Emotions, feelings and our brain

There's nothing more human than emotions, we need them like breathing. Each feeling is linked to a physical reaction and the stronger it is the stronger the response. Emotions are sometimes pleasant, sometimes annoying and others are very scary but from the evolutionary point of view they are essential for survival.

We can distinguish between emotions and feelings, emotions are the purely physical responses that follow the stimulus while the feelings are more thorough and need the intervention of the neocortex. The danger is that our memory unconsciously registers an infinity of emotions that also influence our actions.

The scientists Kirsten I. Ruys and Diederik Stapel of the Dutch University of Tilburg showed a group of volunteers for a thousandths of a second images of horribly dirty toilets. The volunteers didn't become aware of those images but after the test they said they felt a terrible disgust and refused to eat when the investigators offered to invite them to a tasty snack. Another group was also shown images of rabid dogs, after the experiment they recognized having a rare sense of terror despite not knowing why.