On Monday, the NBB Paris crew took a trip to the Musée du Chocolat. After an hour of mastering the history of cocoa bean trade and origins of chocolate production, we had the opportunity to learn the chocolatiering craft. We were brought to the kitchen of Monsieur Chocolatier (name unknown), where he taught us how to make chocolate molds, fill them, and seal them. He said that we were less skilled and louder than the groups of children he taught (perhaps with the exception of Ashley and I, who will be releasing our new chocolate line shortly). He also said that he liked that we were loud because it meant we were happy. Apparently, his French visitors are very serious about their chocolate education and rarely smile in his class. From the pictures taken during our lesson and at the museum, Monsieur Chocolatier seems to have spoken the truth. Even beyond the chocolate museum, the NBB group seems to be radiating positive emotions in response to French novelties (and French food). The following is a sneak peak of my photo collection “PA Paris” and a neuroscience review of positive emotion experience. For reference, PA stands for Positive Affect state, a state in which humans report to feel fundamentally happy. The most effective method to measure this state is debated among neuroscientists, but self-report ratings and observation of unconditioned behavior such as Duchenne smiling are frequently used (Burgdof and Panksepp, 2006).
Despite extensive evidence to the contrary, many neuroscientists insist that affect states are the product of higher cognitive function unique to humans (Burgdof and Panksepp, 2006). They support their claims with fMRI scans, which show activation in higher cortical areas when participants are presented with exteroceptive stimuli (Lane and Nadel, 2000). However, while fMRI scans are effective in detecting rapid cognitive activation in response to stimuli, many neuroscientists argue that they cannot detect slowly-generated affect states (Burgdof and Panksepp, 2006). The fMRI scans produced by Lane and Nadel most likely visualize participants’ emotional processing of stimuli, rather than their emotional affect states.
Compelling evidence produced with PET scans (more effective than fMRI in visualizing affective responses of the brain) has suggested that positive affect states are dependent on sub-neocortical limbic circutries that we share with all other mammals (Damasio et al., 2000). Damasio et al. asked participants to use personal reminiscence to evoke existential feeling states of anger, fear, happiness and sadness (2000). PET images were constructed when it was assessed that participants had reached these feelings. The results showed high levels of arousal in participants’ sub-neocortical areas and reduced blood flow to higher cortical areas, suggesting reduced information processing in neocortical areas during intense emotional experience (Damasio et al., 2000). Maybe that’s why we couldn’t process our noise level while enjoying such wonderful chocolate making (and eating). In fact, sub-neocortical area activation has even been seen in response to chocolate taste (Small et al., 2001)!
Before reading these articles, I did not understand the nature of affect states. As humans, we can sense the difference between when we process positive stimuli and when we feel true happiness. In Paris, we have had the opportunity to be surrounded with lots of positive stimuli. These photos (a few of many) are my attempt to capture the happy emotions in response to those stimuli.
References:
Burgdorf, J., & Panksepp, J. (2006). The neurobiology of positive emotions. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 30(2), 173-187.
Damasio, A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L. L., Parvizi, J., & Hichwa, R. D. (2000). Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nature neuroscience, 3(10), 1049
Lane, R.D., Nadel, L. (Eds.), 2000. Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion. Oxford University Press, New York.
Small, D.M., Zatorre, R.J., Dagher, A., Evans, A.C., Jones-Gotman, M., 2001. Changes in brain activity related to eating chocolate. From pleasure to aversion. Brain 124, 1720–1733.