#emotional-processing — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #emotional-processing, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: June 16, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychedelic users process emotional expressions differently than nonusers
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-regular-psychedelic-users-process-emotional-threats/
People who regularly use psychedelic drugs outside of clinical settings appear to process emotional information differently than those who abstain. A recent brain imaging study found that experienced psychedelic consumers process threatening facial expressions more efficiently and display altered neural responses to various emotions. The research was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.
Classic psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) profoundly alter sensory perception, mood, and self-awareness. In recent years, medical trials have reported that these substances might offer long-lasting psychological benefits. Patients in these medical trials often experience reduced symptoms of depression, decreased anxiety regarding terminal illness, and an increased ability to regulate their emotions. These clinical settings provide safe, highly controlled environments with psychological support to guide the patient through the intense acute drug experience.
The majority of psychedelic use worldwide happens outside of controlled laboratories. This naturalistic use involves variable doses, unpredictable environments, and differing personal motivations. Because these varied conditions can heavily influence the drug experience, researchers wanted to find out if the emotional benefits seen in strict clinical trials hold true for people using psychedelics in the real world.
Paweł Orłowski, a researcher at the Centre for Brain Research at Jagiellonian University in Poland, led the investigation. Orłowski and his colleagues, Aleksandra Domagalik and Michał Bola, aimed to map the brain activity of experienced psychedelic users and see how they react to everyday emotional triggers compared to people who have never taken the drugs.
The researchers started by surveying more than 2,500 individuals. From this large pool, they selected 33 experienced psychedelic users who reported taking the substances at least ten times in their lives. They paired this group with 34 nonusers who expressed a willingness to try psychedelics in the future.
To isolate the specific effects of psychedelics, the research team matched the two groups based on several demographic and lifestyle factors. The users and nonusers were matched based on age, sex, education level, and the size of their home city. They were also matched for their history of meditation and their use of other psychoactive substances like alcohol, cannabis, and stimulants. All participants were required to abstain from using psychedelics for at least 30 days before the experiment.
To observe how the participants processed emotions, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technology measures blood flow in the brain to estimate which neural areas are most active at any given moment. While inside the brain scanner, participants completed a facial expression recognition task.
During the task, participants viewed a series of faces displaying anger, fear, happiness, or a neutral expression. Each image flashed on the screen for just a fraction of a second. The participants then used a button pad to identify the emotion they had just seen as quickly and accurately as possible.
The behavioral data produced a notable difference between the two cohorts. Psychedelic users correctly identified angry facial expressions faster and with a higher degree of accuracy than their nonuser counterparts. When it came to recognizing fearful, happy, or neutral faces, the performance of the two groups was remarkably similar.
The research team interpreted this high performance as a sign of enhanced processing efficiency for threat-related information. Often, encountering a threatening stimulus like an angry face triggers a brief freezing response that slows down cognitive reactions. The regular psychedelic users seemed to bypass this typical delay, processing the emotional information and pressing the correct button without hesitation or impulsive errors.
The brain scans supported these behavioral observations. When viewing angry faces, the psychedelic users registered lower activation in brain regions associated with raw emotional reactivity and threat detection. These areas included the insula and the supplementary motor area, which are typically engaged when a person is reacting to negative or alarming stimuli.
The opposite pattern emerged when participants looked at happy faces. In response to positive emotional expressions, the psychedelic users displayed heightened activity across various sensorimotor and parietal brain regions. These specific neural areas help process external sensory information and integrate bodily sensations, matching clinical reports of heightened positive moods following psychedelic therapy.
The researchers also focused their attention on areas of the brain that make up the default mode network. This brain network is typically highly active when a person is resting, daydreaming, or reflecting on their own internal thoughts. An overactive default mode network is often associated with the repetitive negative thinking seen in depressive disorders.
In certain regions of this network, nonusers showed very distinct, varied patterns of brain activation depending on which specific emotion they were viewing. They exerted heavy cognitive effort to process the negative emotions. By contrast, the psychedelic users exhibited a much flatter and less differentiated neural response across the different emotional categories.
The authors suggest this flattened response might fit into a concept known as predictive processing. This theory proposes that the brain constantly uses rigid expectations based on past experiences to navigate the world. These strong assumptions can sometimes force people into maladaptive defensive habits when they encounter a perceived threat.
Psychedelics are thought to relax these rigid expectations. This relaxation forces the brain to rely more heavily on raw sensory data coming in from the eyes and ears, rather than filtering the world through strict assumptions. By sidestepping heavy-handed mental filtering, psychedelic users might process defensive triggers like anger more smoothly and automatically.
One unexpected result involved the amygdala, a small structure deep inside the brain that acts as an alarm system for fear and negative emotions. Prior clinical trials often report that psychedelic therapy calms amygdala reactivity for days or weeks after a dosing session. Yet, this naturalistic study found that differences in amygdala activation between users and nonusers were not statistically significant.
The scientists offered a few explanations for this discrepancy. Because participants abstained from psychedelics for at least a month prior to the scan, it is possible that any biological calming effect on the amygdala is temporary and fades over several weeks. Alternatively, the specific type of brain scan sequence used in the setup might not have been sensitive enough to capture subtle changes in such a small, deep brain structure.
The study carries a few caveats that prevent definitive conclusions. Because it was a cross-sectional study capturing a single moment in time, it cannot prove that the psychedelic drugs caused the brain changes. It remains entirely possible that people who naturally possess a highly efficient style of emotional processing are simply more inclined to seek out and stick with psychedelic substances.
The sample also comes with an inherent self-selection bias. By choosing participants who had used psychedelics ten or more times, the researchers likely gathered a group of people who consistently enjoy the drugs. Individuals who had terrifying or uncomfortable early psychological experiences likely quit using them and would not have made it into the study cohort.
Future investigations will need to track people over a long period from before they start using psychedelics until well after they have established a naturalistic routine. Tracking brain scans over months or years could help scientists determine exactly how these potent substances alter emotional perception in the real world.
The study, “Investigating Emotional Reactivity in Experienced Users of Psychedelics: A Cross-Sectional fMRI Study”, was authored by Paweł Orłowski, Aleksandra Domagalik, and Michał Bola.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-regular-psychedelic-users-process-emotional-threats/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PsychedelicsAndEmotion #EmotionalProcessing #PsychedelicResearch #FMRIScience #AngerRecognition #ThreatProcessing #DefaultModeNetwork #AmygdalaInsight #ClinicalTrialsVsRealWorld #Neuroplasticity #PsychedelicTherapy
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DATE: June 16, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Psychedelic users process emotional expressions differently than nonusers
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-regular-psychedelic-users-process-emotional-threats/
People who regularly use psychedelic drugs outside of clinical settings appear to process emotional information differently than those who abstain. A recent brain imaging study found that experienced psychedelic consumers process threatening facial expressions more efficiently and display altered neural responses to various emotions. The research was published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.
Classic psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) profoundly alter sensory perception, mood, and self-awareness. In recent years, medical trials have reported that these substances might offer long-lasting psychological benefits. Patients in these medical trials often experience reduced symptoms of depression, decreased anxiety regarding terminal illness, and an increased ability to regulate their emotions. These clinical settings provide safe, highly controlled environments with psychological support to guide the patient through the intense acute drug experience.
The majority of psychedelic use worldwide happens outside of controlled laboratories. This naturalistic use involves variable doses, unpredictable environments, and differing personal motivations. Because these varied conditions can heavily influence the drug experience, researchers wanted to find out if the emotional benefits seen in strict clinical trials hold true for people using psychedelics in the real world.
Paweł Orłowski, a researcher at the Centre for Brain Research at Jagiellonian University in Poland, led the investigation. Orłowski and his colleagues, Aleksandra Domagalik and Michał Bola, aimed to map the brain activity of experienced psychedelic users and see how they react to everyday emotional triggers compared to people who have never taken the drugs.
The researchers started by surveying more than 2,500 individuals. From this large pool, they selected 33 experienced psychedelic users who reported taking the substances at least ten times in their lives. They paired this group with 34 nonusers who expressed a willingness to try psychedelics in the future.
To isolate the specific effects of psychedelics, the research team matched the two groups based on several demographic and lifestyle factors. The users and nonusers were matched based on age, sex, education level, and the size of their home city. They were also matched for their history of meditation and their use of other psychoactive substances like alcohol, cannabis, and stimulants. All participants were required to abstain from using psychedelics for at least 30 days before the experiment.
To observe how the participants processed emotions, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technology measures blood flow in the brain to estimate which neural areas are most active at any given moment. While inside the brain scanner, participants completed a facial expression recognition task.
During the task, participants viewed a series of faces displaying anger, fear, happiness, or a neutral expression. Each image flashed on the screen for just a fraction of a second. The participants then used a button pad to identify the emotion they had just seen as quickly and accurately as possible.
The behavioral data produced a notable difference between the two cohorts. Psychedelic users correctly identified angry facial expressions faster and with a higher degree of accuracy than their nonuser counterparts. When it came to recognizing fearful, happy, or neutral faces, the performance of the two groups was remarkably similar.
The research team interpreted this high performance as a sign of enhanced processing efficiency for threat-related information. Often, encountering a threatening stimulus like an angry face triggers a brief freezing response that slows down cognitive reactions. The regular psychedelic users seemed to bypass this typical delay, processing the emotional information and pressing the correct button without hesitation or impulsive errors.
The brain scans supported these behavioral observations. When viewing angry faces, the psychedelic users registered lower activation in brain regions associated with raw emotional reactivity and threat detection. These areas included the insula and the supplementary motor area, which are typically engaged when a person is reacting to negative or alarming stimuli.
The opposite pattern emerged when participants looked at happy faces. In response to positive emotional expressions, the psychedelic users displayed heightened activity across various sensorimotor and parietal brain regions. These specific neural areas help process external sensory information and integrate bodily sensations, matching clinical reports of heightened positive moods following psychedelic therapy.
The researchers also focused their attention on areas of the brain that make up the default mode network. This brain network is typically highly active when a person is resting, daydreaming, or reflecting on their own internal thoughts. An overactive default mode network is often associated with the repetitive negative thinking seen in depressive disorders.
In certain regions of this network, nonusers showed very distinct, varied patterns of brain activation depending on which specific emotion they were viewing. They exerted heavy cognitive effort to process the negative emotions. By contrast, the psychedelic users exhibited a much flatter and less differentiated neural response across the different emotional categories.
The authors suggest this flattened response might fit into a concept known as predictive processing. This theory proposes that the brain constantly uses rigid expectations based on past experiences to navigate the world. These strong assumptions can sometimes force people into maladaptive defensive habits when they encounter a perceived threat.
Psychedelics are thought to relax these rigid expectations. This relaxation forces the brain to rely more heavily on raw sensory data coming in from the eyes and ears, rather than filtering the world through strict assumptions. By sidestepping heavy-handed mental filtering, psychedelic users might process defensive triggers like anger more smoothly and automatically.
One unexpected result involved the amygdala, a small structure deep inside the brain that acts as an alarm system for fear and negative emotions. Prior clinical trials often report that psychedelic therapy calms amygdala reactivity for days or weeks after a dosing session. Yet, this naturalistic study found that differences in amygdala activation between users and nonusers were not statistically significant.
The scientists offered a few explanations for this discrepancy. Because participants abstained from psychedelics for at least a month prior to the scan, it is possible that any biological calming effect on the amygdala is temporary and fades over several weeks. Alternatively, the specific type of brain scan sequence used in the setup might not have been sensitive enough to capture subtle changes in such a small, deep brain structure.
The study carries a few caveats that prevent definitive conclusions. Because it was a cross-sectional study capturing a single moment in time, it cannot prove that the psychedelic drugs caused the brain changes. It remains entirely possible that people who naturally possess a highly efficient style of emotional processing are simply more inclined to seek out and stick with psychedelic substances.
The sample also comes with an inherent self-selection bias. By choosing participants who had used psychedelics ten or more times, the researchers likely gathered a group of people who consistently enjoy the drugs. Individuals who had terrifying or uncomfortable early psychological experiences likely quit using them and would not have made it into the study cohort.
Future investigations will need to track people over a long period from before they start using psychedelics until well after they have established a naturalistic routine. Tracking brain scans over months or years could help scientists determine exactly how these potent substances alter emotional perception in the real world.
The study, “Investigating Emotional Reactivity in Experienced Users of Psychedelics: A Cross-Sectional fMRI Study”, was authored by Paweł Orłowski, Aleksandra Domagalik, and Michał Bola.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-regular-psychedelic-users-process-emotional-threats/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PsychedelicsAndEmotion #EmotionalProcessing #PsychedelicResearch #FMRIScience #AngerRecognition #ThreatProcessing #DefaultModeNetwork #AmygdalaInsight #ClinicalTrialsVsRealWorld #Neuroplasticity #PsychedelicTherapy
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DATE: June 3, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists demonstrate that AI can predict if you are reading a taboo word just by looking at your brain waves
A recent study published in the journal Psychophysiology provides evidence that the human brain processes taboo words in a completely unique way compared to regular negative or neutral language. The research suggests that the distinct brain patterns triggered by these socially inappropriate words remain detectable even when a person actively tries to regulate their emotional response. These findings help explain how social rules and emotional meaning are deeply intertwined in our neural wiring.
Language serves as a primary tool for communicating emotional experiences in daily life. Emotionally charged language tends to elicit strong reactions, and taboo words represent a highly specific category of such language. People frequently use swearing to express frustration, alleviate pain, or enhance the impact of a message. The authors of the new study wanted to see if specific neural patterns could reveal how people process and manage emotional information.
“One of the major goals of affective neuroscience is understanding whether emotional states can be objectively identified from brain activity,” explained Parisa Ahmadi Ghomroudi, a research fellow at the University of Trento in Italy, and Alessandro Grecucci, a professor at the University of Bari in Italy who directs the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab. “Language provides an ideal model because words can reliably evoke different emotional responses while remaining highly controlled experimentally.”
The scientists were interested in testing whether modern machine learning approaches could detect subtle differences in how the brain processes emotionally relevant language. They specifically focused on taboo words because they occupy a special place in language. The researchers also wanted to see if these neural signatures could provide a window into the broader mechanisms underlying emotional experience and regulation.
“At the neural level, emotional word categories were associated with distinct electrophysiological signatures across multiple stages of processing,” the authors noted. “Differences emerged in early perceptual-attentional components, including the P200, and extended to later components such as the Late Positive Potential (LPP), which is classically associated with sustained emotional evaluation and motivational relevance.”
To understand this, it helps to know that the P200 is a positive spike in electrical brain activity that happens roughly 200 milliseconds after seeing a stimulus. It acts as an automatic marker for early visual attention. The late positive potential is a similar but delayed brain wave occurring around half a second later, reflecting the moment the mind deeply evaluates and pays sustained attention to the word.
To answer their research questions, the scientists recruited forty native Italian speakers. All participants were right-handed and reported no history of neurological or psychiatric disabilities. Before the main experiment, the researchers removed data from five participants due to technical issues or excessive noise in the recordings, leaving a final sample of thirty-five young adults.
The experimental task involved reading a total of 240 words displayed on a computer screen. These words were evenly divided into neutral, negative, and taboo categories. The selected words were matched for their length, how often they appear in everyday language, and how familiar they are to average speakers.
Participants wore a cap fitted with 64 electrodes to measure their electroencephalogram, or brain wave activity. The electrical sensors on the scalp picked up the tiny voltage changes that occur as the brain processes information. The experiment was split into two distinct blocks to test different mental states.
In the first block, called the look condition, participants passively observed the words as they appeared. Afterward, participants rated how pleasant and how emotionally arousing the word felt on a nine-point scale. In the second block, called the accept condition, participants read another set of words but applied an emotion regulation strategy. They were instructed to notice their emotional reactions without judgment and allow those feelings to pass naturally.
To analyze the vast amount of brain wave data, the researchers utilized a machine learning technique known as a support vector machine. This type of artificial intelligence algorithm is trained to recognize complex, hidden patterns within large datasets. The algorithm evaluated the specific voltage spikes tied to the exact moment a word appeared.
“Machine-learning analyses further demonstrated that distributed spatiotemporal EEG patterns could reliably discriminate between neutral, negative, and taboo words,” Ghomroudi and Grecucci told PsyPost. “Notably, taboo words generated the most distinctive neural signatures, suggesting enhanced allocation of attentional and affective processing resources to stimuli carrying both emotional and socio-cultural significance.”
The machine learning algorithm successfully distinguished between the three word categories based solely on the electrical activity in the brain. During the passive looking condition, the model was highly accurate at telling the difference between a neutral word and a taboo word. This distinction was mainly driven by brain activity occurring between 637 and 878 milliseconds after the word appeared.
“One of the most interesting findings was how reliably the algorithms could distinguish different emotional categories from EEG activity alone,” the researchers shared. “We expected some separation between categories, but the fact that the neural patterns were sufficiently distinct to allow above-chance prediction suggests that emotional language leaves a stronger and more structured neural footprint than previously assumed.”
The algorithm’s performance dropped slightly during the accept condition, but it still accurately identified the word categories. This suggests that the brain continues to register the specific emotional and social weight of a word even when a person adopts a non-judgmental stance. Trying to accept an emotion softens the neural response, but the core signature of the taboo or negative word persists.
“Our study suggests that emotional states leave measurable signatures in brain activity that can be detected using artificial intelligence,” the authors explained. “While we are still far from reading thoughts, the results show that the brain responds in systematically different ways to different types of emotionally meaningful information.”
“More broadly, this work contributes to the long-term goal of understanding how emotions are represented in the brain and how these representations may differ across individuals,” they added. “Moreover, we found evidence of the neural signatures of the regulation of the emotional content conveyed by the words.”
There are a few limitations to consider, including the fact that the study relied entirely on written Italian words. This means the findings might not perfectly translate to other cultures, as cultural norms heavily dictate what makes a word taboo. The researchers also stressed that their algorithm is not a mind-reading device.
“The study does not allow us to determine exactly what a person is thinking, nor does it provide a tool for reading private mental content,” they cautioned. “We are identifying broad patterns associated with categories of emotional processing under controlled laboratory conditions. Much more work will be needed before similar approaches can be translated into real-world or clinical settings.”
The researchers noted that their current experiment serves as a starting point for more complex investigations. Brain wave recordings are excellent for tracking the exact millisecond a mental process occurs, but they are poor at pinpointing the exact physical location in the brain. Machine learning models look at broad patterns across the scalp, so the exact brain regions responsible for generating these taboo responses remain somewhat obscured.
“This is primarily a proof-of-concept study rather than a clinical application,” Ghomroudi and Grecucci clarified. “The importance of the findings lies less in the absolute classification accuracy and more in demonstrating that emotional states can be predicted from non-invasive brain recordings. Establishing this principle is an important step toward future efforts aimed at identifying neural biomarkers of emotional functioning and dysfunction.”
Looking ahead, the research team hopes to expand their focus to individuals who struggle with managing their feelings. “Our long-term goal is to develop objective brain-based markers of emotional processing and emotion regulation,” the authors stated. “One particularly promising direction is the study of clinical populations characterized by abnormal emotional responses, such as anxiety disorders, depression, borderline personality disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“If we can identify reliable neural signatures of healthy emotional processing, we may eventually be able to detect when these mechanisms become dysregulated and use that information to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment personalization,” they continued.
Despite the limitations, the research highlights the powerful way social context shapes our basic biology. A word is not just a collection of letters. The human brain treats language as a complex social event that requires constant moral and emotional evaluation.
“We believe one of the most exciting aspects of this work is that it illustrates how neuroscience and artificial intelligence can complement each other,” the scientists concluded. “Neuroscience helps us understand how emotions are represented in the brain, while machine learning provides powerful tools for detecting patterns that may be difficult to observe using traditional approaches. Together, these methods may eventually allow us to better understand individual differences in emotional functioning and vulnerability to mental health disorders.”
The study, “EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words,” was authored by Parisa Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Michele Scaltritti, Bianca Monachesi, Atefeh Jalali, Peera Wongupparaj, Remo Job, and Alessandro Grecucci.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #TabooWords #EEG #BrainWaves #EmotionalProcessing #Neuroscience #AffectiveComputing #MachineLearning #TLawtaboo #NeuralSignatures #EmotionRegulation
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DATE: June 3, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists demonstrate that AI can predict if you are reading a taboo word just by looking at your brain waves
A recent study published in the journal Psychophysiology provides evidence that the human brain processes taboo words in a completely unique way compared to regular negative or neutral language. The research suggests that the distinct brain patterns triggered by these socially inappropriate words remain detectable even when a person actively tries to regulate their emotional response. These findings help explain how social rules and emotional meaning are deeply intertwined in our neural wiring.
Language serves as a primary tool for communicating emotional experiences in daily life. Emotionally charged language tends to elicit strong reactions, and taboo words represent a highly specific category of such language. People frequently use swearing to express frustration, alleviate pain, or enhance the impact of a message. The authors of the new study wanted to see if specific neural patterns could reveal how people process and manage emotional information.
“One of the major goals of affective neuroscience is understanding whether emotional states can be objectively identified from brain activity,” explained Parisa Ahmadi Ghomroudi, a research fellow at the University of Trento in Italy, and Alessandro Grecucci, a professor at the University of Bari in Italy who directs the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab. “Language provides an ideal model because words can reliably evoke different emotional responses while remaining highly controlled experimentally.”
The scientists were interested in testing whether modern machine learning approaches could detect subtle differences in how the brain processes emotionally relevant language. They specifically focused on taboo words because they occupy a special place in language. The researchers also wanted to see if these neural signatures could provide a window into the broader mechanisms underlying emotional experience and regulation.
“At the neural level, emotional word categories were associated with distinct electrophysiological signatures across multiple stages of processing,” the authors noted. “Differences emerged in early perceptual-attentional components, including the P200, and extended to later components such as the Late Positive Potential (LPP), which is classically associated with sustained emotional evaluation and motivational relevance.”
To understand this, it helps to know that the P200 is a positive spike in electrical brain activity that happens roughly 200 milliseconds after seeing a stimulus. It acts as an automatic marker for early visual attention. The late positive potential is a similar but delayed brain wave occurring around half a second later, reflecting the moment the mind deeply evaluates and pays sustained attention to the word.
To answer their research questions, the scientists recruited forty native Italian speakers. All participants were right-handed and reported no history of neurological or psychiatric disabilities. Before the main experiment, the researchers removed data from five participants due to technical issues or excessive noise in the recordings, leaving a final sample of thirty-five young adults.
The experimental task involved reading a total of 240 words displayed on a computer screen. These words were evenly divided into neutral, negative, and taboo categories. The selected words were matched for their length, how often they appear in everyday language, and how familiar they are to average speakers.
Participants wore a cap fitted with 64 electrodes to measure their electroencephalogram, or brain wave activity. The electrical sensors on the scalp picked up the tiny voltage changes that occur as the brain processes information. The experiment was split into two distinct blocks to test different mental states.
In the first block, called the look condition, participants passively observed the words as they appeared. Afterward, participants rated how pleasant and how emotionally arousing the word felt on a nine-point scale. In the second block, called the accept condition, participants read another set of words but applied an emotion regulation strategy. They were instructed to notice their emotional reactions without judgment and allow those feelings to pass naturally.
To analyze the vast amount of brain wave data, the researchers utilized a machine learning technique known as a support vector machine. This type of artificial intelligence algorithm is trained to recognize complex, hidden patterns within large datasets. The algorithm evaluated the specific voltage spikes tied to the exact moment a word appeared.
“Machine-learning analyses further demonstrated that distributed spatiotemporal EEG patterns could reliably discriminate between neutral, negative, and taboo words,” Ghomroudi and Grecucci told PsyPost. “Notably, taboo words generated the most distinctive neural signatures, suggesting enhanced allocation of attentional and affective processing resources to stimuli carrying both emotional and socio-cultural significance.”
The machine learning algorithm successfully distinguished between the three word categories based solely on the electrical activity in the brain. During the passive looking condition, the model was highly accurate at telling the difference between a neutral word and a taboo word. This distinction was mainly driven by brain activity occurring between 637 and 878 milliseconds after the word appeared.
“One of the most interesting findings was how reliably the algorithms could distinguish different emotional categories from EEG activity alone,” the researchers shared. “We expected some separation between categories, but the fact that the neural patterns were sufficiently distinct to allow above-chance prediction suggests that emotional language leaves a stronger and more structured neural footprint than previously assumed.”
The algorithm’s performance dropped slightly during the accept condition, but it still accurately identified the word categories. This suggests that the brain continues to register the specific emotional and social weight of a word even when a person adopts a non-judgmental stance. Trying to accept an emotion softens the neural response, but the core signature of the taboo or negative word persists.
“Our study suggests that emotional states leave measurable signatures in brain activity that can be detected using artificial intelligence,” the authors explained. “While we are still far from reading thoughts, the results show that the brain responds in systematically different ways to different types of emotionally meaningful information.”
“More broadly, this work contributes to the long-term goal of understanding how emotions are represented in the brain and how these representations may differ across individuals,” they added. “Moreover, we found evidence of the neural signatures of the regulation of the emotional content conveyed by the words.”
There are a few limitations to consider, including the fact that the study relied entirely on written Italian words. This means the findings might not perfectly translate to other cultures, as cultural norms heavily dictate what makes a word taboo. The researchers also stressed that their algorithm is not a mind-reading device.
“The study does not allow us to determine exactly what a person is thinking, nor does it provide a tool for reading private mental content,” they cautioned. “We are identifying broad patterns associated with categories of emotional processing under controlled laboratory conditions. Much more work will be needed before similar approaches can be translated into real-world or clinical settings.”
The researchers noted that their current experiment serves as a starting point for more complex investigations. Brain wave recordings are excellent for tracking the exact millisecond a mental process occurs, but they are poor at pinpointing the exact physical location in the brain. Machine learning models look at broad patterns across the scalp, so the exact brain regions responsible for generating these taboo responses remain somewhat obscured.
“This is primarily a proof-of-concept study rather than a clinical application,” Ghomroudi and Grecucci clarified. “The importance of the findings lies less in the absolute classification accuracy and more in demonstrating that emotional states can be predicted from non-invasive brain recordings. Establishing this principle is an important step toward future efforts aimed at identifying neural biomarkers of emotional functioning and dysfunction.”
Looking ahead, the research team hopes to expand their focus to individuals who struggle with managing their feelings. “Our long-term goal is to develop objective brain-based markers of emotional processing and emotion regulation,” the authors stated. “One particularly promising direction is the study of clinical populations characterized by abnormal emotional responses, such as anxiety disorders, depression, borderline personality disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder.”
“If we can identify reliable neural signatures of healthy emotional processing, we may eventually be able to detect when these mechanisms become dysregulated and use that information to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment personalization,” they continued.
Despite the limitations, the research highlights the powerful way social context shapes our basic biology. A word is not just a collection of letters. The human brain treats language as a complex social event that requires constant moral and emotional evaluation.
“We believe one of the most exciting aspects of this work is that it illustrates how neuroscience and artificial intelligence can complement each other,” the scientists concluded. “Neuroscience helps us understand how emotions are represented in the brain, while machine learning provides powerful tools for detecting patterns that may be difficult to observe using traditional approaches. Together, these methods may eventually allow us to better understand individual differences in emotional functioning and vulnerability to mental health disorders.”
The study, “EEG Based Decoding of the Perception and Regulation of Taboo Words,” was authored by Parisa Ahmadi Ghomroudi, Michele Scaltritti, Bianca Monachesi, Atefeh Jalali, Peera Wongupparaj, Remo Job, and Alessandro Grecucci.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #TabooWords #EEG #BrainWaves #EmotionalProcessing #Neuroscience #AffectiveComputing #MachineLearning #TLawtaboo #NeuralSignatures #EmotionRegulation
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Do you ever sit with an emotion so enormous it feels like it could swallow you whole? I’ve learned to let it spill onto the page—lines, colors, textures. Somehow, making it visible makes it less heavy. If this resonates, you can find more of this over at the site if you're curious. 🌿
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Unraveling Consciousness: Neurophysiology, Brainwaves, and Interoception
#Neuroscience #BrainScience #EmotionalProcessing #MindAndBody #Neurophysiology #BrainWaves #Interoception #Consciousness #Neurochemistry #MentalHealth
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The Neural Blueprint of Social Life: Insights from Animal Models and Human Research
#SocialNeuroscience #BrainResearch #NeuralNetworks #EmotionalProcessing #Neuroplasticity #BrainScience #NeuroscienceExplained #MentalHealth #Neuroethics #BrainAndBehavior
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Unlocking the Secrets of the Mind: Neuro-Philosophy and Emotional Processing
#NeuroPhilosophy #EmotionalProcessing #BrainScience #PrefrontalCortex #Amygdala #CulturalPsychology #Neuroscience #MindMatters #EmotionsExplained #BrainFacts #Psychology #EmotionalIntelligence #CognitiveScience #ScienceOfEmotion #MentalHealth
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Long-term practitioners of Orgasmic Meditation show unique brain activity patterns https://www.psypost.org/long-term-practitioners-of-orgasmic-meditation-show-unique-brain-activity-patterns/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #OrgasmicMeditation #Mindfulness #BrainActivity #SensoryAwareness #EmotionalProcessing
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Antidepressant escitalopram boosts amygdala activity https://www.psypost.org/antidepressant-escitalopram-boosts-amygdala-activity/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #antidepressant #escitalopram #amygdala #emotionalprocessing #mentalhealth
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Researchers identify brain activity patterns linked to movie genre preferences https://www.psypost.org/researchers-identify-brain-activity-patterns-linked-to-movie-genre-preferences/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #MovieGenre #BrainActivityPatterns #Research #EmotionalProcessing #GenreEnjoyment
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My siblings in Dionysus, you must make jokes.
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My siblings in Dionysus, you must make jokes.
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One thing that has been weighing on me lately is how much other people’s perception of mediffers from how I view myself. I believe I’m a very compassionate, caring, generous person who usually puts other people’s needs above my own. Maybe some of this is a personality developed from trauma, but I believe who I am at my core is also very generous and loving. I feel emotions very deeply, but I am also logical. In cases where I’m unable to externally process around people, my rational and logical thoughts may not be apparent. My internal experience isn’t necessarily obvious to those around me. It’s weird, though, feeling like other people don’t really see the real me. I don’t claim to know exactly how others perceive me, but some things I’ve heard are that I am intimidating, demanding, judgmental, a confident person who takes charge and goes for what she wants, but also overly sensitive, and a drama queen.
If others feel I hold them to high standards, they should know my standards for myself are even higher. Being a good, honest, compassionate person is very important to me. This likely stems from a belief that I’m not allowed to have needs, that my value is only found in what I can do for other people. Growing up, I was always very aware of how much of a burden I was, for things beyond my control. When my parents got divorced, I was the person my mom talked to about everything. I felt responsible for her wellbeing, and I wanted to do anything I could to please both her and my father. This still affects me to this day, both in how I treat myself and how I treat others. I couldn’t make my parents happy, and I can’t make my friends happy either.
It’s always such a shock to the system to learn that despite my good intentions, I am the villain in other people’s story. They don’t see me for me. When things fall apart, I’m blamed for everything that went wrong, and they’re just a victim who fell into some supposed trap. They don’t see their flaws as easily as they see mine; they don’t notice how their actions influenced the negative outcome. Regardless of how much I did for them, it’s never enough. And yet, who I am is always too much: too much anxiety, too much trauma, too many “expectations.” The saying, “If I’m too much, go find less” applies, but how do I learn to not care? How do I avoid internalizing things that are said about me?
I’ve taken many people into my home over the years, believing I was helping them. Most people ended their stay here hating me, seeing me as crazy, or even as just a bad person. In most cases, allowing people to stay here was not what I wanted and did not benefit me. I prioritized their needs and comfort; they chose to come here; yet, I’m still the villain in their story.
People say not to let other people tell you who you are, but I’ve been told many times throughout my life that my perception of events is wrong. When others’ version of reality clashes with mine, and their perception of me conflicts with who I am, how do I learn to trust myself? If I try to put good intentions out into the world, yet it’s perceived differently, then haven’t I failed? Why even try with people if it gets me nowhere?
Someone I attempted to help years ago is actively telling people I’m a horrible person. I apparently hurt a friend years ago and had no idea until she came back into my life recently. Someone else avoided talking to me about issues she was having, and ultimately ended up ghosting me. I recently discovered someone I considered a close friend blocked me, because she blames me for a situation that didn’t involve me. Even though I tried to support her and do right by her at every turn, she still doesn’t want me in her life. It’s heartbreaking.
All I want is to live a peaceful life with a few people who love me, in an environment where we all support each other and make each other’s lives easier. Yet, I can’t seem to avoid hurting people, and ultimately losing them. I feel like my pure intentions should be obvious to anyone who interacts with me, but they don’t notice and it hurts. Even people who have known me for years don’t value what I have to offer. I don’t know how to bridge this gap, to be the person other people need me to be. It would seem I can’t, so I’ll just be grateful for the people I have right now. I have to let people come and go as they please, even when it hurts. I have to accept that I will be the villain in people’s story when they refuse to take accountability, develop self-awareness, and work on themselves. All I can do is continue trying to be a good person, try to avoid putting myself into bad situations for other people’s benefit, and just give myself compassion for the grief I feel for the people I’ve lost. Everything happens for a reason, and every situation has taught me something. I am grateful for every lesson I’ve learned, for every person who has come into my life and left footprints on my heart.
To those I’ve hurt, I’m truly sorry. No one is perfect, and I’m certainly no exception. I’ve made many mistakes, been horrible at communication, shut down from stress when others needed me to spring into action. I’m sorry I couldn’t be the support you needed when you needed, but I hope you know my intentions were always pure. I would never intentionally hurt anyone. I love you and wish you nothing but the best in life. Thank you for everything you taught me, thank you for allowing me into your life for a short time. My hope is that healing finds its way to you, each and every one of you who I’ve hurt. Thank you for reading this.
#community #emotionalProcessing #friendship #growth #healing #HealingJourney #mentalHealth #support
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“Once you lose the person you love to most…
…it changes you.”
Thanks to #KnowledgeBlindness, I memoryholed this movie on #Netflix.
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“Once you lose the person you love to most…
…it changes you.”
Thanks to #KnowledgeBlindness, I memoryholed this movie on #Netflix.
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"Vengeance is the laziest form of grief."
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"Vengeance is the laziest form of grief."
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“I altered my spiel to include a sentence about not wanting to hear about different losses: ‘I don’t give a shit about your favorite cat who died, or your grandma who died, or your uncle who had a heart attack at 60.’ I have a dark, blunt sense of humor, so this part of the spiel invariably got some much-needed laughs. But it was also effective.”
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Another day, another #wip inching closer to completion.
A lot of emotions and energy tied up in this one, as I found myself considering perceptions of relationships and living situations I find myself in... Heavy work where words sometimes fail.
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Another day, another #wip inching closer to completion.
A lot of emotions and energy tied up in this one, as I found myself considering perceptions of relationships and living situations I find myself in... Heavy work where words sometimes fail.
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Autistic emotional processing in a pandemic and the importance of guilt-free decompression.
https://soniaboue.wordpress.com/2020/07/11/autistic-emotional-processing-in-a-pandemic-and-the-importance-of-guilt-free-decompression/
#EmotionalProcessing #Easinglockdown #Uncategorized #Lockdown #COVID19 #Autism #Art