{"id":21493,"date":"2024-09-23T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=21493"},"modified":"2024-11-15T11:02:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T19:02:47","slug":"mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed emotions \u2013 neuroscience is exploring how your brain lets you experience two opposite feelings at once"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150-768x432.png\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150-1920x1080.png 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150-1280x720.png 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150-768x432.png 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  role=\"none\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Can you hold a positive emotion simultaneously with a negative one? (Image source: iStock.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=science-and-technology\">Science and Technology<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Mixed emotions \u2013 neuroscience is exploring how your brain lets you experience two opposite feelings at once<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Bittersweet experiences aren\u2019t uncommon. Do people ever truly feel both positive and negative at the same exact moment, or do we just switch quickly back and forth?\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Anthony Gianni Vaccaro<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">September 23, 2024<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default 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class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>Countless parents across the country recently dropped their kids off at college for the first time. This transition can stir a whirlwind of feelings: the heartache of parting, sadness over a permanently changed family dynamic, the uncertainty of what lies ahead \u2014 but also the pride of seeing your child move toward independence. Some might describe the goodbye as bittersweet, or say that they\u2019re feeling mixed emotions.<\/p>\n<p>In that scenario, what would you do if I asked you to rate how you felt on a scale from 1-9, with 1 being the most negative and 9 the most positive? This question seems silly given the circumstances \u2014 how should you rate this blend of bad and good? Yet, this scale is what psychology researchers often use to survey feelings in scientific studies, treating emotions as either positive or negative, but never both.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=Ee2mE18AAAAJ&amp;hl=en&amp;oi=ao\">I\u2019m a neuroscientist<\/a> who studies how mixed emotions are represented in the brain. Do people ever truly feel both positive and negative at the same time? Or do we just switch quickly back and forth?<\/p>\n<h2>What emotions do for you<\/h2>\n<p>Scientists sometimes define emotions as <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/CBO9780511806582\">states of the brain and body that motivate you<\/a> toward or away from things. People typically experience them as either positive or negative.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re walking in the woods and see a bear, your heart rate and breathing accelerate, giving you the urge to flee \u2014 likely helping you make a decision that keeps you alive. Many scientists would label that reaction as the emotion of \u201cfear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, warm feelings around loved ones make you want to stay around them and nurture those relationships, helping strengthen your social network and support system.<\/p>\n<p>This approach-and-avoid view of emotions helps explain why emotions evolved and how they affect decision-making. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41467-021-22730-y\">Scientists have used it<\/a> as a guiding principle when <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.bbr.2010.01.048\">trying to figure out<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/nature09559\">the biology<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/379449a0\">behind emotions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But mixed emotions do not fit into this framework. If opposite biological systems inhibit each other, and if emotions are biological, you can\u2019t experience opposites in the same moment. This reasoning would mean it\u2019s impossible to hold two opposite emotions at once; you must instead be flipping back and forth. Ever since scientists proposed the first theories on the biological foundations of emotion, this is how they\u2019ve conceptualized mixed emotions.<\/p>\n<h2>Untangling the biology of mixed emotions<\/h2>\n<p>Mainstream methods for measuring feelings still treat <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/S0065-2601(08)00404-8\">positive and negative as opposite sides of a spectrum<\/a>. But researchers find that study participants commonly report mixed emotions.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, people across cultures experience some feelings, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/xge0001521\">nostalgia<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s42761-024-00243-3\">awe<\/a>, as simultaneously positive and negative.<\/p>\n<p>One research group found that volunteers\u2019 physiological responses \u2014 such as heart rate and skin conductance \u2014 display unique patterns <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/psyp.12064\">during experiences that are both disgusting and funny<\/a>, compared with either category separately. This implies that disgusted and amused reactions are indeed occurring simultaneously to create something new.<\/p>\n<p>In a seemingly contradictory finding, research that used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to study <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2023.119973\">brain responses to disgusting humor<\/a> did not find a pattern of brain activity that was distinct from plain disgust. The brain states of people reporting being both disgusted and amused seemed to reflect only disgust \u2014 not a unique pattern for a new mixed emotion.<\/p>\n<p>But fMRI studies generally rely on averaging brain activity across people and time. The heart of the question \u2014 experiencing truly mixed emotions versus fluctuating between positive and negative states \u2014 concerns what the brain is doing over time. It is possible that by looking at the average brain activity across time, scientists end up with a pattern that looks a lot like one emotion \u2014 in this case, disgust \u2014 but are missing important information about how activity changes or stays the same second-to-second.<\/p>\n<h2>Mixed emotions in the brain<\/h2>\n<p>To dig in to that possibility, I ran a study to see whether mixed emotions were related to a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/cercor\/bhae122\">unique brain state that held steady over time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While in the MRI machine, participants watched a bittersweet animated short film about a young girl\u2019s lifelong pursuit, with her father\u2019s support, to become an astronaut. Spoiler alert: Her dad dies. After scanning, those same subjects rewatched the video and labeled the exact times they had felt positive, negative and mixed emotions.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/619352\/original\/file-20240913-16-9sic2d.png\" alt=\"cartoon man and child embrace on left, four stylized brains on right with various splotches of red and blue\" width=\"1920\" height=\"859\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers looked for brain areas with above average (red) or below average (blue) activity during moments in Taiko Studio\u2019s \u2018One Small Step\u2019 that elicited mixed emotions. (Image: Taiko Studios and USC Dornsife <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/communication\/\">Office of Communication<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>My colleagues and I discovered that mixed emotions didn\u2019t show unique, consistent patterns in deeper brain areas like the amygdala, which plays an important role in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/35077083\">quick responses to emotionally important items<\/a>. Strikingly, the insular cortex, a part of the brain that connects deeper brain regions with the cortex, had consistent and unique patterns for both positive and negative emotions, but not for mixed ones. We took this finding to mean that regions such as the amygdala and insular cortex were processing positive and negative emotions as mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n<p>But we did see unique, consistent patterns in cortical regions such as the anterior cingulate, which plays an important role in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.cub.2020.10.009\">processing conflict and uncertainty<\/a>, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is important for <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.biopsych.2017.10.030\">self-regulation and complex thinking<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These brain regions in the cortex that carry out more advanced functions appear to represent much more complex states, allowing someone to truly feel a mixed emotion. Brain regions such as the anterior cingulate and ventromedial prefrontal cortex integrate many sources of information \u2014 essential for being able to form a mixed emotion.<\/p>\n<p>Our findings also fit with what scientists know about brain and emotional development. Interestingly, kids do not begin to <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-9280.2007.01870.x\">understand or report mixed emotions until later in childhood<\/a>. This timeline matches up with what researchers know about how <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-030-17332-6_4\">development of these brain regions leads<\/a> to more advanced emotional regulation and understanding.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Science of Mixed Emotions: Are They Real?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IoVbd_dZYMk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>What happens next<\/h2>\n<p>This study revealed something new about how complex feelings are formed in the brain, but there is much more to learn.<\/p>\n<p>Mixed emotions are so interesting, in part, because of their potential role during important life events. Sometimes, mixed emotions help you cope with big changes and turn into cherished memories. For example, you may experience both positive and negative feelings when your friends throw a big going away party before you move to another city for your dream job.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, mixed emotions are an ongoing source of distress. Even if you know you should break up with a romantic partner, that doesn\u2019t mean all the positive feelings you have about them automatically go away, or that a split won\u2019t bring some pain.<\/p>\n<p>What leads to this difference in outcome? Might these differences have to do with how the brain represents these mixed emotional states over time? A better understanding of mixed emotions might help people make sure these kinds of strong feelings become cherished memories that help them grow, instead of a distressing goodbye they fail to get over.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/234994\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/anthony-gianni-vaccaro-1487337\">Anthony Gianni Vaccaro<\/a>, postdoctoral research associate in <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/psyc\/\">psychology<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669\">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/mixed-emotions-neuroscience-is-exploring-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once-234994\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Read more about Vaccaro\u2019s work with <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/profile\/jonas-kaplan\/\">Jonas Kaplan<\/a>, associate professor of psychology at USC Dornsife, <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-are-real\/\">here &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/can-we-prevent-ai-from-acting-like-a-sociopath\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Can we prevent AI from acting like a sociopath?<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/in-memoriam-william-mcclure-scientist-developed-uscs-neurosciences-programs\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >In Memoriam: William McClure, scientist who developed USC\u2019s neurosciences programs<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/synapse-stability-governed-by-physical-signals-not-electrical\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Biologists discover neurons use physical signals \u2014 not electricity \u2014 to stabilize communication<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bittersweet experiences aren\u2019t uncommon. Do people ever truly feel both positive and negative at the same exact moment, or do we just switch quickly back and forth?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":22208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[87,106,83],"class_list":["post-21493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-and-technology","tag-expert-viewpoint","tag-neuroscience","tag-the-conversation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mixed emotions \u2013 neuroscience is exploring how your brain lets you experience two opposite feelings at once<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bittersweet experiences are uncommon. Do we truly feel both positive and negative at the same time, or do we quickly switch back and forth?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mixed emotions - how the brain experiences two emotions at once\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bittersweet experiences are uncommon. Do we truly feel both positive and negative at the same time, or do we quickly switch back and forth?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USC Dornsife News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-23T17:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-15T19:02:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Liu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uscdornsife\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Liu\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d03084ed5319ed7575c96017879a7447\"},\"headline\":\"Mixed emotions \u2013 neuroscience is exploring how your brain lets you experience two opposite feelings at once\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T17:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-15T19:02:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\"},\"wordCount\":16,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150.png\",\"keywords\":[\"expert viewpoint\",\"neuroscience\",\"the conversation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science and Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/\",\"name\":\"Mixed emotions - how the brain experiences two emotions at once\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/mixed-emotions-how-your-brain-lets-you-experience-two-opposite-feelings-at-once\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/09\/emojis_vaccaro_top_2000x1150.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-23T17:55:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-15T19:02:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Bittersweet experiences are uncommon. 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