Where Do Feelings Come From? | Hidden Brain Podcast

Intro

In this episode of the Hidden Brain podcast, titled “Where Do Feelings Come From?”, Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychologist and neuroscientist, explores the fascinating world of emotions and how our brains construct our experiences. Barrett challenges the conventional understanding of emotions as reactions to the world and instead presents them as predictions about the world. Through personal anecdotes and scientific insights, she sheds light on the power of context, past experiences, and curiosity in shaping our emotions.

Main Takeaways

Emotions as Predictions

• The brain constructs a rich and varied world despite being locked inside the skull.
• Signals from our eyes, ears, and skin are spliced together by the brain to form our perceptions of the world.
• The brain creates the sounds and sights we experience, rather than simply receiving them from the outside world.
• The brain predicts what it’s going to hear, see, touch, and smell, shaping our reality in every domain.

The Impact of Childhood Experiences

• Lisa Feldman Barrett’s childhood experiences shaped her understanding of emotional responsibility.
• Lisa’s stepgrandmother’s actions led her to believe she was responsible for others’ feelings.
• Lisa describes a constant theme in her home where she was held responsible for her mother’s emotions, leading to her being grounded and physically punished for upsetting her mother and stepfather.
• Her strained relationship with her stepfather and her outlier status in her family as the first to attend college and graduate school are key aspects of her childhood.

The Role of Context and Perception

• Emotions are often attributed to external factors, but they are actually predictions about the world.
• Lisa Barrett’s experiments focused on self-descriptancy theory, which examines the impact of mismatches between how people describe themselves and who they want to be on their emotions.
• Lisa encountered challenges in accurately classifying how people felt during her experiments.
• Inaccurate reporting of emotions can lead to flawed study results.
• Lisa’s experiments revealed that emotions like anger or sadness are not distinct things, but rather categories with highly variable instances.
• Our ability to read emotions is heavily dependent on the context, as demonstrated by Lisa’s study with an actor portraying emotions in different scenarios.

The Brain’s Predictive Nature

• The brain receives sensory signals from the body and has to guess at their meaning.
• The brain’s guesses become our experiences, even when they are wrong.
• The brain uses past experiences to make sense of sensory signals and create emotions.
• Our feelings are predictions about the world, not reactions to it, and they prepare us for action.
• Our brains are constantly making predictions about our surroundings and experiences based on past knowledge and sensory signals.
• The brain is always asking, “What do I need to do next to keep myself alive?” and it does this by predicting and comparing sensory signals to confirm or change its predictions.

Summary

Emotions as Predictions

The brain constructs our experiences by splicing together signals from our eyes, ears, and skin, creating the sounds and sights we perceive. Rather than passively receiving information from the outside world, the brain actively predicts what it’s going to hear, see, touch, and smell. These predictions shape our reality and allow the brain to construct a rich and varied world inside our skulls.

The Impact of Childhood Experiences

Lisa Feldman Barrett’s childhood experiences, particularly her stepgrandmother’s actions and her strained relationship with her stepfather, deeply influenced her understanding of emotional responsibility. Growing up, she was constantly held accountable for her mother’s emotions, leading to punishment and a sense of responsibility for others’ feelings. These experiences, along with her outlier status in her family, shaped her perspective on emotions and the brain.

The Role of Context and Perception

Emotions are not simply reactions to external factors but rather predictions about the world. Lisa Barrett’s experiments on self-descriptancy theory revealed the impact of mismatches between how people describe themselves and who they want to be on their emotions. However, accurately classifying emotions proved challenging, as people often use sadness and anxiety interchangeably when reporting their feelings. The context in which emotions are experienced plays a crucial role in how they are interpreted, both by ourselves and others.

The Brain’s Predictive Nature

The brain constantly receives sensory signals from the body and has to guess their meaning. These guesses, based on past experiences, become our experiences and emotions. Our feelings are predictions about the world, designed to guide our behavior and prepare us for action. The brain’s predictive nature allows us to navigate our surroundings efficiently and make sense of the sensory signals we receive. However, there are moments when the brain becomes aware of its guesses, leading to adjustments and corrections in our perceptions.

Conclusion

Understanding the brain’s role in constructing our emotions and experiences offers a new perspective on how we navigate the world. Emotions are not fixed reactions but rather dynamic predictions that can be shaped and controlled. By recognizing the power of context, past experiences, and curiosity, we can gain a deeper understanding of our emotions and learn to regulate them effectively. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s research and personal insights provide valuable insights into the complex interplay between the brain and emotions.