Language Activates Underlying Brain Processes That Affect Emotions, Judgments, And Actions

Neurotransmitters in the human brain are released during the processing of the emotional content of language, offering new insights into how people interpret the significance of words.

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An international team led by Virginia Tech scientists conducted the study, providing a deeper understanding of how language influences human choices and mental health. Spearheaded by computational neuroscientist Read Montague, professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and director of the institute's Center for Human Neuroscience Research, this ground breaking research represents a first-ofits-kind exploration into how neurotransmitters process the emotional content of language-a uniquely human function.

The study bridges biology and symbolism, linking neural processes that have likely evolved for survival across species to the richness of human communication and emotion.

"The common belief about brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin is that they signal the positive or negative value of experiences," said Montague, co-corresponding and co-senior author of the study. "Our findings suggest that these chemicals are released in specific brain areas when we process the emotional meaning of words. More broadly, our research supports the idea that the brain systems evolved to react to good or bad stimuli in our environment may also play a role in processing words, which are just as crucial for survival." The researchers are the first to simultaneously measure dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine release in humans in the context of the complex brain dynamics underlying how people interpret and respond to language.