In PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a neuroimaging study by the University of Parma, in collaboration with University College London, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, and the Italian Institute of Technology, reveals how the human brain transforms affective states into action. The study, conducted at the University of Parma, employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate how a person's affective state influences the execution of their actions. Participants were instructed to complete two tasks: creating and maintaining positive and negative affective states (feeling task) and communicating that specific emotional state through activity (execution task). Data analysis found two significant conclusions. First, it was discovered that when we enter an affective state, the insula activates before the action is performed. Second, the Dynamic Causal Modeling technique was used to determine the direction of information flow between the insula and premotor cortex during the feeling and execution tasks. Specifically, during the feeling phase, affective information is encoded in the insula and influences the activity of the premotor cortex. Consequently, the premotor cortex would be able to determine the kinematic form of the action that is most appropriate for the specific affective state (bottom-up modulation) based on the information from the insula.