What happens in the brain when we encounter something truly extraordinary?

Who has never felt a shiver when contemplating a breathtaking landscape or looking at images of Earth from space? In such moments, many people experience a mixture of admiration, fascination and wonder that scientists refer to as awe - an emotion often described as a profound sense of amazement or reverence. In recent years, this experience has attracted growing scientific interest because of its potential influence on how we perceive the world, regulate our emotions, and relate to others. But does the brain respond to these experiences in the same way in everyone? An exploratory study sought to address this question in individuals with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

The researchers compared three individuals with affective disorders and twelve healthy participants. Using immersive virtual reality environments, participants were exposed to experiences designed to elicit feelings of awe, including a waterfall surrounded by giant trees, towering mountains, and a view of Earth from space. During the experiment, brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG), and information about participants’ emotional states was also collected.

The results showed that healthy participants responded differently to the various scenarios. The awe-inducing experiences elicited stronger emotional responses than the neutral comparison scenario, and each environment produced distinct patterns of brain activity. Among all the scenarios, the view of Earth from space stood out as one of the most powerful in evoking feelings of awe. According to the researchers, these findings suggest that brain activity in healthy participants varied systematically according to the nature and emotional intensity of the experiences encountered.

A different pattern emerged in participants with affective disorders. Although they also reported feelings of awe during the virtual reality experiences, their emotional and neural responses varied less across the different scenarios. According to the authors, this pattern may be associated with differences in the emotional processing of stimuli and a reduced ability to adapt emotional responses to different contexts—characteristics that are frequently associated with depression and bipolar disorder.

Although preliminary and based on a very small sample, the findings indicate that awe-inspiring experiences appear to leave distinct signatures in brain activity, and that these signatures may be less differentiated in individuals with affective disorders. The study further suggests that self-transcendent emotions such as awe may provide a promising avenue for investigating alterations in emotional processing associated with these conditions. The paper The neurobiological basis of the awe experience in affective disorders: an exploratory EEG study, reporting these findings, was published in the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. The study was conducted within the framework of project 288/20 - The origin of the sublime power in the brain: An integrated EEG-TMS study, supported by the Bial Foundation.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Affective disorders (ADs) are characterized by profound emotional processing deficits involving disrupted neural network activity and connectivity, particularly within the default mode network and fronto-temporal circuits, with abnormalities in theta and alpha oscillatory patterns. While current treatments primarily target mood symptoms, emotional processing impairments often persist and predict relapses. Awe, a complex self-transcendent emotion, may counteract such deficits through its capacity to reduce rumination and enhance positive affect. However, the neural correlates of awe experiences in clinical populations remain unexplored.

Objective: For the first time, this exploratory study investigated the electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of awe induced by validated virtual reality (VR) scenarios in individuals with ADs compared to healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: Participants were exposed to immersive VR scenarios designed to elicit different awe experiences (mountains, waterfall, Earth) and a reference (awe-neutral) scenario. EEG activity was recorded during VR exposure and at baseline, followed by emotional state questionnaires. Power spectral density and graph-theoretical connectivity indices – Nodal Positive Strength and Global Efficiency – were computed across theta, alpha, and beta bands.

Results: Healthy controls showed high awe responses in awe-inducing scenarios with selective, scenario-specific modulations in alpha and theta band activity and connectivity, reflecting preserved cognitive flexibility. Conversely, ADs reported similar awe responses across all VR scenarios with reduced environmental differentiation. With respect to HCs, ADs showed elevated theta power in bilateral frontal and temporal regions, suggesting compensatory activity related to emotional processing alterations. Both groups exhibited VR-induced reductions in alpha-band global efficiency, more pronounced in ADs, suggesting compromised neural integration during complex emotional processing.

Discussion: Taken together, the results suggest that the emotional processing deficits inherent to ADs may limit the capacity to engage differentially with emotionally complex stimuli such as awe, while nonetheless providing initial evidence that VR-based awe exposure combined with neurophysiological recording represents a valuable approach for discriminating differential cerebral emotional responses in clinical populations. This proof-of-concept work warrants further investigation in larger cohorts to evaluate the therapeutic potential of awe-based interventions for affective disorders.