How we perceive emotion

Something I have learned - and feel is worth sharing with people, because it truly is fascinating - is about how people perceive emotions. So prepare to have your minds blown!

Before I give you the readers digest version, I need to let you know that there are competing theories about this, and that there are even different theories about what emotions actually are (I challenge you to come up with a definition!).

So how do we perceive emotions?
Interestingly, this ability requires our own internal simulation of the emotional state. That is, to perceive another person as being happy, you need to - in some way - experience this "happiness" for yourself (whether by some form of volitional imitation or by automatic mimicry). This does not necessarily entail that you - when faced with a fearful person - suddenly get infected with their emotion and begin to show outward fear-stimulated behaviours before you interpret their emotional expression as fear, but a comparison process takes place whereby the perceptual information you get is processed by the premotor cortex and/or posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) (part of your brain responsible for guidance of your physical movement, amongst other things). In other words, you essentially internally simulate what is happening in order to understand it. (As an interesting aside, people who have larger pSTS's have been found to be more altruistic! Go figure...).

Although I might point out that you certainly CAN experience this "catching" of someone else's emotion - there is a large literature on the phenomena, called emotional contagion. Now you know why you like being around happy people - because they make you happy :-)
This, and other evidence from studies on empathy and neurophysiological studies on imitation focusing on mirror neurons (I don't have time to go into these here, but let me encourage you to look them up - they're sweet action) have provided much of the empirical basis for the above view.

Cool huh!?

The woes of infirmity

Oh dear friends... woe is me!

I have been struck down my the mighty hand of back pain and am currently wallowing in a cesspit of doom, guzzling down cocktails of anti-inflammatories and self-pity in a fruitless attempt to comfort myself. The physiotherapist gave me about a thrillion torturous exercises which I can't even do, and all of this becasue...

MY TORSO IS TOO LONG.

Yes... disproportionately so. I have always known that I am mostly torso, and have been telling people for years... however all I ever got in return was mockery and scoffs of disbelief; now I have diagnostic proof from a real live health professional that my torso is just too long to survive. Too bad this information has finally come packaged in the form of a life sentence! Suck on that, mockers!!!!!!!!!!

Flog

noun

a cross between flaming and a blog; a blog for flaming.

For example, I just checked out John McCain's blog... and all I found were rants about how hates Obama! It's more of a flog than a blog, really.

Love on

verb

To dote upon in a non-patronising way, typically with undertones of awe and excitement.

For example, I have spent all day loving on my new iphone.

Frickin

expletive

When you don't want to use censored words.

Sweet Action

turn of phrase 

A cross between being overcome with joy and maximally approving of something.

For example, A: I just sold my sweaty old gym towel to some pervert on ebay for 100 bucks! B: Sweet Action!

adjective

For example, I just scored a sweet action towel of ebay and now I'm going to go rub it all over my body!

Pure Quality

turn of phrase

When something is really good, or features incredible craftsmanship.

NOTE: Must be pronounced in a (Glaswegian) Scottish accent.

For example, this cardamom flavoured gelato is pure quality.

etymology: coined by the Neds in Scotland.