discuss role of brain in the experience of emotions.


comments,criticism and suggestions are strongly encouraged.

probably the most complex part of human body is brain and it performs important functions like thinking, reasoning, intelligence, decision making etc.

Role of brain
brain takes on the function of evaluating a stimulus -- such as a dog that's about to attack or a beautiful woman batting her eyelashes -- and crafting an emotional response to it. The brain thinks in terms of how it can best respond to a situation in order to survive and reproduce, and it uses emotions as the catalyst to convince the rest of your body to act accordingly.
brain is classically divided into three parts
• Forebrain (cerebrum,amygdale, limibic system and hippocampus)
• Midbrain
• Hindbrain (medulla oblongata and cerebellum)

Role of brain in emotions
The left side of our brain thinks in concrete ways, such as the literal meaning of words and mathematical calculations, while the right side thinks in more abstract ways, such as symbolism and gestures .
Because the two sides of your brain process information differently, they work together to keep your emotions in check. Here's an easy way to explain it: The right hemisphere identifies, and the left hemisphere interprets. The right brain identifies negative emotions, like fear, anger or danger. It then alerts the left brain, which decides what to do by interpreting the situation and making a logical decision about how to act in response.

a) Brain regulates emotional experiences.
Our brain is made up of many different parts that all work together to process the information it receives. The main part of the brain responsible for processing emotions, the limbic system, is sometimes called the "emotional brain".

Part of the limbic system, called the amygdala, assesses the emotional value of stimuli. It's the main part of the brain associated with fear reactions -- including the "fight or flight" response. A person who has a seizure in the temporal lobe (the location of the amygdala) sometimes reports an intense feeling of fear or danger .

The part of the brain stretching from the ventral tegmental area in the middle of the brain to the nucleus accumbens at the front of the brain, for example, has a huge concentration of dopamine receptors that make you feel pleasure .
The hypothalamus is in charge of regulating how you respond to emotions. When excitement or fear causes your heart to beat faster, your blood pressure to rise and your breathing to quicken, it's the hypothalamus doing its job.
The hippocampusturns your short-term memory into long-term memory and also helps you retrieve stored memory .Your memories inform how you respond to the world around you, including what your emotional responses are.Because different parts of the brain process different emotions in different ways, injury to any part of the brain can potentially change your moods and emotions.
Cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex is the outer covering of gray matter over the hemispheres. This is typically 2- 3 mm thick. Cerebral cortex is involved in anger production. Dysfunction of the cerebral cortex may be associated with disorders of emotional communication

b) Chemicals in brain regulate emotions
The three most commonly studied neurotransmitters are dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Dopamine is related to experiences of pleasure and the reward-learning process. In other words, when you do something good, you're rewarded with dopamine and gain a pleasurable, happy feeling. This teaches your brain to want to do it again and again. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter associated with memory and learning. Researchers believe it plays a part in the regeneration of brain cells, which has been linked to easing depression. An imbalance in serotonin levels results in an increase in anger, anxiety, depression and panic. Norepinephrine helps moderate your mood by controlling stress and anxiety.
Abnormalities in how the brain receives and processes these chemicals can have a big effect on your emotions. For example, when you do something rewarding or pleasurable, the part of your brain that processes that information interacts with the chemical dopamine. If your brain can't receive dopamine normally, the result is that you feel less happy -- or even sad -- after what should have been a happy experience.