SynthesisRevista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)
A systematic review of the neural correlates of positive emotions.
Synthesis in Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Extraversion and the resting brain: a coordinate-based meta-analysis of resting-state functional brain imaging studies.Brain structure & function · 2025Pooled it
- Deciphering the Impact of EPHA1-AS1 Gene Polymorphism on Social Cognition Deficits in Parkinson's Disease.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Reinstating motivational states: Electrical signatures of craving and neural mind reading.PloS one · 2026Article
- Obesity and Insulin Resistance Alter Neural Processing of Unpleasant, but Not Pleasant, Visual Stimuli in Young Adults.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Effects of Olfactory Valence on the Neural and Behavioral Dynamics of Approach-Avoidance: An EEG Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- The Functional Neuroimaging of Autobiographical Memory for Happy Events: A Coordinate-Based Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Real-time fMRI neurofeedback compared to cognitive behavioral therapy in a pilot study for the treatment of mild and moderate depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Article
- Examining the neural mechanisms of rTMS: a naturalistic pilot study of acute and serial effects in pharmacoresistant depression.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2023Article
- Brain imaging studies of emotional well-being: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Self-efficacy beliefs in managing positive emotions: Associations with positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction across gender and ages.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
- Neural Connectivity Underlying Reward and Emotion-Related Processing: Evidence From a Large-Scale Network Analysis.Frontiers in systems neuroscience · 2022Article
- The thermodynamics of cognition: A mathematical treatment.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2021Article
- The thermodynamic brain and the evolution of intellect: the role of mental energy.Cognitive neurodynamics · 2020Review
- Article
- Positive Emotions from Brain Injury: The Emergence of Mirth and Happiness.Case reports in psychiatry · 2020Article
- Relationships of blood proinflammatory markers with psychological resilience and quality of life in civilian women with posttraumatic stress disorder.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Cortical morphometry of the five-factor model of personality: findings from the Human Connectome Project full sample.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2019Article
- Prefrontal oxygenation correlates to the responses in facial skin blood flows during exposure to pleasantly charged movie.Physiological reports · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objective: To conduct a systematic literature review of human studies reporting neural correlates of positive emotions.
methods: The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched in January 2016 for scientific papers written in English. No restrictions were placed on year of publication.
results: Twenty-two articles were identified and 12 met the established criteria. Five had been published during the last 4 years. Formation and regulation of positive emotions, including happiness, are associated with significant reductions in activity in the right prefrontal cortex and bilaterally in the temporoparietal cortex, as well as with increased activity in the left prefrontal regions. They are also associated with increased activity in the cingulate gyrus, inferior and middle temporal gyri, amygdalae, and ventral striatum.
conclusion: It is too early to claim that there is an established understanding of the neuroscience of positive emotions and happiness. However, despite overlap in the brain regions involved in the formation and regulation of positive and negative emotions, we can conclude that positive emotions such as happiness activate specific brain regions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.