Body and brain responses underlying salient emotional information processing

Abstract

Cognitive neuroscience has traditionally focused on simple tasks, presented sparsely and with abstract stimuli. While this approach has yielded fundamental insights into functional specialization in the brain, its ecological validity remains uncertain: Do these tasks fully capture how our brains function in the real world, where stimuli are dynamic, multimodal and crowded? Ecologically valid paradigms that approximate real life scenarios, using stimuli such as films, spoken narratives, music and multiperson games emerged in response to these concerns over a decade ago. We critically appraise whether this approach has delivered on its promise to deliver new insights into brain function. We highlight the challenges, technological innovations and clinical opportunities that are required should this field meet its full potential.