KOCHI: A team led by a scientist hailing from Keralam is taking its research on how the brain generates emotions from mice to humans, using non-invasive methods to find whether hidden patterns identified in animal brains can also be detected in people.
The research could eventually open new ways of understanding and regulating mental-health conditions such as depression and anxiety, according to 30-year-old Aditya Nair, assistant professor of neuroscience and artificial intelligence at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. The work has now earned the Kochi native a place among MIT Technology Review’s Global Innovators Under 35.
The research began with a question: does an emotion come from the activity of a single neuron, or does it emerge from hundreds of neurons working together? Aditya compares it to an orchestra. Speaking to TNIE, Aditya explained: “Individual neurons may produce their own signals, but the important message can emerge from their interaction, creating a ‘chorus’ that cannot be understood by listening to one instrument alone.”
His team used AI and large-scale recordings of brain activity in mice to look for this hidden chorus. They found that groups of neurons in the hypothalamus, a region involved in emotional and motivated behaviour, collectively formed patterns associated with emotional states.
“These patterns, known as attractors, could represent not just whether an emotional state was present but also its intensity and persistence. In simple terms, the neural activity behaved less like an on-off switch and more like a dimmer, capable of increasing, remaining elevated and gradually changing,” he said.
The team then used AI to predict which neurons were involved and experimentally activated them using laser-based techniques. The experiments provided evidence that the identified groups of neurons were functionally connected and that their collective activity played a role in generating the emotional state.
The research is now moving beyond animal models. The team is working on non-invasive methods to detect corresponding patterns in humans. “The goal is to understand whether these can be used to track emotional states associated with disorders such as depression and anxiety, and whether the mechanisms can be targeted to help regulate such states,” he said.
The research is being carried out through Aditya’s work at NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and his research programme at Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). His work has already featured in journals including Nature, Science and Cell.