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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
Published on: August 26, 2011
The secret life of emotions
Kirsten I Ruys1, Diederik A Stapel
1Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research (TIBER) at Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands. k.i.ruys@uvt.nl
Abstract:
The possibility of unconsciously evoked emotions is often denied because awareness of an emotion's cause is considered to be precisely what produces the emotion. However, we argue that because emotional responding is important for successful living, both global and specific emotional responses can be induced without awareness. The present research used quick and super-quick subliminal priming techniques, and cognitive, feelings, and behavioral measures, to test this hypothesis. Our results show that both global moods and specific emotions can be evoked without conscious awareness of their cause.
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