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Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Kragel, PA; LaBar, KS
Published in: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
November 2015

Understanding how emotions are represented neurally is a central aim of affective neuroscience. Despite decades of neuroimaging efforts addressing this question, it remains unclear whether emotions are represented as distinct entities, as predicted by categorical theories, or are constructed from a smaller set of underlying factors, as predicted by dimensional accounts. Here, we capitalize on multivariate statistical approaches and computational modeling to directly evaluate these theoretical perspectives. We elicited discrete emotional states using music and films during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Distinct patterns of neural activation predicted the emotion category of stimuli and tracked subjective experience. Bayesian model comparison revealed that combining dimensional and categorical models of emotion best characterized the information content of activation patterns. Surprisingly, categorical and dimensional aspects of emotion experience captured unique and opposing sources of neural information. These results indicate that diverse emotional states are poorly differentiated by simple models of valence and arousal, and that activity within separable neural systems can be mapped to unique emotion categories.

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Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

10

Issue

11

Start / End Page

1437 / 1448

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated
  • Music
  • Motion Pictures
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Emotions
 

Citation

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Kragel, P. A., & LaBar, K. S. (2015). Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(11), 1437–1448. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv032
Kragel, Philip A., and Kevin S. LaBar. “Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10, no. 11 (November 2015): 1437–48. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv032.
Kragel PA, LaBar KS. Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2015 Nov;10(11):1437–48.
Kragel, Philip A., and Kevin S. LaBar. “Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 10, no. 11, Nov. 2015, pp. 1437–48. Epmc, doi:10.1093/scan/nsv032.
Kragel PA, LaBar KS. Multivariate neural biomarkers of emotional states are categorically distinct. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2015 Nov;10(11):1437–1448.
Journal cover image

Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

November 2015

Volume

10

Issue

11

Start / End Page

1437 / 1448

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated
  • Music
  • Motion Pictures
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Emotions