Affective Neuroscience

Affective Neuroscience: Affective neuroscience, a term coined by neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, is the study of how the brain processes emotions, feelings, and mood. It combines neuroscience with psychology to understand the biological basis of emotions, specifically fear, anger, excitement, and sadness. It studies mood disorders: how emotions are regulated—and how this regulation can go wrong in mood disorders, like depression and bipolar disorder. It also looks at the way the brain controls social behavior, addiction (processes of desire and enjoyment), and other forms of psychopathology. Affective neuroscience helps study/develop new treatments.