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Emotional Memory fMRI Separates Arousal From Valence

Photoreal illustration of brain with amygdala and prefrontal cortex highlighted, conveying dual-pathway emotional memory mechanism.

A 2026 fMRI study of 1,006 healthy young adults found that emotional pictures were remembered better than neutral pictures, but the brain signal split after arousal was modeled: amygdala and insula effects dropped out, while negative and positive valence kept separate cortical encoding patterns.1 Research Highlights Emotional pictures had the recall advantage: in the full …

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The Human Affectome: A Unifying Framework of Emotions (2023 Research)

bThe field of affective sciences, studying emotions, moods, and feelings, has long been fragmented due to diverse theoretical perspectives. A new framework, known as the Human Affectome, proposes a unifying approach grounded in a teleological principle, aiming to cohesively understand human affective phenomena. This framework not only organizes existing research but also sets a direction …

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Adrenaline Levels and Depression: Epinephrine as an Antidepressant?

I tend to think that one of the best treatments for depression is epinephrine (adrenaline). This is based totally on my subjective experience. Although I know that high amounts of epinephrine are not necessarily healthy for the long term in regards to physical health, they can significantly increase arousal, improve mood, improve mental acuity, cognition, …

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