Duchenne Emotions

871 Words4 Pages

Emotions are part of everyday life and they have different meanings to different people. They were first studied by Charles Darwin in 1872, he suggested that emotions developed and adapted over time. He wanted to prove that humans and animals had the same emotions so he observed not only their facial expressions, but also their behavior. Charles Darwin and ,a physician, Guillaunme-Benjamin- Amand Duchenne concluded that face expressions worked together to show a few emotions. Duchenne applied electrical current to the faces of his volunteers, by imitating the right combination of facial expressions, he produced more than 60 photographic plates that he believed were emotions. Darwin however disagreed with this, he believed that not all of Duchenne’s slides showed human expressions. To prove his theory, he invited guests and presented 11 of Duchenne’s slides, …show more content…

The guests united and agreed about certain emotions -like sadness, fear, happiness, and surprise- but disagreed about what other slides showed. Darwin then used these results and his own understanding of emotions to write “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals”. Emotions consist of not only physical components, but also chemical components. The most important chemical neurotransmitters that control emotions are: Dopamine (C8H11NO2), Norepinephrine (C8H11NO3), Serotonin (C10H12N2O), Glutamic acid (C5H9NO4), and GABA (C4H9NO2). Neurotransmitters impact mood and emotions, it has a connection to health, genetic factors, environmental factors, external emotional stimulus, and nutrition. Dopamine (C8H11NO2) plays a big role in controlling positive emotions, it also contributes to the creating and storing memories. Dopamine is