INDIVIDUAL EMOTIONS DO NOT LIVE IN SPECIFIC PARTS OF YOUR BRAIN

Lisa Feldman Barrett, a Northeastern University professor of psychology, is at the forefront of the "constructed emotion" theory. In this view, emotions aren't standard across all human brains. For example: Fear does not have a specific operating location in the brain, nor does it create a universal response, like widening your eyes.

Rather, "emotions are whole-brain affairs," Barrett writes. "Emotions, and really all mental events, are constructed by your whole brain, as vast networks of neurons work together. We no longer ask where emotions live in the brain but how the brain makes emotions."

Turns out, our brains are even more unique than we thought—and may be rewriting long-held scientific understanding.