Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Imaging Happiness: Meta Analysis and Review

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A challenge in studying happiness is its conceptual nature. Is the happiness of hedonistic indulgence the same as the happiness of selfless volunteering? To understand some of these questions, a narrative review of 64 neuroimaging studies between 1995 and 2018 was conducted. Studies were grouped based on how they conceptualized happiness based on Seligman’s (Authentic happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2002) authentic happiness theory. A qualitative narrative review was performed as well as an ALE meta analysis of activation regions. Happiness was identified in 33 separate brain regions across the telencephalon, diencephalon, and metencephalon. Stratifying results by definition of happiness, regions of activity were generally relevant to the tasks performed during the experiment and the kinds of tasks enjoyed by the phenomenon of happiness examined. The ALE analysis identified the claustrum, insula, basal ganglia, and thalamus as showing meaningful activation clusters across studies. Happiness as pleasure and engagement demonstrated close relevance of neural activity to literal activities being performed. Tasks for happiness as meaning, on the other hand, were generally more abstract. Likewise, there was less direct relationship between behavior and phenomenon of happiness, the insula most likely to activate for happiness as meaning. It was concluded that happiness is not best understood as an affective state, but better understood within its behavioral context, as an emergent property of activity. For pleasure and engagement, this meant a literal relationship between behavioral and neurological activity. For meaning, this meant the ongoing assessment of the moral implications of events. Limitations included cross sectional design and hemodynamic focus. Future research should consider concordance of happiness and brain activity across the lifespan. Additionally, future studies should consider the dynamics of neuropeptides.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acharya, S., & Shukla, S. (2012). Mirror neurons: Enigma of the metaphysical modular brain. Journal of Natural Science, Biology, and Medicine, 3(2), 118–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumann, O., & Mattingley, J. B. (2012). Functional topography of primary emotion processing in the human cerebellum. NeuroImage, 61(4), 805–811.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, D. F. (1994). The neurology of thinking. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogert, B., Numminen-Kontti, T., Gold, B., Sams, M., Numminen, J., Burunat, I., et al. (2016). Hidden sources of joy, fear, and sadness: Explicit versus implicit neural processing of musical emotions. Neuropsychologia, 89, 393–402.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bokde, A. L. W., Lopez-Bayo, P., Meindl, T., Pechler, S., Born, C., Faltraco, F., et al. (2006). Functional connectivity of the fusiform gyrus during a face-matching task in subjects with mild cognitive impairment. Brain, 129(5), 1113–1124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brattico, E., Alluri, V., Bogert, B., Jacobsen, T., Vartiainen, N., Nieminen, S. K., et al. (2011). A functional MRI study of happy and sad emotions in music with and without lyrics. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 308. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, J. A., Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y. Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), 20254–20259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, F. B., & Veroff, J. (2017). Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchel, C., Miedl, S., & Sprenger, C. (2018). Hedonic processing in humans is mediated by an opioidergic mechanism in a mesocorticolimbic system. eLife, 7, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buschor, C., Proyer, R. T., & Ruch, W. (2013). Self-and peer-rated character strengths: How do they relate to satisfaction with life and orientations to happiness? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(2), 116–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. A., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S., et al. (2013). Power failure: Why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14(5), 365–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, D. W., Wallace, M. G., Modirrousta, M., Polimeni, J. O., McKeen, N. A., & Reiss, J. P. (2015). The neural basis of humour comprehension and humour appreciation: The roles of the temporoparietal junction and superior frontal gyrus. Neuropsychologia, 79, 10–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerf-Ducastel, B., Haase, L., & Murphy, C. (2011). Effect of magnitude estimation of pleasantness and intensity on fMRI activation to taste. Chemosensory Perception, 5(1), 100–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, J., Zhang, M., Hitchman, G., Qiu, J., & Liu, Y. (2014). When you smile, you become happy: Evidence from resting state task-based fMRI. Biological Psychology, 103, 100–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, V. D., Lang, P. J., Sabatinelli, D., Versace, F., & Bradley, M. M. (2010). Emotional imagery: Assessing pleasure and arousal in the brain’s reward circuitry. Human Brain Mapping, 31(9), 1446–1457.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick, F. C., & Koch, C. (2005). What is the function of the claustrum? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 360(1458), 1271–1279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997a). Finding flow: The psychology of engagement with everyday life. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997b). Happiness and creativity. The Futurist, 31(5), S8–S12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Culham, J. C., & Kanwisher, N. G. (2001). Neuroimaging of cognitive functions in human parietal cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 11(2), 157–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Di Giacinto, M., Ferrante, F., & Vistocco, D. (2007). Creativity and happiness, presented at policy for happiness. Siena: Certosa di Pontignano.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doré, B. P., Boccagno, C., Burr, D., Hubbard, A., Long, K., Weber, J., et al. (2017). Finding positive meaning in negative experiences engages ventral striatal and ventromedial prefrontal regions associated with reward valuation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(2), 235–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eickhoff, S. B., Bzdok, D., Laird, A. R., Kurth, F., & Fox, P. T. (2012). Activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis revisited. Neuroimage, 59(3), 2349–2361.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eickhoff, S. B., Bzdok, D., Laird, A. R., Roski, C., Caspers, S., Zilles, K., et al. (2011). Co-activation patterns distinguish cortical modules, their connectivity and functional differentiation. Neuroimage, 57(3), 938–949.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eickhoff, S. B., Laird, A. R., Grefkes, C., Wang, L. E., Zilles, K., & Fox, P. T. (2009). Coordinate-based ALE meta-analysis of neuroimaging data: A random-effects approach based on empirical estimates of spatial uncertainty. Human Brain Mapping, 30(9), 2907–2926.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eickhoff, S. B., Nichols, T. E., Laird, A. R., Hoffstaedter, F., Amunts, K., Fox, P. T., et al. (2016). Behavior, sensitivity, and power of activation likelihood estimation characterized by massive empirical simulation. Neuroimage, 137, 70–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ethofer, T., Bretscher, J., Gschwind, M., Kreifelts, B., Wildgruber, D., & Vuilleumier, P. (2011). Emotional voice areas: Anatomic location, functional properties, and structural connections revealed by combined fMRI/DTI. Cerebral Cortex, 22(1), 191–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Figueira, R. J., Peabody, M. F., & Lonstein, J. S. (2008). Oxytocin receptor activity in the ventrocaudal periaqueductal gray modulates anxiety-related behavior in postpartum rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(3), 618–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filimon, F., Nelson, J. D., Hagler, D. J., & Sereno, M. I. (2007). Human cortical representations for reaching: Mirror neurons for execution, observation, and imagery. Neuroimage, 37(4), 1315–1328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fink, A., Grabner, R. H., Benedek, M., Reishofer, G., Hauswirth, V., Fally, M., et al. (2008). The creative brain: Investigation of brain activity during creative problem solving by means of EEG and fMRI. Human Brain Mapping, 30(3), 734–748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. (2013). Love 2.0: How our supreme emotion affects everything we feel, think, do, and become. New York, NY: Plume.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gable, S. L., & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and why) is positive psychology? Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 103–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gawda, B., Szepietowska, E., Soluch, P., & Wolak, T. (2017). Valence of affective verbal fluency: fMRI studies on neural organization of emotional concepts joy and fear. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46(3), 731–746.

    Google Scholar 

  • George, M. S., Ketter, T. A., Parekh, P. I., Horwitz, B., Herscovitch, P., & Post, R. M. (1995). Brain activity during transient sadness and happiness in healthy women. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152(3), 341–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilead, M., Katzir, M., Eyal, T., & Liberman, N. (2016). Neural correlates of processing “self-conscious” vs. “basic” emotions. Neuropsychologia, 81, 207–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gluck, M. A., Mercado, E., & Myers, C. E. (2016). Learning and memory: From brain to behavior. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabenhorst, F., D’Souza, A. A., Parris, B. A., Rolls, E. T., & Passingham, R. E. (2010). A common neural scale for the subjective pleasantness of different primary rewards. Neuroimage, 51(3), 1265–1274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heller, A. S., van Reekum, C. M., Schaefer, S. M., Lapate, R. C., Radler, B. T., Ryff, C. D., et al. (2013). Sustained striatal activity predicts eudaimonic well-being and cortisol output. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2191–2200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hristovski, R., Davids, K., & Araújo, D. (2006). Affordance-controlled bifurcations of action patterns in martial arts. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 10(4), 409–444.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, B. (2017). The original Buddhist psychology: What the Abhidharma tells us about how we think, feel, and experience life. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, E. J., Kyeong, S., Cho, S. W., Chun, J. W., Park, H. J., Kim, J., et al. (2016). Happier people show greater neural connectivity during negative self-referential processing. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149554.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klann-Delius, G., Menninghaus, W., Prehn, K., Bajbouj, M., Korn, C. W., Jacobs, A. M., et al. (2015). The neural correlates of emotion alignment in social interaction. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 10(3), 435–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klasen, M., Weber, R., Kircher, T. T., Mathiak, K. A., & Mathiak, K. (2011). Neural contributions to flow experience during video game playing. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(4), 485–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koelsch, S., & Skouras, S. (2014). Functional centrality of amygdala, striatum and hypothalamus in a “small-world” network underlying joy: An fMRI study with music. Human Brain Mapping, 35(7), 3485–3498.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Hu, S., Wang, X., Song, Y., & Liu, J. (2015a). Neural correlates of the happy life: The amplitude of spontaneous low frequency fluctuations predicts subjective well-being. Neuroimage, 107, 136–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Liu, L., Wang, X., Hu, S., Song, Y., & Liu, J. (2015b). Different neural pathways linking personality traits and eudaimonic well-being: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 15(2), 299–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Ma, X., You, X., & Xiang, Y. (2018). The resilient brain: Psychological resilience mediates the effect of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations in orbitofrontal cortex on subjective well-being in young healthy adults. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13(7), 755–763.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Wang, X., Hu, S., & Liu, J. (2015c). Neural correlates of psychological resilience and their relation to life satisfaction in a sample of healthy young adults. Neuroimage, 123, 165–172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Wang, X., Song, Y., & Liu, J. (2016). Brain regions involved in dispositional mindfulness during resting state and their relation with well-being. Social Neuroscience, 11(4), 331–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, R. D., McRae, K., Reiman, E. M., Chen, K., Ahern, G. L., & Thayer, J. F. (2009). Neural correlates of heart rate variability during emotion. Neuroimage, 44(1), 213–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeDoux, J. E., Sakaguchi, A. K. I. R. A., & Reis, D. J. (1984). Subcortical efferent projections of the medial geniculate nucleus mediate emotional responses conditioned to acoustic stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience, 4(3), 683–698.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y. H., & Park, I. (2010). Happiness and physical activity in special populations: Evidence from Korean survey data. Journal of Sports Economics, 11(2), 136–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, W., & Reeve, J. (2017). Identifying the neural substrates of intrinsic motivation during task performance. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 17(5), 939–953.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leknes, S., Lee, M., Berna, C., Andersson, J., & Tracey, I. (2011). Relief as a reward: Hedonic and neural responses to safety from pain. PLoS ONE, 6(4), e17870. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017870.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindgren, L., Westling, G., Brulin, C., Lehtipalo, S., Andersson, M., & Nyberg, L. (2012). Pleasant human touch is represented in pregenual anterior cingulate cortex. Neuroimage, 59(4), 3427–3432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Y., Chen, X., Qi, S., You, X., & Huang, X. (2017). Well-being and anticipation for future positive events: Evidences from an fMRI study. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2199. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, Y., Kong, F., Qi, S., You, X., & Huang, X. (2015a). Resting-state functional connectivity of the default mode network associated with happiness. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(3), 516–524.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo, S., Yu, D., & Han, S. (2015b). Genetic and neural correlates of romantic relationship satisfaction. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(2), 337–348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The how of happiness: A scientific approach to getting the life you want. New York, NY: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machado, L., & Cantilino, A. (2017). A systematic review of the neural correlates of positive emotions. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 39(2), 172–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddock, R. J. (1999). The retrosplenial cortex and emotion: New insights from functional neuroimaging of the human brain. Trends in Neurosciences, 22(7), 310–316.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maier, S. F., Grahn, R. E., Kalman, B. A., Sutton, L. C., Wiertelak, E. P., & Watkins, L. R. (1993). The role of the amygdala and dorsal raphe nucleus in mediating the behavioral consequences of inescapable shock. Behavioral Neuroscience, 107(2), 377–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manninen, S., Tuominen, L., Dunbar, R. I., Karjalainen, T., Hirvonen, J., Arponen, E., et al. (2017). Social laughter triggers endogenous opioid release in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(25), 6125–6131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsunaga, M., Kawamichi, H., Koike, T., Yoshihara, K., Yoshida, Y., Takahashi, H. K., et al. (2016). Structural and functional associations of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex with subjective happiness. NeuroImage, 134, 132–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCabe, C., Huber, A., Harmer, C. J., & Cowen, P. J. (2011). The D2 antagonist sulpiride modulates the neural processing of both rewarding and aversive stimuli in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology (Berlin), 217(2), 271–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLean, J., Brennan, D., Wyper, D., Condon, B., Hadley, D., & Cavanagh, J. (2009). Localisation of regions of intense pleasure response evoked by soccer goals. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 171(1), 33–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitterschiffthaler, M. T., Fu, C. H., Dalton, J. A., Andrew, C. M., & Williams, S. C. (2008). A functional MRI study of happy and sad affective states induced by classical music. Human Brain Mapping, 28(11), 1150–1162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moljord, I. E. O., Eriksen, L., Moksnes, U. K., & Espnes, G. A. (2011). Stress and happiness among adolescents with varying frequency of physical activity. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 113(2), 631–646.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, V. I., Cieslik, E. C., Laird, A. R., Fox, P. T., Radua, J., Mataix-Cols, D., et al. (2018). Ten simple rules for neuroimaging meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 84, 151–161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, J., & Roberts, S. (2016). The hypo-egoic component of flow. In K. W. Brown, & M. R. Leary (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena (p. 133). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paradiso, S., Robinson, R. G., Andreasen, N. C., Downhill, J. E., Davidson, R. J., Kirchner, P. T., et al. (1997). Emotional activation of limbic circuitry in elderly normal subjects in a PET study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154(3), 384–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, N., Peterson, C., & Ruch, W. (2009). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction in twenty-seven nations. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4(4), 273–279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascucci, D., Hickey, C., Jovicich, J., & Turatto, M. (2017). Independent circuits in basal ganglia and cortex for the processing of reward and precision feedback. Neuroimage, 162, 56–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paulus, F. M., Müller-Pinzler, L., Stolz, D. S., Mayer, A. V., Rademacher, L., & Krach, S. (2017). Laugh or cringe? Common and distinct processes of reward-based schadenfreude and empathy-based fremdscham. Neuropsychologia, 116, 52–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelletier, M., Bouthillier, A., Lévesque, J., Carrier, S., Breault, C., Paquette, V., et al. (2003). Separate neural circuits for primary emotions? Brain activity during self-induced sadness and happiness in professional actors. NeuroReport, 14(8), 1111–1116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, D., Hendler, T., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2012). Can we share the joy of others? Empathic neural responses to distress vs joy. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(8), 909–916.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., Park, N., & Seligman, M. E. (2005). Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: The full life versus the empty life. Journal of Happiness Studies, 6(1), 25–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrovic, P., Pleger, B., Seymour, B., Klöppel, S., De Martino, B., Critchley, H., et al. (2008). Blocking central opiate function modulates hedonic impact and anterior cingulate response to rewards and losses. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(42), 10509–10516.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porro, C. A., Francescato, M. P., Cettolo, V., Diamond, M. E., Baraldi, P., Zuiani, C., et al. (1996). Primary motor and sensory cortex activation during motor performance and motor imagery: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Journal of Neuroscience, 16(23), 7688–7698.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolls, E. T. (2004). The functions of the orbitofrontal cortex. Brain and Cognition, 55(1), 11–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenzweig, M. R., Leiman, A. L., & Breedlove, S. M. (1996). Biological psychology. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutledge, R. B., Skandali, N., Dayan, P., & Dolan, R. J. (2014). A computational and neural model of momentary subjective well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(33), 12252–12257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saarimäki, H., Gotsopoulos, A., Jääskeläinen, I. P., Lampinen, J., Vuilleumier, P., Hari, R., et al. (2015). Discrete neural signatures of basic emotions. Cerebral Cortex, 26(6), 2563–2573.

    Google Scholar 

  • San Martín, J., Perles, F., & Canto, J. M. (2010). Life satisfaction and perception of happiness among university students. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 13(2), 617–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. New York, NY: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satomura, Y., Takizawa, R., Koike, S., Kawasaki, S., Kinoshita, A., Sakakibara, E., et al. (2014). Potential biomarker of subjective quality of life: Prefrontal activation measurement by near-infrared spectroscopy. Social Neuroscience, 9(1), 63–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schraa-Tam, C. K., Rietdijk, W. J., Verbeke, W. J., Dietvorst, R. C., Van Den Berg, W. E., Bagozzi, R. P., et al. (2012). fMRI activities in the emotional cerebellum: A preference for negative stimuli and goal-directed behavior. The Cerebellum, 11(1), 233–245.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schreuders, E., Braams, B. R., Blankenstein, N. E., Peper, J. S., Güroğlu, B., & Crone, E. A. (2018). Contributions of reward sensitivity to ventral striatum activity across adolescence and early adulthood. Child Development, 89(3), 797–810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seghier, M. L. (2013). The angular gyrus: Multiple functions and multiple subdivisions. The Neuroscientist, 19(1), 43–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. (2002). Authentic happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410–420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shi, L., Sun, J., Wu, X., Wei, D., Chen, Q., Yang, W., et al. (2018). Brain networks of happiness: Dynamic functional connectivity among the default, cognitive and salience networks relates to subjective well-being. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13(8), 851–862.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sorokowska, A., Negoias, S., Härtwig, S., Gerber, J., Iannilli, E., Warr, J., et al. (2016). Differences in the central-nervous processing of olfactory stimuli according to their hedonic and arousal characteristics. Neuroscience, 324, 62–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suardi, A., Sotgiu, I., Costa, T., Cauda, F., & Rusconi, M. (2016). The neural correlates of happiness: A review of PET and fMRI studies using autobiographical recall methods. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 16(3), 383–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, H., Matsuura, M., Koeda, M., Yahata, N., Suhara, T., Kato, M., et al. (2008). Brain activations during judgments of positive self-conscious emotion and positive basic emotion: Pride and joy. Cerebral Cortex, 18(4), 898–903.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tettamanti, M., Rognoni, E., Cafiero, R., Costa, T., Galati, D., & Perani, D. (2012). Distinct pathways of neural coupling for different basic emotions. Neuroimage, 59(2), 1804–1817.

    Google Scholar 

  • Touroutoglou, A., Lindquist, K. A., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2015). Intrinsic connectivity in the human brain does not reveal networks for ‘basic’ emotions. Social Cognitive and Affective neuroscience, 10(9), 1257–1265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turkeltaub, P. E., Eickhoff, S. B., Laird, A. R., Fox, M., Wiener, M., & Fox, P. (2012). Minimizing within-experiment and within-group effects in activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses. Human Brain Mapping, 33(1), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuulari, J. J., Tuominen, L., de Boer, F. E., Hirvonen, J., Helin, S., Nuutila, P., et al. (2017). Feeding releases endogenous opioids in humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 37(34), 8284–8291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich, M., Keller, J., & Grön, G. (2015). Neural signatures of experimentally induced flow experiences identified in a typical fMRI block design with BOLD imaging. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(3), 496–507.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulrich, M., Keller, J., & Grön, G. (2016). Dorsal raphe nucleus down-regulates medial prefrontal cortex during experience of flow. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 169. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Dillen, L. F., & van Steenbergen, H. (2018). Tuning down the hedonic brain: Cognitive load reduces neural responses to high-calorie food pictures in the nucleus accumbens. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 18(3), 447–459. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-018-0579-3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waldinger, R. J., Kensinger, E. A., & Schulz, M. S. (2011). Neural activity, neural connectivity, and the processing of emotionally valenced information in older adults: Links with life satisfaction. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 11(3), 426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, F., Orpana, H. M., Morrison, H., De Groh, M., Dai, S., & Luo, W. (2012). Long-term association between leisure-time physical activity and changes in happiness: Analysis of the Prospective National Population Health Survey. American Journal of Epidemiology, 176(12), 1095–1100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., Song, J., Guo, F., Zhang, Z., Yuan, S., & Cacioppo, S. (2016). Spatiotemporal brain dynamics of empathy for pain and happiness in friendship. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 10, 45. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00045.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wassiliwizky, E., Koelsch, S., Wagner, V., Jacobsen, T., & Menninghaus, W. (2017). The emotional power of poetry: Neural circuitry, psychophysiology and compositional principles. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(8), 1229–1240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waytz, A., Hershfield, H. E., & Tamir, D. I. (2015). Mental simulation and meaning in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(2), 336–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weems, S. (2014). Ha!: The science of when we laugh and why. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson-Mendenhall, C. D., Barrett, L. F., & Barsalou, L. W. (2013). Neural evidence that human emotions share core affective properties. Psychological Science, 24(6), 947–956.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zou, L. Q., Zhou, H. Y., Zhuang, Y., van Hartevelt, T. J., Lui, S. S., Cheung, E. F., et al. (2018). Neural responses during the anticipation and receipt of olfactory reward and punishment in human. Neuropsychologia, 111, 172–179.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Lisa Weyandt’s research was supported in part by a National Institutes of Health Grant G20RR030883.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island, 142 Flagg Road, Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Joshua Ray Tanzer & Lisa Weyandt

Authors
  1. Joshua Ray Tanzer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lisa Weyandt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joshua Ray Tanzer.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tanzer, J.R., Weyandt, L. Imaging Happiness: Meta Analysis and Review. J Happiness Stud 21, 2693–2734 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00195-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00195-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation