Review of new book Why Humans Like to Cry: Tragedy, Evolution, and the Brain by Michael Trimble:
Weeping may have been one of the earliest forms of hominid communication. Initially a method to keep the eye lubricated and a response to pain, Trimble argues that crying became a way for early humans to share feelings of sorrow, joy and compassion and to empathize with others long before we developed language.
Human emotions arise from a network of interconnected brain regions. Trimble discusses research findings that show our brain's emotionally driven limbic system is deeply connected with other areas of the nervous system, such as the sensory cortex, which helps us process our surroundings. As a result, our feelings are integrated with our environment and bodily responses, a different paradigm than occurs in other species. In fact, he suggests that one possible reason we feel better after crying is that weeping stimulates our cranial nerves, which in turn appears to soothe our overactive amygdala.
Trimble ambitiously cracks the surface of a complex human process. Crying, then, does not indicate weakness; rather it highlights our advancement.
Weeping may have been one of the earliest forms of hominid communication. Initially a method to keep the eye lubricated and a response to pain, Trimble argues that crying became a way for early humans to share feelings of sorrow, joy and compassion and to empathize with others long before we developed language.
Human emotions arise from a network of interconnected brain regions. Trimble discusses research findings that show our brain's emotionally driven limbic system is deeply connected with other areas of the nervous system, such as the sensory cortex, which helps us process our surroundings. As a result, our feelings are integrated with our environment and bodily responses, a different paradigm than occurs in other species. In fact, he suggests that one possible reason we feel better after crying is that weeping stimulates our cranial nerves, which in turn appears to soothe our overactive amygdala.
Trimble ambitiously cracks the surface of a complex human process. Crying, then, does not indicate weakness; rather it highlights our advancement.
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