How Emotions Are Made

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Lisa Feldman Barrett is University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University. She had also holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Barrett received the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her research on emotions in the brain and has published over 200 peer-reviewed, scientific papers that have appeared in Science, Nature, Neuroscience and other top psychology and cognitive neuroscience journals.

Interoception, the brain's autopilot system, governs bodily functions and plays a vital role in shaping emotions by processing internal and external sensations. While affects like pleasure, displeasure, agitation, and calmness are innate, emotions are not preprogrammed but are learned concepts shaped by cultural and personal experiences. The traditional view of emotions as instinctive, universal, and tied to specific brain regions has been challenged by research showing no exclusive neural circuits for emotions and highlighting the influence of societal norms on emotional expression. For instance, a smile does not always signify happiness, and emotional responses vary widely depending on context. Studies from the Affective Science Laboratory further reveal that emotions are constructed through sensory inputs and past experiences, much like how cultural conventions define meanings, such as the distinction between muffins and cupcakes or the association of smiling with joy. The interoceptive network, comprising the body-budgeting area and primary interoceptive cortex, regulates internal resources like glucose and cortisol, directly affecting emotional states. When the body budget becomes imbalanced, the brain generates emotions to interpret these signals, demonstrating that emotions are not fixed reactions but dynamic constructs influenced by life experiences and cultural frameworks.

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