自约1990年代后期起,对情绪的研究有所增加,其中包括心理学、医学、史学、情绪社会学(英语:Sociology of emotions)和计算机科学等许多领域。试图解释情绪的起源、功能和其他方面的众多理论促进了对该主题的更深入的研究。当前情绪概念的研究领域包括刺激和引发情绪的材料的开发。此外,正子断层造影扫描和功能性磁振造影扫描有助于研究大脑中的情感图像(英语:affective picture)过程。[8]
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