Emotions Act Analogous to Senses
In a groundbreaking study, researchers R. Berkovich and N. Meiran have discovered that pleasant emotions follow a fundamental psychophysical law, Weber's law, the same rule that governs how we perceive light, sound, and touch. Their findings, published in the journal Emotion, shed new light on the nature of emotions and how they are processed in the brain.
According to the study, as feelings grow more intense, the brain becomes less precise at telling apart small differences in emotional intelligence. This pattern holds for positive emotions, not negative ones. The effect is evident in the computational decision model used to track emotional intensity, with faster rates indicating stronger feelings of pleasantness.
As pleasantness increases, variability also increases, indicating a decline in emotional intelligence. This variability reveals how certain or uncertain the brain is when encoding an emotion. The study suggests that the brain allows bliss to blur while insisting that fear stays crisp for functional reasons.
Negative emotions seemed to stay sharp, as if the brain wanted to keep a closer watch on potential threats. Choosing between two delicious desserts is not life-threatening, but distinguishing small shades of danger can be critical in threatening situations.
The study's findings have significant implications for clinical practice. Clinicians can understand that patients may struggle to differentiate levels of extreme joy or distress not because they lack insight, but because the nervous system itself is imprecise at high intensities of emotional intelligence.
If emotional awareness relies on the same coding principles as perception, then therapies that sharpen perception, like mindfulness training, might also enhance emotional clarity. This study tips the scales toward the perspective that emotions are just another kind of perception.
Everyday readers can take comfort in knowing that it's normal to find peak feelings a little hard to put into words. The study provides empirical evidence that emotions are more about sensory signals than abstract thoughts, and this understanding can help us all appreciate the complexity of our emotional lives.
For more details, you can read the full study titled "Pleasant emotional feelings follow one of the most basic psychophysical laws (Weber's law) as most sensations do" in the journal Emotion. The reference is Berkovich, R., & Meiran, N. (2023). Pleasant emotional feelings follow one of the most basic psychophysical laws (Weber's law) as most sensations do. Emotion, 23(5), 1213-1223. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001161
