Neurology
Dr. Sherif Karama
Psychiatrist.
Researcher in neuroscience. He specializes in magnetic resonance neuroimaging.
McGill University. Montreal, Canada
Is there a particular area of the brain that processes emotions?
Not really (at least not in the sense of a clearly identified single area). There are several structures in the brain that are involved in emotion (cortical, limbic, brain stem, amygdala, etc.). Often, one refers to a "limbic" system as a group of clear areas involved in emotions. This concept is questionable in light of findings of the second half of the 20th century.
Do artificially induced emotions have the same cerebral value / signature as emotions induced from a real life experience?
Nobody knows. There are regions that one can stimulate (with electrodes) in cats and bring them to express different reactions (anger, tenderness, etc.). There are also epileptic foci in some humans that, when triggered, induce complex reactions that simulate emotions. The artificial induction by putting electrodes in humans could induce a distributed brain response that could be identical to that induced by external stimuli. This is a possibility but without certainty.
Nov 16, 2009