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Distributed affective space represents multiple emotion categories across the human brain
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
The functional organization of human emotion systems as well as their neuroanatomical basis and segregation in the brain remains unresolved. Here, we used pattern classification and hierarchical clustering to characterize the organization of a wide array of emotion categories in the human brain. We induced 14 emotions (6 'basic', e.g. fear and anger; and 8 'non-basic', e.g. shame and gratitude) and a neutral state using guided mental imagery while participants' brain activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twelve out of 14 emotions could be reliably classified from the haemodynamic signals. All emotions engaged a multitude of brain areas, primarily in midline cortices including anterior and posterior cingulate gyri and precuneus, in subcortical regions, and in motor regions including cerebellum and premotor cortex. Similarity of subjective emotional experiences was associated with similarity of the corresponding neural activation patterns. We conclude that different basic and non-basic emotions have distinguishable neural bases characterized by specific, distributed activation patterns in widespread cortical and subcortical circuits. Regionally differentiated engagement of these circuits defines the unique neural activity pattern and the corresponding subjective feeling associated with each emotion.
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“This suggests that on subjectively experienced level, the universalism extends beyond the canonical”
From Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal (2020) · cites this paper as Saarimaki et al., 2018
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Fast robust automated brain extraction
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“Accordingly, the specific number of basic emotions has been debated and the distinction between basic and non-basic emotions has been questioned (e.g. Russell, 2003).”
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“The current study revealed that when responding to spousal interactive behaviors, a marital quality-related network was complex and included connectivity between multiple well-established neural networks that are important for processing social information and valuations (Nummenmaa et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2015; Schm…”
BackgroundDynamic functional brain networks underlying the temporal inertia of negative emotionsPreprint
Gaviria, J., Rey, G., Bolton, T. A. W., Ville, D. V. D., & Vuilleumier, P. O. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.03.26.437275 · Cited by 2
“2 B) ( Göttlich et al., 2017 ; Kang et al., 2016 ; Liu et al., 2018a ; O’Connor et al., 2002 ; Riedel et al., 2018 ; Saarimäki et al., 2018 ; Sripada et al., 2014 ).”
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“In addition, affect generation is now thought to include many more regions (and distributed systems) than was appreciated in early emotion regulation studies (Barrett, 2017b; Čeko et al., 2022; Chang et al., 2015; Pessoa, 2023; Saarimäki et al., 2018), and affect generation-related regions across the brain have not be…”
BackgroundCarbone, F., Bondi, E., Pizzolante, M., Massalha, Y., Anastasi, A., Ferro, A., Schiena, G., Coelli, S., Bianchi, A. M., Gaggioli, A., et al. (2026) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122075 · Cited by 1
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Self-citationde Paula, A. L. D. (2020) · Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (Universidade de São Paulo) · doi:10.11606/t.96.2020.tde-13022020-160252
Riberto, M., Paz, R., Pobric, G., & Talmi, D. (2021) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2021.06.21.449164
“, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; (Saarimäki et al. 2018).”
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“…variability of age-related mood dynamics [24] together with various forms of activation of neural systems in emotional regulation behavior [53–55], apparently, is the cause of differences in the general frequency and specifically frequency-regional effects of the influence of EI components…”
Kochetkova, E. V., & Machinskaya, R. I. (2025) · Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology · doi:10.1007/s11055-025-01868-y
“…emotions turned out to be associated to a greater extent with the temporal characteristics of the signal than localization features [Costa et al., 2014; Waugh et al., 2015], which is consistent with fMRI data on the distributed nature of the neural basis of emotions [Saarimäki et al., 2018].”
Cerliani, L., Bruls, R., Teurlings, C. J. S., Ziccarelli, S., Gazzola, V., & Keysers, C. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.08.30.673208
“…same time, other studies also showed how these regions can differentiate between stimuli bearing different emotional valence (Colibazzi et al. 2010; Saarimäki et al. 2018; Chikazoe et al. 2014; Hiser and Koenigs 2018) (Yang, Tsai, and Li 2020; Sonkusare et al. 2023)(Colibazzi et al. 2010;…”
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“While valence-based decoding (i.e. positive, negative basic, and negative social emotions) [62] has identified a wider range of areas, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, brain-stem, amygdala, thalamus, somatomotor areas, and prefrontal cortex…”
InfluentialDing, Y., Muncy, N. M., Graner, J. L., White, J. S., Schutz, A. C., Faul, L., Pearson, J. M., & LaBar, K. S. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2025.10.17.682958
“Our classification analyses assumed that each of the 15 categories is independent; however, we acknowledge that there are versions of basic-emotions theories that argue for only a smaller subset of independent emotions while other complex emotions are combinations of the more basic ones, see (14).”
Guan, Y., Hao, S., Liu, S., Wu, Z., Schwieter, J. W., Liu, H., & He, W. (2025) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhaf311 · Cited by 1
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Self-citationSocially embedded predictive construction: a model of emotional experience
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Ntoumanis, I., & Papadelis, C. L. (2026) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2026.122317
Metadata
- Authors
- Saarimäki, H., Ejtehadian, L. F., Glerean, E., Jääskeläinen, I. P., Vuilleumier, P., Sams, M., & Nummenmaa, L.
- Affiliations
- Aalto University (FI)
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Saarimäki, Heini
- ORCID
- Venue
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-05-01
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 471-482
- ISSN
- 1749-5016 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-5024
- PMC
- PMC6007366
- OpenAlex
- W2953286634
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 97
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 9.53
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Aaltodoc (Aalto University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Aalto University, Academy of Finland (#265917, #294897, #138145, #276643, #313000)
- Finnish Cultural Foundation (#00140220)
- Swiss National Science Foundation National Center of Competence in Research for Affective Sciences (#51NF40-104897)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Emotion and Mood Recognition
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Keywords
- emotion classification, basic emotions, cingulate cortex, precuneus, cerebellum, premotor cortex, subjective emotional experience, emotion induction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebellum, Cerebral Cortex, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Emotions, Female, Hemodynamics, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cluster Analysis, Young Adult
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