Abstract:

Brain regions that map visceral states are also involved in conscious experiences of emotion (feelings). This functional confluence is central to modern theories of emotion, which posit that emotion evolved as a basic mechanism of learning and decision-making that promotes survival and flourishing. But how then does the brain support social emotions that pertain not to physical survival but to broader cultural meaning-making? How do we become inspired by learning of another’s amazing accomplishments and virtue, for example? In this talk, Mary Helen Immordino-Yang will discuss her developmental, cross-cultural research on this question. Referencing a social-emotion induction paradigm that integrates qualitative interviewing with neuroimaging and psychophysiological recording, she will show how individuals and cultural groups differ in the neural correlates of social-emotional feelings, and present some of her latest longitudinal findings on the development of the neural correlates of complex emotional feelings in adolescents.    

Speaker:

Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of Education, Psychology and Neuroscience Brain and Creativity Institute; Rossier School of Education University of Southern California