Like it or not and despite the surrounding debate of its
merits, 3-D is the technology du jour for movie-making in Hollywood. It now
turns out that even our brains use 3 dimensions to communicate emotions.
According to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry,
the human report of emotion relies on three distinct systems: one system that
directs attention to affective states (“I feel”), a second system that
categorizes these states into words (“good”, “bad”, etc.); and a third system
that relates the intensity of affective responses (“bad” or “awful”?).
Emotions are central to the human experience. Whether we are
feeling happy, sad, afraid, or angry, we are often asked to identify and report
on these feelings. This happens when friends ask us how we are doing, when we
talk about professional or personal relationships, when we meditate, and so on.
In fact, the very commonness and ease of reporting what we are feeling can lead
us to overlook just how important such reports are - and how devastating the
impairment of this ability may be for individuals with clinical disorders
ranging from major depression to schizophrenia to autism spectrum disorders.