The Human Brain: Electricity & Emotion
- Sylvia Rose
- 16 hours ago
- 5 min read
Electricity drives the human brain, powering every thought, sensation and emotion. The connection between electrical signals and emotions is a co-production by neurotransmitters and neural circuits.
Emotions seem like intangible feelings, such as uplifting joy, crushing sadness, or surges of anger. Beneath the surface, these complex experiences arise from the very tangible action of electricity.
The brain is an intricate network of electrically charged cells or neurons firing in coordinated patterns. The human brain has about 86 billion neurons, each transmitting signals through electrical impulses.
It's a remarkably energy-efficient device. In computing terms, it performs the equivalent of an exaflop, a billion-billion (1 followed by 18 zeros) math operations per second, with just 20 watts of power, enough to light up a small LED.
Neural Communication
Electrical signals, called action potentials, are the language of the brain. In this way neurons communicate with each other. The process is as follows:
Resting Potential: When a neuron is inactive, it maintains a stable slightly negative electrical charge, a state known as the resting potential.
Stimulation and Depolarization: When a neuron receives input from other neurons, it can depolarize, meaning its electrical charge becomes positive.
Action Potential: If the depolarization reaches a certain threshold, it triggers a rapid and dramatic electrical event, an action potential. This is an electrical surge traveling down the neuron's axon, a long, slender projection that reaches other neurons.
Neurotransmitter Release: When the action potential reaches the end of the axon (the axon terminal), it triggers the release of neurotransmitters. These chemical messengers carry the signal across the synapse, the gap between neurons.
Neurotransmitters are fundamental to how emotions are processed. For instance, serotonin and dopamine are well-known for their importance in happiness and motivation.
When electrical impulses trigger release of dopamine neurotransmitters during a happy event, it creates feelings of joy. Dopamine levels can increase up to 50% in rewarding situations.
Conversely, lower levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin cause feelings of depression and anxiety. Many people with these feelings have imbalances in serotonin.
Chain Reaction: Neurotransmitters bind to receptors on the next neuron, potentially triggering another action potential and continuing the electrical signal down the chain.
Brain Regions
Individual electrical signals, combined across specific brain regions, create human emotional experiences. While emotions are complex and distributed across the brain, some regions are especially active.
The limbic system, which includes the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus, is important to regulating emotions.
Amygdala: Often called the "fear center," the amygdala processes and experiences fear, anxiety, and other emotions related to threat detection. Its electrical activity rises strongly when encountering perceived danger.
It sends electrical signals to prepare the body for a fight-or-flight response. The response happens in moments due to the brain's quick electrical reactions to threats.
While the amygdala is primarily known for processing unpleasant emotions like fear and anxiety, it also functions to process and experience positive emotions, including happiness and reward.
Hippocampus: Essential for memory formation, the hippocampus is intricately linked to emotions. It helps associate past experiences with specific emotions, like joy or guilt, ideally so the human can learn.
When an emotionally charged event occurs, the brain encodes the experience. The generated electrical signals strengthen the synaptic connections.
This makes it easier to recall emotional experiences later. Specific smells, flavors, songs and other sounds can instantly evoke memories and emotions.
Hypothalamus: This tiny but powerful region regulates basic bodily functions like hunger, thirst and body temperature. It's important to emotional responses, like those related to stress and fight-or-flight.
Prefrontal Cortex (PFC): The PFC, particularly the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), regulates emotions, decision-making, and complex social behavior. It helps control impulsive reactions and makes the brain owner consider long-term consequences.
Multiple interconnected brain regions, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), hypothalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus are active in feelings of love and attachment.
These areas release neurotransmitters like dopamine, oxytocin, opioid and adrenaline, which enhance pleasurable and motivational elements of love and social bonding. The same neurotransmitters are involved in addiction.
External stimuli can dramatically affect the brain's electrical activity. Listening to music can activate areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex and insula, causing feelings of pleasure.
Environmental factors, such as social interactions, stress and hormonal fluctuations, also alter the brain's electrical signals. Social support can reduce cortisol levels to lessen stress and anxiety.
Electrical Emotion Centers
Happiness: Feelings of joy and well-being are often associated with increased activity in the PFC and the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine in the brain's reward system.
Sadness: Sadness and grief can involve reduced activity in the PFC and changes in the levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation.
Anger: Anger can trigger heightened activity in the amygdala and the hypothalamus, leading to physiological changes like increased heart rate and blood pressure.
Electricity in the brain triggers physical reactions. The brain's electrical activity influences the autonomic nervous system, which controls bodily functions not consciously managed.
For instance, during anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system activates to cause physical responses like fast heart rate and sweating. Most people have physical sensations as well as emotional feelings.
Physical responses can fortify emotions which trigger even greater response, like excess sweating, stammering or shaking. This in turn worsens the anxiety.
Treatment
Neurofeedback: This technique uses real-time brainwave monitoring to help individuals learn to self-regulate their brain activity and improve emotional control.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS): In severe cases of depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder, DBS involves implanting electrodes in specific brain regions to modulate electrical activity and alleviate symptoms.
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