A New Synthesis of the Study of Emotion in the Brain

An international scientific journal called Journal of Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology publishes high-quality articles on a variety of topics, including molecular diseases, neuroendocrinology, neurotoxicology, intracellular inflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, sensory transduction, neural processing, and gene regulation and genetics.

Introduction 

Emotions have a significant role in our daily experiences and lives. There is some scientific consensus that they exist, but there doesn't seem to be much else. It's unclear to researchers what they are, how they function, or whether they are specific to humans. We all seem to believe that we understand what emotions are because we all have strong, ingrained opinions about them. This is because we all feel emotions. Emotions are brain states that, from a functional perspective, are typically brought on by stimuli or events that, in turn, create actions and other changes that may be measured. With this functional definition, we can ignore all issues related to the common usage of the word "emotion," and we can study those internal brain states without worrying about whether or not animals have subjective feelings, or whether there are categories of "natural," "basic," or "social" emotions. There is no consensus on how to tackle these issues, so we may put them aside, at least for the time being, for strictly pragmatic reasons. We are not even sure how to quantify feelings and conscious experience.

Human and Animal Neuroscience

Emotion research has historically been based on investigations of both human and animal behavior, including self-report studies in humans and standardized laboratory tests and ethological observations of animals in the wild. Before the development of functional neuroimaging, the majority of human investigations were case reports and studies on brain lesions. Neuroimaging techniques, principally functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and, more recently, transcranial magnetic stimulation, are now used in the majority of human neuroscience investigations (and an increasing number of animal neuroscience studies as well) (TMS). The ability of humans to speak and communicate, which is crucial when examining emotions and subjective experiences, is one of the major benefits of human studies. Nonetheless, the ethical and practical methodologies used in human studies varied significantly. While studies involving humans are generally simpler to carry out than those involving animals, the methodology are sometimes more constrained. The emotions that can be researched as volunteers range from fear to satisfaction and from disgust to hope, and we don't need to undergo extensive preparation before experiments. Nevertheless, the findings only provide a descriptive account of the emotions and the brain regions that were active at that time, providing no knowledge of whether specific networks or areas are sufficient for or essential to the emotional experience.

Gene Therapy for the Brain

Science and medicine are increasingly supporting gene therapy as a means of treating or preventing illnesses brought on by malfunctioning genes. But what exactly is it? How does it operate? And who makes the best candidates for such treatment? This concise survey of the science and its implications for human condition will equip you to engage critically with the buzzing news stories and scholarly literature that gene therapy will continue to generate. 

Science has greatly advanced the area of medicine, and it consistently appears to come up with novel solutions to challenging issues. Gene treatments may affect a wide range of biological functions. In addition to replacing or editing genes, they can also control how genes act on cells or even tell a cell to make an immune system-targeting antibody. 

RNA Interference

A gene therapy may either instruct the affected cells to produce an antibody so that the immune system will recognize and destroy the cells or tag the extra RNA to be broken down (a process known as RNA interference) in situations where the expression of a gene is causing too much RNA and subsequent protein to build up, as is the case with cancers.

Several human studies have focused on complicated human emotions like guilt, shame, pride, and love, but they frequently ignore the fact that our understanding of what happens in our brains on the inside is still in its infancy. According to some experts, our brain assesses our goals, our experiences in the past, how our bodies are reacting to the circumstance, and what we think we should be feeling right now to determine what emotion we are currently experiencing. Many theories (Multi-component theories of Emotions) concur that emotions are the result of the interaction of all these factors, but others (Interoceptive theories) contend that the only requirement for feeling emotions is the capacity to perceive changes in one's body states, such as increased heartbeat or respiration.

Email: neuropharmacology@jopenaccess.org