What does it mean to feel? The study of emotions has emerged as a central topic in the new discipline of affective neuroscience. In their new book, "The Feeling Brain," Elizabeth Johnston and Leah Olson trace how work in this rapidly expanding field speaks to fundamental questions: What is the function of emotions? What is the role of the body in emotions? What are "feelings," and how do they relate to emotions? Why are emotions so difficult to control? Is there an emotional brain?
Johnston, professor of psychology, and Olson, professor of biology, at Sarah Lawrence College, survey the science of emotions from the pioneering work of Charles Darwin and William James to the latest studies seeking answers to such questions as: How does the science of "normal" emotion inform our understanding of emotional disorders? To what extent can we regulate our emotions? When can we trust our emotions and when might they lead us astray? How do emotions affect our memories, and vice versa? How can we best describe the relationship between emotion and cognition?
Elizabeth Johnston, has a doctorate in visual neuroscience from Oxford University, England. She did postdoctoral work at the Center for Neural Science, NYU before joining the psychology faculty as professor of psychology at Sarah Lawrence College in 1992. Her previous publications have been in the areas of visual neuroscience and history of psychology. She specializes in child development, perception, and sensorimotor integration and lives in Bronxville, New York.
Leah Olson received her PhD in Neuroscience in 1984 for her work on circadian rhythms. She has been teaching a wide variety of courses in neuroscience and the brain since coming to Sarah Lawrence College in 1987, including the course she co-teaches with Elizabeth Johnston on the feeling brain. She is a professor of biology at Sarah Lawrence and specializes in the neurobiology of circadian rhythms, learning, and memory and lives in Bronxville, New York.
