Core Emotions & Neuropeptides

Candace B. Pert, PhD, believed that each core emotion was likely associated with a specific neuropeptide—a chemical substance that impacts mood. Soon news in the British Medical Journal, the Lancet, reported that emotions and feelings represented not only different concepts but also followed different pathways in the brain. According to Thomas Ethofer, previous research methods had analyzed increased brain activity at individual locations. Their new study looked at overall patterns of activity. He has been reported as saying, “Consider the following analogy. If you have a puzzle consisting of black and white pieces, it is hard to say whether they belong to a picture of a zebra or a checkerboard if you look at each piece in isolation. However, it becomes relatively easy if you put the pieces together.”