Can emotions be measured by EEG?: A short review referencing an EEG study on humor processing

Abstract

This paper aims to consider whether emotions can be measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG). Although there are some EEG indices related to emotions, none of them reflect emotional processing directly. In addition, some limitations in EEG analyses make it challenging to capture characteristics of emotions, and it is necessary to strictly control measurement conditions to correctly interpret EEG indices. Although assessing emotions through EEG is not easy, it captures and reflects cognitive processing (e.g., perception and attention) in the cerebral cortex. Researchers can indirectly observe changes in an emotional state by examining EEG indices of cognitive processing that co-vary with the emotion. Thus, it is a valid way to measure emotions. These points are discussed in reference to an EEG study on humor processing conducted by the author’s group (Sanada et al., 2022)²。