The Neuroscience Of Happiness: Brain And Positive Emotions

In recent years, various studies have emerged related to what has been called the neuroscience of happiness. In fact, in a relatively few years neuroscientists and psychologists have begun to investigate the brain states associated with the components of happiness and to consider their relationship to well-being.

For years, research has shown that, over time, our experiences reshape our brains and can change our nervous systems. This is both for the better and for the worse.

Currently, researchers in the neuroscience of happiness are focusing on how we can harness this “plasticity” of the brain to cultivate and maintain positive emotions.

Positive emotions, keys to psychological well-being

The ability to maintain a positive emotion is a key component of psychological well-being. The benefits of positive emotions are well documented. For example, positive emotions have been shown to improve physical health, build trust and compassion, and compensate for and / or dampen depressive symptoms.

Positive emotions have also been found to help people recover from stress and can even counteract the effects of negative emotions. Also, positive emotions promote a better social connection.

However, the inability to sustain positive emotions over time is a hallmark of depression and other psychopathologies, but the mechanisms that support the ability to sustain positive emotional responses have been poorly understood until very recently.

A study, published in the  Journal of Neuroscience in July 2015, found that prolonged activation of a brain region called the ventral striatum is directly related to maintaining positive emotions and rewards.

The good news is that we can control the activation of the ventral striatum, which means that enjoying the most positive emotions is in our hands.

Neuroscience of happiness

In general, according to the study, people with more sustained levels of activity in the ventral striatum show higher levels of psychological well-being and lower levels of cortisol, the so-called stress hormone.

In previous research, the research team identified that enjoying things like a beautiful sunset and the positive emotions associated with it can contribute to improved well-being. For this new study, the researchers wanted to identify how and why some people are able to keep positive feelings alive.

One of the great advantages of identifying a specific region of the brain, related to the maintenance of positive emotions, is that it facilitates the visualization of what we could call a switch that allows us to activate this region in a conscious way.

For this new study, the researchers studied the neuroscience associated with maintaining positive emotions in the real world by conducting two experiments in humans. The first was a reward response task monitored by functional magnetic resonance imaging. The second was an experience sampling task that measures emotional responses to an earned reward. The laboratory test positively predicted the duration of positive emotional responses in the real world.

Examining these dynamics can facilitate a better understanding of the brain’s behavioral associations that underlie positive and negative emotions. In this sense, it should be noted that, according to the authors, it is important to take into account not only how much emotion you experience, but also how long these emotions persist.

The exact mechanism that enables real-world emotions to be instantiated in the brain, experienced in seconds, minutes and hours, remains mysterious. However, the authors say, these findings suggest that the duration of activity in specific brain circuits, even in relatively short periods of time, such as seconds, can predict the persistence of a person’s positive emotions minutes to hours later.

Activation of the ventral striatum

The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of how mental disorders such as depression manifest in the brain. The findings could also help explain why some people are more cynical than others, and why some people tend to view the glass as always half full, rather than half empty.

According to the study authors, the neural pattern observed in the new study, particularly in the ventral striatum, has predicted higher levels of well-being in previous studies. According to them, practices such as loving-kindness and compassion for others, which aim to cultivate certain forms of positive emotion, could help increase the ability to savor positive emotions.

Furthermore, according to the authors, the methodological innovations shown in this study can be applied to study whether the impact of simple forms of meditation can improve sustained positive emotions in real-world contexts, as well as sustained activation of the ventral striatum measured in the laboratory using brain imaging technology.