In a new study, researchers were able to predict a person’s response to emotionally charged scenes using brain imaging and computer modeling alone — gauging not only whether the person’s reaction was positive, negative or neutral, but also how strong the reaction was.
The study helps neuroscientists understand how the brain represents complex emotional natural stimuli, according to senior author Sonia Bishop, adjunct associate professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, and the newly appointed chair of psychology at Trinity College Dublin.
The simple tasks used in the research will also make it easier to study autism spectrum disorder, where researchers seek to understand how individuals differ in processing everyday emotional stimuli.
The study by neuroscientists at UC Berkeley, Trinity College Dublin and Google was published July 9 in the journal Nature Communications.