes it, appears to connect directly to parts of the brain responsible for attention and absorbing new information. The same machinery also appears to be involved in forming memories and making decisions."The best studied examples of emotion influencing other brain regions are its effects on memory," Dolan told United Press International. "This is mediated by influences on the hippocampus and early sensory processing regions."I suspect that there are few, if any, regions of the brain where the influence of emotion is not evident."Another critical region of the brain, Dolan explains in his report, is the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure located behind the forehead. The amygdala is involved in registering emotion, particularly in response to danger.However, its connections to the visual cortex, which is found towards the back of the brain, and the hippocampus, which is behind and below the frontal lobes, permit the amygdala to process perception and memory."Emotion cannot easily be divorced from the concept of motivation and in this sense one can argue that emotion at some level is the engine of most forms of learning," Dolan said.For years, Dolan said, psychologists and psychiatrists and other physicians who study mental illness have been apprehensive about delving into the understanding of emotion."I think this has to do with the fact that for many years psychologists were uncomfortable with their (emotions') apparent subjective nature and the fact that emotions have bodily manifestations, as for example in a blush, that did not fit easily with a dominant information processing model of the mind," Dolan said.C. Munroe Cullum, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, agreed."Emotions have only been, in last few decades, unraveled for their neurobiological basis," Cullum told UPI. "Obviously with the brain, the whole is more than the sum of the parts."Historically, Cullum added, psychologists and psychiatrists and other medical experts looked at emotions as reactions to external events that were separate from the brain. This report, he said, appears to suggest otherwise."I think it's actually a very thought-provoking review," Cullum said. "It makes a nice compelling picture."He suggested that the findings could give researchers a better understanding of why some people develop and maintain positive emotions and are able to weather adversity and illness better than others. "There's a lot to be learned here," Cullum added.--(Reported by Katrina Woznicki, UPI Science News, in Washington.) Copyright ï¿½ 2002 United Press International View printer-friendly version Copyright ï¿½ 2002 United Press International. All rights reserved. 304526..2tom


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