Animal Model of Emotional Systems for Envy and Schadenfreude

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25330165
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: shima keisetsu 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 非常勤講師 (60124583)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: envy / schadenfreude / monkey / model

Outline of Final Research Achievements

If one monkey (first monkey) is given sufficient reward and another one (second monkey) is just looking such a circumstance, what dose it happen of this condition in the second monkey? I supposed that either of two monkeys, envy or schadenfreude is emerged as the emotional affection. Especially, I interested the second monkey who always looking another monkey given fruitful foods. From this second monkey, I recorded GSR (galvanic skin response) and autonomic nerve responses such as respiration and heart rates. As a result, I have found slightly increased heart rates and pattern change of respiratory intervals, and marked fluctuations of GSR pattern. In addition, the GSR fluctuations are sustained for several weeks in some monkeys. These observations suggest that the GSR can be useful for me searing emotional state of the monkey. In future, I will record the neuronal activities in the several regions of the second monkey’s brain including the cingulated motor areas and striatum.

Free Research Field

脳生理学