Thaindian News

Washington, Dec 9 (IANS) The mechanism behind emotions in rats promises to shed light on the nature of human emotions like empathy and nurturing.

Jaak Panksepp, professor of veterinary and comparative anatomy, pharmacy and physiology at the Washington State University, agrees with research which shows how rats helped other rats with no explicit rewards at stake.

Panksepp, who has pioneered work in how core emotions stem from deep, ancient parts of the brain, said the scientific community has been resistant towards the notion that “non-human animals have emotional experiences…”.

But he argues that recent advances in neuroscience are letting researchers look at how animal affect, or emotions, control learning, memory and behaviour, the journal Science reports.

“Simplified models of empathy, as in mice and rats, offer new inroads for understanding our own social-emotional nature and nurture,” he writes, according to a Washington statement.

“Such knowledge may eventually help us promote nurturant behaviours in humans,” said Panksepp.