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What is Basic about Basic Emotions? Lasting Lessons from Affective Neuroscience
Abstract
A cross-species affective neuroscience strategy for understanding the primary-process (basic) emotions is defended. The need for analyzing the brain and mind in terms of evolutionary stratification of functions into at least primary (instinctual), secondary (learned), and tertiary (thought-related) processes is advanced. When viewed in this context, the contentious battles between basic-emotion theorists and dimensional-constructivist approaches can be seen to be largely nonsubstantial differences among investigators working at different levels of analysis.
... Building on prior research linking personality organization (PO) and primary emotions (PE) to addictive behaviours (Fuchshuber et al., 2018), we focus specifically on their association with TU. PEs, based on Jaak Panksepp's work on Affective Neuroscience (2004), include positive emotions namely CARE, LUST, PLAY, and SEEK, and negative ones namely SADNESS, ANGER, and FEAR (see Panksepp and Watt, 2011 for an extensive review). Besides these emotional systems named by Panksepp and Watt (2011) there are also sensory and homeostatic affects. ...
... PEs, based on Jaak Panksepp's work on Affective Neuroscience (2004), include positive emotions namely CARE, LUST, PLAY, and SEEK, and negative ones namely SADNESS, ANGER, and FEAR (see Panksepp and Watt, 2011 for an extensive review). Besides these emotional systems named by Panksepp and Watt (2011) there are also sensory and homeostatic affects. According to prior research we focus on these seven emotional networks because we suspect a connection between those especially (Fuchshuber et al., 2018). ...
... Specifically, the results are similar to those by Poormahdy et al. (2022), who observed links between deficits in affect regulation and TU. High negative emotions often correlate with distress (Panksepp and Watt, 2011), and without a mature personality structure to handle inner conflicts, individuals may seek alternative stress relief sources. Here, nicotine might provide relief helping alleviate distress caused by negative affects temporarily (Short et al., 2015). ...
The use of nicotine poses a global health risk, both for users and often also for those around them. The use of nicotine products is well described in the literature, particularly as a means of emotion regulation and performance enhancement. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of personality organization on the relationship between negative emotions and tobacco use (TU) in more detail. A sample of 490 individuals, who were on average 28 years old (SD = 10.85) and predominantly female (77.3 %), completed questionnaires to assess primary emotions (PE), personality organization (PO) and TU. Correlation analysis and structural equation modelling was applied to examine the role of PE and PO in TU. The final model explained approximately 6 % of the variance in TU and revealed that negative primary affects such as SADNESS and ANGER had indirect effects on TU that were mediated by PO, which in turn showed direct effects on TU. The results of this study underscore previous findings suggesting that specifically negative emotions may play an important role in addictive disorders and hint a connection to PO as well. Along these lines, TU is suggested as a dysfunctional attempt to regulate negative affects, which could be targeted in therapeutic interventions.
... In this study, we aimed to identify potential behavioural indicators of grief in bereaved rhesus macaque mothers at the Caribbean Primate Research Center (CPRC) in Cayo Santiago. We worked from the hypothesis that grief is an evolutionarily conserved emotional response to bereavement [22,23]. We focused our data collection and predictions on behavioural markers of grief in humans including: lethargy, lack of appetite, increased stress and decreased socialization. ...
... In the first case, it is possible that macaque mothers do not experience grief after the death of their infant. Neurological evidence suggests that the emotional system responsible for protest grief is basal in mammals [23] and that primates can suffer from depression-like symptoms in response to adverse events [37,38]. Indeed, separation from peers has been used to induce depression in primates [37]. ...
Although it is understood that all humans grieve the death of close social partners, little empirical research has addressed animals’ responses to death. In this study, we collected quantitative data on the behaviour of 11 bereaved rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) mothers at Cayo Santiago to the natural deaths of their infants and matched, non-bereaved controls. Our research focused on behavioural signs of grief, including loss of appetite, lethargy, increased stress and social withdrawal, highlighting that such responses are documented in the human literature, but could be found in mammalian taxa. Using mixed models, we found that, contrary to prediction, bereaved mothers spent less time resting than the non-bereaved control females in the first two weeks after their infants’ deaths. There were no other behavioural markers of grief. We conclude that mothers showed a short-term behavioural response to their bereavement that does not match human’s prolonged ‘despair’ grief. We propose that mothers’ behavioural responses might be a form of ‘protest’ grief, as is seen in primate infants when separated from mothers and in humans, or do not grieve. We hope to advance the field of comparative thanatology by providing a framework and novel predictions for future studies in this area.
... To differentiate emotion-specific developmental changes from general physiological maturation, we included an age × emotion category interaction in our models. While emotional categories did not significantly affect HRV, fear-inducing stimuli prompted increased HR across all age groups, indicating a universal physiological arousal in response to fear 5,36,78,79 . Conversely, anger-inducing clips elicited lower HR across all participants. ...
... In line with the component process model, the similarity of combined response patterns resembled that of the subjective ratings, supporting the subjective experience as a result of integration of other components 2 . Notably, across all age groups, fear-inducing stimuli elicited a response pattern that is clearly distinct from other emotion categories, highlighting its primal role in human emotional experience 78,79,88 . These findings advocate for the inclusion of multiple assessment methods to gain a comprehensive understanding of emotional experiences across different age groups. ...
Investigating age-related shifts in affective responses to emotionally salient stimuli is key to comprehending emotional development during childhood and adolescence. Most of the research regarding emotional experiences has focused on adults, while the understanding of the development of emotional experiences across childhood remains elusive. To address this gap, we explored whether physiological and behavioural responses as well as self-reported emotions elicited in children and adolescents by naturalistic stimuli differ from those in adults. We developed a set of emotional videos to elicit different emotions – fear, joy, anger, sadness, amusement, and tenderness - and measured emotional intensity ratings, electrocardiography, and eye movements from 8–15-year-old children and adults during the viewing of the videos. We identified age-related changes in all measured responses. Emotional intensity and behavioural responses varied across emotion categories. Furthermore, specific emotions showed different maturation patterns. The study highlights the importance of a multicomponent approach to accurately discern and understand emotional states.
... To illustrate an implied emotion, reports in which a participant reported laughing were coded as "joy." Based on the previously reviewed literature on waking positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2013;Izard, 1992Izard, , 2007Panksepp & Watt, 2011), as well as studies of positive emotions in dreams (e.g., Hartmann, 2008;Hill et al., 2007;Kallmeyer & Chang, 1998;Samson-Daoust et al., 2019), a list of positive emotions was created and used to categorize positive emotions in the current sample of dream reports. This list includes the following positive emotions: joy, surprise, calmness/ serenity, affection/love, interest, playfulness/amusement, lust/sexual arousal, awe, pride, and hope. ...
... The most frequently reported emotions in the sample of highly positive dreams were joy, lust/sexual arousal, pride, calmness/serenity, surprise, and playfulness/ amusement. These categories were created based on previous literature on emotions in positive dreams (e.g., Hill et al., 2007;Kallmeyer & Chang, 1998;Samson-Daoust et al., 2019) as well as positive emotions experienced in wake (e.g., Fredrickson, 2013;Izard, 1992;Panksepp & Watt, 2011). Our findings are consistent with the literature on categories of positive emotions found in positively self-rated dreams (e.g., Kallmeyer & Chang, 1998;Samson-Daoust et al., 2019). ...
This study aimed to investigate a large sample of highly positive dreams to better understand the overarching themes and emotions present in such dream reports and the way in which highly positive dreams unfold. Participants (N = 345) included in the present study kept home dream journals in which they were asked to write down their dreams each morning upon awakening over the course of 2–5 consecutive weeks. The prevalence of maximally rated positive dreams in our sample of 5,502 everyday dream reports was 3.4% and 118 dream narratives reported by 88 participants (26 men and 62 women) who self-rated these dreams as containing intense positive emotions were subsequently analyzed. The three most common themes in this sample of highly positive dreams were sexual content, positive platonic social interactions, and nature/bountiful environment. The most frequently reported emotions in the sample included joy, lust/sexual arousal, pride, calmness/serenity, surprise, and playfulness/amusement. Approximately 16% of all highly positive dreams also contained negative emotions. When compared to women, men were significantly more likely to report themes of positive platonic social interactions and artistic creations and endeavors. No sex differences were found for emotions. Finally, almost half of all highly positive dreams contained triggering factors that rendered the dream positive or enhanced the positive emotion in the dream, and almost 25% of our sample of highly positive dreams were lucid dreams. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the broader literature on dreams.
... The anatomy of the brain is considered to be hierarchically developed and the primary emotions are therefore regarded as primary processes, which are located in the developmentally old, subcortically located areas of the brain. Higher up in the hierarchy are the secondary processes, such as emotional learning, and finally the neocortically located tertiary processes, which relate to complex cognitive components (Panksepp and Watt, 2011). ...
... In contrast, attachment avoidance is associated with deactivation and manifests itself in suppression of affective reactions in close relationships (Fraley and Shaver, 2000;Shaver and Mikulincer, 2002). In line with the previously mentioned theory of the hierarchical organization of the brain, attachment patterns in terms of emotional learning can be classified as part of the secondary processes, which are therefore downstream of the primary emotions as primary processes (Panksepp and Watt, 2011). ...
Objectives
Primary emotion traits and attachment patterns, have been linked to various mental disorders. This study aims to shed more light on the less studied relationship with eating disorder (ED) symptoms.
Methods
A total of 921 non-clinical subjects (69.9% females) were assessed for primary emotions traits (B-ANPS-GL), attachment insecurity (ECR-RD8), and eating disorder pathology (EDE-Q8). A theoretically derived model was evaluated by means of a path analysis with attachment anxiety as assumed mediator variable.
Results
Global problematic eating behavior showed negative correlations with the positive emotions PLAY, CARE, and LUST (r = −0.10 to −0.24), positive correlations with the negative primary emotions ANGER, FEAR, and SADNESS (r = 0.12–0.27), as well as with attachment anxiety (r = 0.22, all p < 0.01). Path analyses revealed direct effects between eating behavior pathology with LUST (β = −0.07 to −0.15) and FEAR (β = 0.12–0.19; all p < 0.05). The association of SADNESS and Weight (β = 0.05) and Shape Concern (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) was fully mediated by attachment anxiety. Overall, the path model explained 17% of the variance for attachment anxiety and 6% of the Restraint, 13% for Eating, 10% for Weight and 14% for Shape Concern Subscales.
Discussion
The findings shed light on the multifactorial relationship between affective traits, attachment security, and eating disorder pathology. In line with previous research, the results emphasize the role of attachment and affective functioning in ED symptoms.
... Grief is often the immediate response to social loss, and researchers have linked the despair it brings to the reasons depression can be so painful [20]. The profound emotions felt during grief are understood as a form of psychological pain [21]. ...
Objective: The present study explored the association between the losses incurred due to breast cancer diagnosis, symptoms of depression, PANIC/GRIEF, and contextual factors within the context of Hispanic/Latina (H/L) patients diagnosed with breast cancer (BC). Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study of adult H/L BC patients (n = 129). The participants were H/L women diagnosed with breast cancer (stages 0–4) in the past five years. Sociodemographic variables were assessed, as well as depression symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9; Spanish version), grief (The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales, Grief subscale; Spanish version), and general losses (Grief diagnostic instrument for general practice, loss categories section). Results: The mean age for the sample was 55.37 (SD = 11.57). The most frequent non-death-related losses were loss of liberty (f = 63, p = 48.8%), followed by fear of own death (f = 67, p = 51.9%) and loss of quality of life (f = 65, p = 50.4%). A higher mean rank was observed in depressive symptomatology scores for those who experienced loss of liberty (U = 73.91, p < 0.008), quality of life (U = 77.30, p < 0.001), and fear of their own death (U = 74.88, p < 0.002). The results indicate a significant positive relationship between the number of reported losses and depressive symptomatology (r = 0.340, p < 0.001). In terms of contextual factors, the participants who reported their income not being enough to cover their expenses reported a greater number of losses related to diagnosis (U = 74.67, p < 0.001) and more depressive symptomatology (U = 69.84, p = 0.041). Moreover, a relationship was observed between grief and academic levels (r = −0.234, p = 0.008). Likewise, a relationship was observed between age and the number of losses (r = −0.461, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Our results provide new evidence on how primary non-death-related losses due to a breast cancer diagnosis impact the mental health of H/L BC patients.
... Panksepp and Watt suggest that emotional experiences are primarily mediated by secondary-and tertiary-level processes. From this hierarchical perspective, dimensional-constructivist and basic emotion theories can be viewed as complementary [55]. Thus, self-reports, despite its obvious drawbacks, offer one of the most reliable and economical means of measuring emotions [24]. ...
Theories of Constructed Emotion and Grounded Cognition suggest that our sensorimotor experiences underpin the formation of emotions. This study explores this premise by examining how movements of a computer cursor can reflect moods of participants. We conducted an experiment where participants engaged in a simple choice-reaching task, with their mouse-cursor movements tracked pixel by pixel. Mood assessments were conducted using the PANAS-X scale before and after the task. Through Intersubject Representational Similarity Analysis, we investigated the correlation between the patterns of mouse movements and self-reported moods. Our findings reveal a significant association between negative emotions, such as fear and hostility, and certain movement patterns, e.g., randomness and deviations from a direct path. Furthermore, our machine learning-based Representational Similarity Analysis (ML-RSA) underscores the value of second-order similarity measures, revealing meaningful alignments between sensorimotor behaviors and emotional states across distinct measurement domains. These findings highlight the potential of cursor-tracking as a tool for exploring the interplay between emotion and action.
... This will naturally involve regulating the nervous system, and the soothing system and parasympathetic nervous system in particular. The former is considered a "primary-process core affect (which) arises from ancient subcortical processes" [56,57]. The latter involves upregulation of the myelinated ventral fibres of the vagus nerve (the most phylogenetically recent), and is associated with relational processes which settle, engage and connect the individual in a prosocial field of relationality. ...
Objective
The study aimed to evaluate the implementation of mindfulness based interventions, in different community settings in South Africa, by graduates of a two-year mindfulness training course, and to explore the challenges involved in adapting to the local context.
Methods
This was a descriptive exploratory qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Ten graduates of a two-year training in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) were identified using purposeful criterion-based sampling based on their implementation of adapted MBIs in communities that represented the systemic social, economic and health challenges affecting a majority of South Africans.
Results
Previous and ongoing trauma is pervasive in South Africa which significantly affects the quality of lived experience for many individuals and families. Teachers who offered mindfulness-based approaches within these communities needed to hold a high level of sensitivity to pre-existing and ongoing trauma and signs of traumatic abreaction to effectively and skilfully deliver these interventions. Context sensitive adaptations needed to be implemented to programme structure, such as length of sessions, prioritisation of curricular elements and duration of mindfulness practices, along with in-the-moment flexible responsiveness such as ending a formal practice ealier than planned, or responding to the emotional needs of an individual. This was supported by the creation of a robust and compassionate holding environment, a safe and secure space in which attuned relationality supported co- and self-regulation and the internalisation of mindfulness skills.
Conclusion
Mindfulness can be a valuable practice in diverse settings in South Africa, including communities affected by previous and current trauma, and the training curriculum in this context requires high levels of sensitivity to these conditions and must prioritise a safe and compassionate environment in which to learn.
... These emotion identification systems should ensure accuracy, robustness and adaptability to real-time applications. More than 90 definitions of human emotion [12] have been reported in the literature, and emotions are classified into primary and secondary emotions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Significant studies of emotion recognition have focused on primary emotions. ...
This study explores the link between the emotion “guilt” and human EEG data, and investigates the influence of gender differences on the expression of guilt and neutral emotions in response to visual stimuli. Additionally, the stimuli used in the study were developed to ignite guilt and neutral emotions. Two emotions, “guilt” and “neutral”, were recorded from 16 participants after these emotions were induced using storyboards as pictorial stimuli. These storyboards were developed based on various guilt-provoking events shared by another group of participants. In the pre-processing step, collected data were de-noised using bandpass filters and ICA, then segmented into smaller sections for further analysis. Two approaches were used to feed these data to the SVM classifier. First, the novel approach employed involved feeding the data to SVM classifier without computing any features. This method provided an average accuracy of 83%. In the second approach, data were divided into Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Theta and Delta frequency bands using Discrete Wavelet Decomposition. Afterward, the computed features, including entropy, Hjorth parameters and Band Power, were fed to SVM classifiers. This approach achieved an average accuracy of 63%. The findings of both classification methodologies indicate that females are more expressive in response to depicted stimuli and that their brain cells exhibit higher feature values. Moreover, females displayed higher accuracy than males in all bands except the Delta band.
... Possibly the confusion lies in the idea of cognition; the interactionism, to which we will refer in this article, is based on the findings obtained by the cognitivist school, which arose to improve the proposals of behaviourism; that is to say, positive method yes, but not a black box model either. It is a school that continues to bear fruit [3]. ...
Based on the conclusions of our last published paper on affectivity, we decided to go a step further and look at the implications of its development. First, we
return to the cyclical and bivalent view of the model that we have elaborated after several years of empirical research and logical reflection. We attempt to
detail the interconnection of these cycles (which together constitute the affective mode of information processing), with the rest of the behaviour (mainly
the cognitive mode of information processing), and with each other, continuing with the work of the interactionist current of the emotion/cognition
interaction. Finally, we outline some practical applications of these theoretical advances.
... In this context, the acute period of stimulation of the SADNESS system involves the activation of SEEK. If the stimulation of SADNESS persists, SEEK activities may decrease and progress to a phase of hopelessness characterized by an emotional shutdown (Panksepp and Watt 2011). In our study, hopelessness was associated with low levels of SEEK and PLAY and high levels of FEAR, ANGER, and SADNESS. ...
Introduction
Although major depression is the disorder most frequently associated with suicidal behavior, it is unclear that major depressive disorder patients may develop suicidal ideation. Basic affective system theory may provide a novel and beneficial viewpoint in this field. The goal of this study was to investigate the basic affective system in relation to suicidal ideation in individuals with depression.
Method
The study population comprised 160 participants who had been formally diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Participants were divided into two groups according to whether they had suicide ideation (depression with suicide [DS]) (N = 93) or not (depression with no suicidal ideation [DNS]) (N = 67). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) were applied. Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) 24 and the SPSS macroprocess, which were specifically developed for assessing complex models including serial mediators, were used to analyze the data.
Results
The mean age of all participants was 31.1 ± 11 years, and most of them were female (65%). The DS group had a higher family history of psychiatric medication use and suicidal attempts. In addition, BDI, BHS, and SPS total scores were higher, as well as ANGER subscale scores were higher in the DS group. In mediation analysis, the ANGER subscale significantly predicted the presence of suicide ideation. We observed a direct effect of the ANGER subscale score on suicide ideation as well as an indirect effect of the ANGER subscale score on suicidal ideation via depression severity.
Conclusion
Higher scores on ANGER are associated with suicidal ideation. Neurobiological correlates, including the ANGER system, may be promising in understanding suicidal behaviors.
... Modern psychology usually identifies six basic emotions (joy, disgust, fear, surprise, sadness, anger -Barrett, 2021;Jack et al., 2016) with universal and culturally independent facial expressions together with numerous complex or mixed emotions. The basic emotions are not only similar in humans and animals but are also recognisable by humans worldwide and are deemed to be universal to a certain extend (Ekman, 1999;Ekman and Friesen, 1971;Panksepp and Watt, 2011). However, psychologists, anthropologists and cultural linguists have repeatedly demonstrated that cultural processes, including language and a system of socially created symbols-meanings, also have a decisive influence on the specification, definition and experience of emotions (Bamberg, 1997;Immordino-Yang, 2017;Lutz and White, 1986). ...
This article presents the role of negative sentiment as a tool for re-constructing power relationships in socio-cultural relations as intentionally used by political and religious leaders across cultures. Negative sentiment facilitated the symbolic disempowerment of enemies and was an important part of the anti-language for the creation of a new or alternative reality across cultures and times. Irony, contempt and disgust have played a special role, which despite cultural changes and qualitatively new rules of public life, have returned to the public space in the 21st century due to populist leaders, with the most notable example being the previous president of the USA and global business man, Donald Trump and his leadership. Cross-cultural management as a discipline has been criticised strongly as being blind to power relations. This paper is aiming at advancing the discourse of power relations by connecting it with theoretical reflections of emotions, anti-language discourses and new populist leadership. It provides examples of different eras and cultural contexts. Further, a major aim of this article is to demonstrate that although the toxic anti-language of populists – who have historically and psychologically rooted notions of disgust or contempt – enables them to achieve a powerful position as politicians, business men and leaders, this comes at the cost of a profound destruction of public life and is in fact a form of return to tribal forms of governance that are currently inadequate. The impact of populists can, however, be tempered by the same method, that is by anti-language but with respect and acceptance of difference at its centre.
... No poder definir un fenómeno pone en gran riesgo el desarrollo científico (Feldman 2016) ligado a dicho fenómeno al no permitir la colaboración entre expertos de diferentes disciplinas (Scherer 2005) y, en consecuencia, tampoco el desarrollo tecnológico. La falta de acuerdos entre teóricos y académicos en la definición de la palabra "emoción" provoca que las teorías de la emoción, lejos de complementarse, debatan incansablemente por intentar definir el concepto (algunos ejemplos se pueden revisar en Lindquist et al. [2013], Izard [2007], Panksepp y Watt [2011] o en Barret [2019]). ...
The interest of this text lies in exploring the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence to propose methodological options and tools for analyzing and explaining social issues. The goal is to explain concepts, applications, and case studies as a preliminary step toward formulating proposals that address or help find solutions. The topic is discussed from various disciplines that seek to establish the importance and impact of the sciences and technologies related to Artificial Intelligence in our societies. On the other hand, it also analyzes the importance and contribution that the Social Sciences and Humanities can make to the development of Artificial Intelligence itself, for example, by effectively including the end user (individual or collective) in the processes of research, development, and evaluation of solutions.
... In emotion research using neuropsychological methods, different models of the emotional process vary in the extent to which they involve cognition. Many researchers and models posit that subcortical brain structures, primarily the amygdala, are central to the emergence of subjective emotions (e.g., Panksepp & Watt, 2011). However, this approach implies that emotions often interact with higher-order cognitive processes, at least in healthy adults (Tracy & Randles, 2011). ...
... The core logic of this argument is that the content that is recruited for grammatical categories must pre-date the emergence of homo sapiens (see also Emonds, 2011). If this is indeed so, then again, there is no reason why emotions are excluded from lending content to grammatical categories: At least some emotions (like for example fear) are present in primates and other mammals (Panksepp, 1982(Panksepp, , 1988Panksepp & Watt, 2011). Thus, on this view, the absence of categories dedicated to the expression of emotions appears inexplicable. ...
This paper explores the relation between language and emotion and thus contributes to both language sciences and affective sciences. In both fields, insights from the other field are conspicuously absent. The core empirical claim presented is that there are no grammatical categories dedicated to encoding emotions. This seems to be universally the case and hence appears to be no accident. The absence of grammatical categories dedicated to encoding emotions is surprising given the otherwise close connection between language and emotions as evidenced by phylogenetic, ontogenetic, and neurological properties. Hence, one cannot attribute the absence of emotion categories to a complete disconnect between language and emotions (or cognition more generally). Moreover, one might expect such categories to exist, based on cognitive and evolutionary considerations. The conclusion to be drawn is that emotions are not to be considered primitives that could be directly linked to grammatical categories, but instead that emotions are constructed. In this way, the properties of grammar provide new evidence for the theory of constructed emotions. It is further proposed that linguistic theory may shed light on how emotions are constructed. Specifically, the article explores the hypothesis that the same architecture is responsible for the construction of complex linguistic expressions and for the construction of emotions. As such, the article introduces a novel research agenda, i.e. the emotional spine hypothesis, which invites new avenues of interdisciplinary research.
... Comparative thanatology aims to understand the psychological underpinnings of animals' responses to death (Anderson, 2016;Anderson et al., 2018). Understanding animals' responses to death can provide important insights into species' cognitive abilities and complex emotion (de Waal, 2011;Panksepp & Watt, 2011). Primates represent some of the best-studied taxa in this field and individuals display astonishing variation in their responses to the dead, ranging from aggressive (e.g., chimpanzees throwing rocks and sticks at a corpse: Pruetz et al., 2017), to more affiliative and protective behaviors (e.g., langurs protecting the corpse from perceived threats: Gupta, 2000). ...
Nonhuman primates demonstrate great behavioral diversity in their responses to death, yet the most prevalent of these—infant corpse carrying—remains poorly understood. While mothers are the most frequent carriers, corpse carrying can be performed by non-mothers, and heterospecifics’ corpses are also carried. We propose a new hypothesis to explain, in part, non-maternal corpse carrying, the ‘mammalian cues hypothesis,’ and experimentally test it in a population of wild baboons. The mammalian-cues hypothesis argues that evolutionary pressures on maternal responsiveness have created a generalized attraction towards mammalian-typical traits in mammals of both sexes. This attraction may drive interest in inanimate objects (including corpses) that display mammalian cues. To test this, we presented objects that varied in mammalian traits to wild chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) and recorded their behavioral responses. Contrary to our hypothesis, baboons handled all objects (i.e., with or without mammalian traits) for similar lengths of time. However, in partial support of our hypothesis, baboons groomed the objects with fur—even those without any other mammalian traits—and explored them in a less destructive manner. We caution that infant corpse grooming by non-mothers in primates may be indicative of the visual and tactile stimuli the corpse presents rather than an interest in death or a reflection of social bonds.
... The latter form a limited set of emotions that are typically manifested and recognised universally across cultures, are discrete, have a pattern of neural and bodily expressed components, and have a feeling or motivational component [18]. While different theorists still discuss the number of primary emotions or families of primary emotions, there is a large consensus about including among them at least four emotions, i.e., enjoyment, fear, anger, and sadness [19][20][21][22]. During preschool age, children acquire the ability to represent knowledge about expressions of primary emotions through verbal labels, permitting preschoolers to recognise them [23][24][25]. ...
This work investigated the goodness of a Drawing Set for assessing children’s achievement emotions, to be used together with a short form of the Achievement Emotions Adjective List (DS-AEAL). We considered control-value theory as the main theoretical framework. In Study 1, we developed a set of 10 drawings of faces representing enjoyment, pride, hope, relief, relaxation, anxiety, anger, shame, sadness, and boredom, involving 259 adults as raters. In Study 2, we administered a matching task and a labelling task to 89 adults. The results supported the goodness of the correspondence between the DS-AEAL and the verbal labels. In Study 3, we proposed the same tasks to 192 7-year-olds and 10-year-olds. We found age differences, with lower performance for younger children in line with their less-developed abilities in recognition and recall. Overall, recognition and recall were better for primary compared to secondary emotions. Notwithstanding their preliminary nature, our results support the goodness of the DS-AEAL to assess achievement emotions in various learning contexts, together with the corresponding verbal labels. It can satisfy research and educational purposes, primarily in academic contexts such as the school, where reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer methods are essential.
... Sadness is also frequently defined as a universal and basic emotion evolved to deal with the recurrent life challenge of dealing with losses, and it is assumed to be characterized by a suite of physiological, expressive, and neural markers (e.g., Ekman, 1992aEkman, , 1992bPanksepp & Watt, 2011). However, the notion and definition of basic emotions have recently become the subject of considerable debate (Feldman- Barrett, 2006;Scarantino, 2012). ...
Sadness is a universal part of human experience. We all experience sadness at one time or another – after the dissolution of a romantic relationship, a failure in an important exam, or even just at the end of a great vacation – sadness is part of life. While transient feelings of sadness are common, and may even be beneficial at times, a substantial minority of people experience prolonged periods of sadness that are accompanied by difficulties to experience positive emotions as well as a host of cognitive and physiological symptoms – known together as clinical depression. This chapter discusses both sadness and depression, delineates the differences between them, and examines their physiological and neural markers and functions.
... These behaviors encompass several elements that go beyond spoken words, including facial expressions, posture, gestures, and tone of voice (Blanch-Hartigan et al., 2018). Of these nonverbal behaviors, facial expressions are considered a particularly salient source of information when attempting to decode the emotional state of the sender (Ekman & Cordaro, 2011;Ekman et al., 1982;Panksepp & Watt, 2011). The accurate decoding of messages conveyed through facial expressions is important for maintaining successful relationships and social well-being (Carton et al., 1999;Hall, 1980). ...
This study examined the relationship between the intensity of emotional expressions in facial stimuli and receivers' decoding accuracy for six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. A laboratory experiment was conducted using the forced‐choice method, in which the intensity of each stimulus was manipulated at every 10% interval using the morphing technique. To explore whether a linear relationship would be observed when the intensity was finely manipulated at 10% intervals, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed. The mean percentage of correct responses for each stimulus was the dependent variable, and the linear, quadratic, and cubic terms of the stimulus intensity were the independent variables. The results showed that the linear model was not adopted as the final model for all facial expressions; that is, the effect of the squared term of intensity was significant for anger, disgust, fear, and sadness, while the effect of the cubic term of intensity was significant for happiness and surprise. Our findings indicate that a higher intensity of emotional expression does not yield higher decoding accuracy.
... The approach to classifying emotions in this research, alongside the chosen survey instruments, presents intricacies that merit careful consideration. For instance, Panksepp and Watt (2011) acknowledged the dual role of the SEEKING system, which can be activated in contexts eliciting both positive and negative emotions. This duality introduces a layer of complexity to the analysis and interpretation of our findings, as the SEEKING emotion embodies a broad spectrum of emotional experiences, ranging from curiosity and exploratory zeal to anxiety-driven searching behaviors. ...
Background
The interplay between teaching engagement and performance has garnered attention in both theoretical and empirical research, primarily due to its influence on student academic achievement, teacher well-being, and the realization of institutional goals. This is especially pertinent in the realm of preschool education, where the scope of learning extends beyond academic content to encompass the broader socialization of children. Drawing from Affective Neuroscience research, this study investigates the role of affective tendencies as mediators in the relationship between work engagement and job performance.
Objective
The primary aim of this research is to examine a chain mediation model that hypothesizes the predictive role of teacher engagement. This model posits the intermediary influence of four basic emotions—CARING, SEEKING, ANGER, and FEAR—followed by the mediating effect of job satisfaction on teacher job performance.
Method
The study utilized a sample of 842 Chinese preschool teachers. Data were collected through an online questionnaire, employing a time-lagged design. The analysis was conducted using Model 80 of the PROCESS Macros.
Results
The findings reveal that both positive and negative emotions significantly predict teachers’ job satisfaction. However, job satisfaction does not influence job performance. The analysis confirmed the direct and total effects of teacher engagement, as well as the indirect effects, particularly through the positive emotion of Caring.
Implications
The results are instrumental in informing and refining interventions designed to enhance teacher engagement and performance, underscoring the importance of emotional factors in the educational environment.
... Secondly, there are clear developments in showing that these individual emotions are organized in a hierarchy, such that the more foundational elements (for example in the upper brain stem) seem dedicated to the core experience of emotion, while higher levels of the system (for example in the amygdala) are dedicated to functions such as emotional memory (LeDoux, 1992;Panksepp & Solms, 2012;Panksepp & Watt, 2011, Turnbull & Salas, 2021. The highest levels of these systems seem to involve the role of emotion in complex decision-making, where the importance of the ventro-mesial frontal lobes, discussed above, is a clear link to the human lesion literature. ...
Aleksandr Luria repeatedly emphasised the importance of emotions and the right hemi- sphere in his neuropsychological writings. It is surprising, therefore, that Luria's most influential book, The Working Brain, appears to lack an explicit section on these topics. This is especially notable because of a comment in the book's English-language Introduction, by Karl Pribram, referencing Luria's thoughts about precisely this material. Remarkably, it seems that Luria did write such an explicit chapter, in the original Russian edition. How- ever, in the English-language version, the relevant sections were separated, embedded elsewhere without chapter headings, and altered, presumably following an explicit translation decision. The present paper tracks the nature of these changes and, 50 years later, presents the material for the first time translated and reunited in English, as Luria intended. After the translation, we offer a brief commentary, on the ways in which Luria's ideas were in some respects prescient, and in other respects less well-informed about the brain basis of emotions and the right hemisphere. This reunification offers an interesting time capsule on the opinions of one of neuropsychology's greatest minds, on a topic which Luria admits had, at the time, only a modest empirical foundation.
... They demonstrated that the masks evoke strong perceptions of emotion with considerable variations. Participants evaluated the masks based on the six basic emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust (Ekman, 1999;Ekman and Cordaro, 2011;Izard, 2011;Levenson, 2011;Panksepp and Watt, 2011). Not only were they able to discern emotions, but they could also perceive different intensities of these emotions. ...
Various objects and artifacts incorporate representations of faces, encompassing artworks like portraits, as well as ethnographic or industrial artifacts such as masks or humanoid robots. These representations exhibit diverse degrees of human-likeness, serving different functions and objectives. Despite these variations, they share common features, particularly facial attributes that serve as building blocks for facial expressions—an effective means of communicating emotions. To provide a unified conceptualization for this broad spectrum of face representations, we propose the term “ facial icons” drawing upon Peirce’s semiotic concepts. Additionally, based on these semiotic principles, we posit that facial icons function as indexes of emotions and intentions, and introduce a significant anthropological theory aligning with our proposition. Subsequently, we support our assertions by examining processes related to face and facial expression perception, as well as sensorimotor simulation processes involved in discerning others’ mental states, including emotions. Our argumentation integrates cognitive and experimental evidence, reinforcing the pivotal role of facial icons in conveying mental states.
... Dans l'affectivisme fort, des sentiments sont innés pour les organismes vivants qui possèdent un système nerveux 19 . Dans ce cas, les sentiments précèdent donc la cognition et ils sont indépendants de celle-ci ainsi que du cortex, du néocortex et du système thalamo-cortical (Zajonc, 1980;Zajonc et Markus, 1982;Panksepp et Watt, 2011;Sheets-Johnstone, 2011;Panksepp, 2016;Saarimäki et coll., 2018;Nummenmaa et coll., 2023). ...
Dans les sciences cognitives et les neurosciences, la continuité entre la cognition et le vivant est un problème, car pour la grande majorité des approches le vivant est subordonné au non vivant ou une cognition est attribuée à tout organisme vivant. Pourtant, si l'on considère l'évolution et les homologues, alors la cognition doit entretenir une certaine continuité avec le vivant. Pour établir une continuité de la cognition avec le vivant, il faut adopter une théorie du vivant qui est propre à la biologie et qui puisse ensuite nous permettre de comprendre la cognition. Trois théories du vivant ont été proposées par les biologistes, soit le mécanicisme, le vitalisme et l'organicisme. Dans cette conférence, je vais définir et analyser ces trois conceptions du vivant pour montrer que l'organicisme (von Bertalanffy) est la théorie du vivant qui offre le cadre (framework) le plus adéquat pour rendre compte de la continuité entre la cognition et le vivant. Après avoir clarifié ce cadre organiciste, il faut montrer comment la cognition émerge du vivant. Je soutiendrai que l'affectivité offre une organisation de base pour les comportements et la cognition des organismes vivants qui possèdent un système nerveux. Pour le montrer, je vais définir et analyser l'affectivité dans les sciences cognitives et les neurosciences. Dans ce cas, la théorie des sentiments (affective feelings, feelings) de Panksepp semble la plus adéquate pour établir une continuité de la cognition avec le vivant et faire l'ascension de l'affectivité vers une cognition. Ainsi, il semble que l'organicisme de von Bertalanffy et la théorie affectiviste de Panksepp, nous fournissent une base nécessaire pour établir un cadre qui reconnaît une continuité de la cognition avec le vivant.
... It has been hypothesized that empathy is comprised broadly of two main neurological processes. The first, emotionally driven "bottom-up" subcortical regions, including the thalamus, primarily drive processes that initiate and propagate feelings of shared emotions (Panksepp and Watt, 2011). In contrast, "top-down" cortical circuitry is capable of receiving and regulating the primary emotional information in order to generate appropriate behavioral outputs (see Figure 8C for schematic) (Panksepp and Panksepp, 2013;de Waal and Preston, 2017). ...
Introduction
Empathic behaviors are driven by the ability to understand the emotional states of others along with the motivation to improve it. Evidence points towards forms of empathy, like targeted helping, in many species including rats. There are several variables that may modulate targeted helping, including sex, sensory modalities, and activity of multiple neural substrates.
Methods
Using a model of social contact-independent targeted helping, we first tested whether sex differences exist in helping behavior. Next, we explored sex differences in sensory and affective signaling, including direct visualization and an analysis of ultrasonic vocalizations made between animal pairs. Finally, we examined the neural activity in males and females of multiple regions of interest across time. Here, we aim to examine any behavioral differences in our lab’s social contact independent targeted helping task between males and females.
Results and Discussion
These findings are the first to intimate that, like other prosocial behaviors, males and females may exhibit similar social-independent targeted helping behavior, but the underlying sensory communication in males and females may differ. In addition, this is the first set of experiments that explore the neural correlates of social-independent targeted helping in both males and females. These results lay the groundwork for future studies to explore the similarities and differences that drive targeted helping in both sexes.
... Ekman and colleagues (1987) reported seven basic emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt, happiness, and surprise. Since their study, several psychologists, including Ekman et al. (1999Ekman et al. ( , 2011, Levenson (2011), and Panksepp et al. (2007Panksepp et al. ( , 2011, have continued to adjust the composition of basic emotions. For example, Levenson (2011) added interest, relief, and love to the list of basic emotions. ...
The complexity of emotions has thus far limited our understanding of them. To obtain a clear understanding of the nature of emotion, this paper proposes a novel emotion theory and establishes a universal model of the conscious world in the human brain, the substanguage and interaction model (SIM). Based on an analysis of the possibilities of the interaction process in the SIM, two basic emotions that are indecomposable factors within all emotions—hope and fear—are identified. A questionnaire survey reveals that this basic emotion exhibits high acceptability. Based on emotion theory, this paper reasonably explains the phenomena of facial attraction and infantile facial preference and discusses the psychological reasons for phonocentrism, the phenomenon of preferring the spoken word over the written word. In addition, this paper explores the possibility of artificial intelligence possessing self-emotions. Emotions are relevant to many areas of human knowledge, as well as to everyone’s daily lives, and the simple, clear way to understand emotions provided in this paper may be instructive for everyone.
... "Participants used terms connoting a sudden release, expansion, an awareness of much more than they had realizedmore experience, more meaning, more interpretations and perspectives, more opportunities and possibilities, simply more world" (p. 261) A shift of meaning is by definition the core element of transformative learning Learners undergo a fundamental shift in how they experience (bodily, sensory, emotionally, motivationally), and conceptualize the world (see Hoggan 2016) the "importance of both dimensional and discrete models of emotion" (Harmon-Jones et al. 2017, p. 1), since both views hold true at different levels of our neurophysiology (Panksepp and Watt 2011). The present review therefore examines, among others, what theoretical perspectives on emotions are used by the body of research on transformative sustainability learning. ...
As multiple global sustainability crises are getting more severe and existential, a better understanding of how people undergo deep personal transformations related to sustainability is needed. In the educational debate on sustainability learning, transformative learning theories are widely used. To analyze specific phases of transformative learning, we derived five meta-phases from the literature (novel experience, reflection, social exchange, shift of action, shift of meaning). Although human emotions often arise during the confrontation with sustainability issues and are central to moral action, no substantial, theorized understanding of the role of emotions within sustainability-related transformative learning exists to date. We conducted a systematic review (following the PRISMA guidelines) and screened 355 publications to close this research gap. After applying the exclusion criteria, the in-depth analysis of 20 studies showed that sound theoretical references to theories of emotion and transformative learning are rare. The review shows clearly that diverse emotions permeate sustainability-related transformative learning processes. Among these are both negative emotions to novel learning experiences concerning sustainability (e.g., sadness, shame, disgust, guilt) as well as positive emotions in the context of social exchange (e.g., awe, gratitude, fun) and associated with newly formed actions (e.g., fulfillment, pride). Accordingly, to enable emotionally positive learning experiences, relationship and action orientation are particularly important within sustainability learning. The analyzed studies call for an educational practice where emotions can be experienced, expressed, and understood in a safe atmosphere. Future research in this area should use more stable theoretical foundations for emotions and transformative learning theory and apply methods that can capture deeper levels of subjective experience.
Heini Saarimäen kognitiivisen neurotieteen väitöskirja ”Decoding emotions from brain activity and connectivity patterns” tarkastettiin Aalto-yliopistossa 16.2.2018. Vastaväittäjänä toimi Christian Keysers (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) ja kustoksena Mikko Sams (Aalto-yliopisto).
Not supplied by the author. This Element surveys how a number of major disciplines − psychology, neuroscience, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, linguistics, and literary/cultural studies − have addressed the long-standing research question of whether human emotions should be thought of as meaningfully 'universal.' The Element presents both the universalist and anti-universalist positions, and concludes by considering attempts to move beyond this increasingly unhelpful binary.
Depression is presented as a multi-factorial bio-psycho-social expression that has evolved primarily as an effect of stressors related to the motivational/emotional systems that regulate the BrainMind in our relationship with conspecifics. These stressors may be caused by two sources of threat, firstly, the loss of bonding with the caregiver and later with a partner and/or group which relates to the SEPARATION (PANIC/GRIEF) system, secondly, social defeat as an expression of the social competition and social dominance. The sexual maturity drives the individual to social competition and social dominance, even if the latter often occurs before sexual maturity, e.g., chickens, dogs, non-human primates, and humans. Depression is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism in mammals to terminate both separation anxiety, so as to protect the vulnerable social brain from the consequences of prolonged separation anxiety, and the stress of social competition when social defeat is predictable. Adolescence and Young adulthood are particularly susceptible to these two types of threat because of human developmental characteristics that are summarized by the term neoteny. This refers to the slowing down of growth and development, resulting in both a prolonged period of dependence on a caring/protective adult and the persistence of juvenile characteristics throughout life. Therefore, neoteny makes the transition from childhood to sexual maturity more dramatic, making the integration of the SEPARATION (PANIC/GRIEF) system with the dynamics of social competition and dominance more stressful and a source of depression. Stress is an expression of the HPA-Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis that articulates with other systems, mainly the autonomic nervous system and the immune-inflammatory system. The latter is believed to be one of the most significant components in the dynamics of depressive processes, connected to the prodromes of its activation in childhood, under the pressure of environmental and relational stressors which can lead to learned helplessness. The recurrence of stressors makes it easier for the immune-inflammatory system to be activated in later life, which could make a significant contribution to the establishment of a depressive disease. The possible contribution of children's identification processes with their parents' depressive personalities through observational learning is considered.
Most people enjoy music and often use music to regulate their emotions. Although pleasure derived from music-listening has been shown to be mediated by dopaminergic signals in the mesolimbic reward network, its relationship with physiology is still poorly understood. Here, we introduced time-warped representational similarity analysis (twRSA) to directly map dynamic representations of multiple modalities across variable-duration stimuli. Our method revealed that although time-varying spectral and tonal acoustic features predicted changes in autonomic neural responses (measured via cardiac, pupil, and respiratory activity) during music-listening, only a small subset was in fact relevant to listeners' on-line pleasure ratings. Despite that, we identified a weak mediation effect of physiology on shaping musical pleasure. Our results thus indicate that whilst musical pleasure may be embodied in bodily responses, the mapping between subjective experience and physiology is likely one-to-many--in line with psychological construction theories of emotion--and not one-to-one as is commonly assumed in classical basic emotion theories.
Este estudio examina cómo cambian las emociones de futuros maestros hacia los contenidos científicos (seres vivos y ecosistemas) al participar en una intervención indagatoria en la construcción de hoteles en un Parque Natural de España. La muestra incluyó alumnos del Grado de Maestro en Educación Primaria de la Universidad de Huelva matriculados en una asignatura de didáctica de las ciencias. Se utilizó un cuestionario tipo Likert para medir la intensidad de catorce emociones en tres momentos: antes, durante y después de la intervención. También se realizaron entrevistas, observaciones y narrativas para identificar las causas del cambio. Los resultados indicaron un aumento significativo en emociones positivas, especialmente la satisfacción, y una disminución en emociones negativas, como el aburrimiento. Este cambio se atribuye a la naturaleza biológica de los temas y su integración en el Conocimiento Didáctico del Contenido. Se recomienda incorporar la educación emocional en la formación inicial de maestros para promover la autorregulación y el aprendizaje emocional. P A L A B R A S C L A V E indagación; cuestiones sociocientíficas; emociones; conocimiento didáctico del contenido; formación inicial de maestros.
Emotions are a powerful phenomenon that influences the way we think and behave. Affective Computing is the field dedicated to the development of automatic emotion recognition systems. These systems can be used to improve the quality of life through the development of, for example, mental health applications, providing personalized services, or improving the quality of entertainment content, among others. This work began by exploring the state of the art in intra-personal emotion recognition through physiological signals, making a quantitative analysis of the existing approaches in the literature.
The personality trait of neuroticism has been theoretically linked to threat sensitivity, but this perspective of neuroticism has resulted in mixed findings, arguably because mood states, rather than emotional reactions, have been examined. The present studies (total N = 519) administered a task capable of assessing emotional reactions—to appetitive versus aversive images—in a nearly continuous manner, parsing threat sensitivity in terms of emotional onsets, peak amplitudes, and prototypicality in responding. In the context of this tight temporal focus, higher levels of neuroticism tended to be associated with faster emotional onsets when aversive images were involved. In addition, neuroticism by valence interactions occurred with respect to peak amplitudes and prototypic patterning, with negativity effects for these parameters being amplified at higher, relative to lower, levels of neuroticism. These results link the neuroticism and emotion dynamics literatures while providing novel support for perspectives that emphasize neuroticism’s link to threat sensitivity, in the present context defined in terms of faster, stronger, and more prototypical reactions to acute aversive events.
In the 21st century, stress has emerged as a major epidemic, impacting various sectors. The current methods to assess stress and related mental health issues are still mostly based on self-reporting questionnaires, which are time-consuming, prone to bias, do not allow for continuous monitoring, and are not scalable. This results in mental health issues being diagnosed only after the symptoms are severe enough to be noticed by others. Poor mental health is linked to a prolonged state of negative emotions. The significance of these conditions has led researchers to explore the use of emotion recognition systems to assess mental health issues. This chapter offers a look at the state of the art surrounding emotion, encompassing its definition, fundamental theories, and various measurement methodologies. Our review aims to elucidate how emotion recognition technologies can be achieved, towards enhancing mental health interventions. Poor mental health not only diminishes the well-being of individuals but also elevates the risk of errors and accidents, thereby compromising operational effectiveness.
Although there is general consensus concerning the importance and function of interest in our daily lives, there is little agreement about its nature. Four studies of increasing ecological validity (total N = 993) were carried out to compare two different characterizations of interest in terms of the key appraisals involved. The findings indicate that while a two-appraisal model is suitable to explain the interest we can feel towards simple stimuli, a more complex model may better capture the nature of interest in the real world. Further analysis suggested the contrasting previous results could be resolved by arguing that previous models of interest capture different types of interest. This novel finding represents a promising first step towards a more definitive definition of interest, and suggests that while interest may always be related to motivating exploration, learning and general well-being, researchers should be more precise about the type of interest to which they refer.
Cognitive Semantic Analysis of Fear Expressions in Bangla and Hindi
Abstract
Emotion concepts are largely metaphorical and metonymic in nature across languages. Fear
is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat.
Fear includes physical, psychological, and behavioural reactions. The language of emotion
is one of the areas where the influence of culture on cognition has been studied. This study
delves into a comparative analysis of fear-related colloquial and idiomatic expressions in
Hindi and Bangla, juxtaposed with English expressions, adopting a cross-cultural perspective
rooted in Cognitive Linguistics. In this paper, we analyze the metaphors and metonymies of
fear in Bangla and Hindi using Cognitive Metaphor Theory (CMT) of Lakoff and Johnson
and Extended Cognitive Metaphor theory of Kövecses, taking data from the colloquial as
well as idiomatic expressions from various sources like websites, books, and native speakers.
We have classified these expressions into different stages of fear like auditory or visual
stimuli causing fear, physiological arousal, and so on. A notable finding is that the majority
of expressions in the selected languages utilize metonymy, particularly involving body parts,
to convey fear. The research underscores the significance of a cross-cultural perspective in
understanding emotion concepts linguistically.
Keywords: Emotion concepts, Fear, Idiomatic expressions, Metaphor, Metonymy, Crosscultural
perspective.
Investigating age-related shifts in affective responses to emotionally salient stimuli is key to comprehending emotional development during childhood and adolescence. Most of the research regarding emotional experiences has focused on adults, while the understanding of the development of emotional experiences across childhood remains elusive. To address this gap, we explored whether physiological and behavioral responses as well as self-reported emotions elicited in children and adolescents by naturalistic stimuli differ from those in adults. We developed a set of emotional videos to elicit different emotions – fear, joy, anger, sadness, amusement, and tenderness - and measured emotional intensity ratings, electrocardiography, and eye movements from 8–15-year-old children and adults during the viewing of the videos. We identified an age-related maturation in all measured responses. Emotional intensity and behavioral responses varied across emotion categories. Furthermore, specific emotions showed different maturation patterns. The study highlights the importance of a multi-component approach to accurately discern and understand emotional states.
Pleasant emotions take a variety of forms and are a key part of the human experience. Although negative emotions have often been a focus of research, positive emotions, e.g., joy, pleasure, and love, have recently gained more attention. Each of these emotions is rich and complex in its own right. However, positive emotions appear to serve key evolutionary functions, which are mediated by complex biological substrates. This chapter summarizes key research and explores the biological underpinnings of positive emotions, with an emphasis on the roles that endogenous opioids play in the experience, expression, and development of positive emotions. The necessity of emphasizing positive emotions in research is also discussed.
Hintergrund: Die Rolle der Emotionsregulation im Einklang mit frühkindlichen Bindungserfahrungen ist im multifaktoriell bedingten Spektrum der Essstörungen von hoher Relevanz. Dementsprechend konnten in Bezug auf Primäremotionen und Bindungsmuster in der Forschung bereits mehrfach Zusammenhänge dieser Konstrukte mit verschiedenen psychischen Erkrankungsbildern aufgezeigt werden. Die vorliegende Studie zielt darauf ab, diese bislang wenig erforschte Beziehung zu Essverhaltenspathologien genauer zu beleuchten.
Methoden: Insgesamt 921 Probanden und Probandinnen (69,9 % weiblich) füllten im Rahmen einer Online-Testbatterie den B-ANPS-GL zur Erfassung der Primäremotionen, den ECR-RD8 in Bezug auf Bindungsunsicherheiten und den EDE-Q8 zur Pathologie von Essstö-rungen aus. Alle Korrelationen wurden in einer mediierten Pfadanalyse mit Bindungsangst als Mediatorvariable ausgewertet.
Ergebnisse: Das globale problematische Essverhalten zeigte negative Pearson-Korrelationen mit den positiven Emotionen PLAY, CARE und LUST (r=-.10 bis -.24), positive Korrelatio-nen mit allen negativen primären Emotionen ANGER, FEAR und SADNESS (r=.12 bis .27) und darüber hinaus mit Bindungsangst (r =.22, alle p <.01). Ein mediiertes Strukturgleichungsmodell zeigte direkte Effekte zwischen globaler Essverhaltenspathologie und LUST (β=-.13) und FEAR (β=.17; alle p <.001). Die Assoziation mit SADNESS wurde vollständig durch Bindungsangst vermittelt (β = .06, CI = .03, .09, p < .01). Das Pfadmodell konnte 17 % der Varianz für Bindungsangst und 12 % für problematisches Essverhalten aufklären.
Diskussion: Die Ergebnisse legen den komplexen Zusammenhang und die hohe Relevanz affektiver Erklärungen in Bezug auf die Pathologie von Essstörungen dar. Abschließend wird ein bindungsorientierter Therapieansatz für die Behandlung von Essstörungen diskutiert
Existe una gran explosión de la investigación en el área de las emociones. Y lo que quiero mostrar es que el análisis emocional no se restringe tan solo a la neurología o a la psicología, sino que se extiende otras ciencias del hombre. Para nuestro trabajo es fundamental este argumento, ya que desmonta el mito de que las emociones solamente pueden ser estudiadas desde el cerebro o desde los rasgos psicológicos, pues ellas pueden ser abordadas desde otras disciplinas de las ciencias sociales y en las ciencias
de la educación.
This chapter explores the emotions and ideologies of Czech political elites during the migration crisis, focusing on their perception of the migration quotas. Emotions, such as fear, anger, and trust, are linked to Czech political elites’ perception of the migration crisis. Emotions are essential in international relations as they help uncover states’ decision-making processes. The chapter examines the connection between the Czech perception of the migration crisis and the ideologies and roles of the Czech Republic. The most common ideologies among the Czech elites at the time were Sovereignism and Europeanism, while their most frequent role was Regional Collaborator, which was characterised by trust and a sense of belonging within the given group. Trust, fear, and anger were present among the elites, with trust being associated with cooperation with the Visegrad Four, fear with protecting Czech sovereignty, and anger with feelings of unreadiness and poor communication with the EU. The chapter offers a unique perspective on the events of the migration crisis, highlighting the role of emotions in shaping the Czech decision to reject the migration quotas.
[Title: Primary emotions and attachment in mental disorder
Objectives: There is increasing evidence for associations between primary emotions and attachment with mental illness. This study illuminates the mediation relationship of these psy-chodynamic constructs in relation to psychiatric disorders. Methods: 921 subjects (69.9 % female) were examined, who completed the questionnaires Brief Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales including a LUST Scale, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised 8, and ICD-10 Symptom Rating online. A path analysis was conducted to evaluate the mediation effects of attachment anxiety. Results: A disease-specific pattern of direct associations between primary emotions, attachment anxiety, and psychological impairment emerged (all p < .01). Attachment exerted mediating effects primarily for SADNESS (p < .01), and to a lesser extent for LUST and CARE (p > .01). The model provided variance resolution ranging from 7 % (eating disorders) to 47 % (depression). Conclusion: The results demonstrate the relevance of affective explanations regarding the development of psychological symptoms, as well as therapeutic implications.]
Over the last decades, theoretical perspectives in the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences have proliferated rather than converged due to differing assumptions about what human affective phenomena are and how they work. These metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions, shaped by academic context and values, have dictated affective constructs and operationalizations. However, an assumption about the purpose of affective phenomena can guide us to a common set of metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. In this capstone paper, we home in on a nested teleological principle for human affective phenomena in order to synthesize metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions. Under this framework, human affective phenomena can collectively be considered algorithms that either adjust based on the human comfort zone (affective concerns) or monitor those adaptive processes (affective features). This teleologically-grounded framework offers a principled agenda and launchpad for both organizing existing perspectives and generating new ones. Ultimately, we hope the Human Affectome brings us a step closer to not only an integrated understanding of human affective phenomena, but an integrated field for affective research.
The ongoing debate between basic emotion theories (BETs) and the theory of constructed emotion (TCE) hampers progress in the field of emotion research. Providing a new perspective, here we aim to bring the theories closer together by dissecting them according to Tinbergen’s four questions to clarify a focus on their evolutionary basis. On the basis of our review of the literature, we conclude that whereas BETs focus on the evolution question of Tinbergen, the TCE is more concerned with the causation of emotion. On the survival value of emotions both theories largely agree: to provide the best reaction in specific situations. Evidence is converging on the evolutionary history of emotions but is still limited for both theories—research within both frameworks focuses heavily on the causation. We conclude that BETs and the TCE explain two different phenomena: emotion and feeling. Therefore, they seem irreconcilable but possibly supplementary for explaining and investigating the evolution of emotion—especially considering their similar answer to the question of survival value. Last, this article further highlights the importance of carefully describing what aspect of emotion is being discussed or studied. Only then can evidence be interpreted to converge toward explaining emotion.
The aim of this paper was to seek complementary themes between psychosocial and neuroscientific approaches to understanding interactions between emotions and cognitions, using the " affect-logic " approach of Ciompi and the " affective neuroscience " approach of Panksepp. Both view envision meaningful distinctions between emotional and cognitive processes, with the former being large-scale energetic states of brain and body that reflect evolutionarily adaptive action systems of the internal world, while the latter are more informationally encapsulated perception based processes that distinguish differences in the external world. In the intact organism, they are fully interactive; each can control the other. Emotions establish global, non-linear dynamic control over perceptual processes, memory and learning, and cognitions can trigger and regulate emotional processes. A variety of research strategies and predictions, ranging from the neurobiological to the psychosocial, are entertained. During the last two decades, it has become increasingly evident both in neuroscience (Damasio,
Studies addressing behavioral functions of dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) are reviewed. A role of NAS DA in reward has long been suggested. However, some investigators have questioned the role of NAS DA in rewarding effects because of its role in aversive contexts. As findings supporting the role of NAS DA in mediating aversively motivated behaviors accumulate, it is necessary to accommodate such data for understanding the role of NAS DA in behavior. The aim of the present paper is to provide a unifying interpretation that can account for the functions of NAS DA in a variety of behavioral contexts: (1) its role in appetitive behavioral arousal, (2) its role as a facilitator as well as an inducer of reward processes, and (3) its presently undefined role in aversive contexts. The present analysis suggests that NAS DA plays an important role in sensorimotor integrations that facilitate flexible approach responses. Flexible approach responses are contrasted with fixed instrumental approach responses (habits), which may involve the nigro-striatal DA system more than the meso-accumbens DA system. Functional properties of NAS DA transmission are considered in two stages: unconditioned behavioral invigoration effects and incentive learning effects. (1) When organisms are presented with salient stimuli (e.g., novel stimuli and incentive stimuli), NAS DA is released and invigorates flexible approach responses (invigoration effects). (2) When proximal exteroceptive receptors are stimulated by unconditioned stimuli, NAS DA is released and enables stimulus representations to acquire incentive properties within specific environmental context. It is important to make a distinction that NAS DA is a critical component for the conditional formation of incentive representations but not the retrieval of incentive stimuli or behavioral expressions based on over-learned incentive responses (i.e., habits). Nor is NAS DA essential for the cognitive perception of environmental stimuli. Therefore, even without normal NAS DA transmission, the habit response system still allows animals to perform instrumental responses given that the tasks take place in fixed environment. Such a role of NAS DA as an incentive-property constructor is not limited to appetitive contexts but also aversive contexts. This dual action of NAS DA in invigoration and incentive learning may explain the rewarding effects of NAS DA as well as other effects of NAS DA in a variety of contexts including avoidance and unconditioned/conditioned increases in open-field locomotor activity. Particularly, the present hypothesis offers the following interpretation for the finding that both conditioned and unconditioned aversive stimuli stimulate DA release in the NAS: NAS DA invigorates approach responses toward `safety'. Moreover, NAS DA modulates incentive properties of the environment so that organisms emit approach responses toward `safety' (i.e., avoidance responses) when animals later encounter similar environmental contexts. There may be no obligatory relationship between NAS DA release and positive subjective effects, even though these systems probably interact with other brain systems which can mediate such effects. The present conceptual framework may be valuable in understanding the dynamic interplay of NAS DA neurochemistry and behavior, both normal and pathophysiological.
Behaviourists have long neglected experiential states in animals because of inadequate experimental approaches. As [Tinbergen (1951)][1] highlighted in his classic Study of Instinct (1951, p. 4): ‘Because subjective phenomena cannot be observed objectively in animals, it is idle to claim or deny
A better understanding of animal emotion is an important goal in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to animal welfare science. The conscious experience of emotion cannot be assessed directly, but neural, behavioural and physiological indicators of emotion can be measured. Researchers have used these measures to characterize how animals respond to situations assumed to induce discrete emotional states (e.g. fear). While advancing our understanding of specific emotions, this discrete emotion approach lacks an overarching framework that can incorporate and integrate the wide range of possible emotional states. Dimensional approaches that conceptualize emotions in terms of universal core affective characteristics (e.g. valence (positivity versus negativity) and arousal) can provide such a framework. Here, we bring together discrete and dimensional approaches to: (i) offer a structure for integrating different discrete emotions that provides a functional perspective on the adaptive value of emotional states, (ii) suggest how long-term mood states arise from short-term discrete emotions, how they also influence these discrete emotions through a bi-directional relationship and how they may function to guide decision-making, and (iii) generate novel hypothesis-driven measures of animal emotion and mood.
Positive emotional states have been shown to confer resilience to depression and anxiety in humans, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects have not yet been elucidated. In laboratory rats, positive emotional states can be measured by 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (hedonic USVs), which are maximally elicited by juvenile rough-and-tumble play behavior. Using a focused microarray platform, insulin-like growth factor I (IGFI) extracellular signaling genes were found to be upregulated by hedonic rough-and-tumble play but not depressogenic social defeat. Administration of IGFI into the lateral ventricle increased rates of hedonic USVs in an IGFI receptor (IGFIR)-dependent manner. Lateral ventricle infusions of an siRNA specific to the IGFIR decreased rates of hedonic 50-kHz USVs. These results show that IGFI plays a functional role in the generation of positive affective states and that IGFI-dependent signaling is a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of depression and anxiety.
Reductionist attempts to dissect complex mechanisms into simpler elements are necessary, but not sufficient for understanding how biological properties like reward emerge out of neuronal activity. Recent studies on intracranial self-administration of neurochemicals (drugs) found that rats learn to self-administer various drugs into the mesolimbic dopamine structures-the posterior ventral tegmental area, medial shell nucleus accumbens and medial olfactory tubercle. In addition, studies found roles of non-dopaminergic mechanisms of the supramammillary, rostromedial tegmental and midbrain raphe nuclei in reward. To explain intracranial self-administration and related effects of various drug manipulations, I outlined a neurobiological theory claiming that there is an intrinsic central process that coordinates various selective functions (including perceptual, visceral, and reinforcement processes) into a global function of approach. Further, this coordinating process for approach arises from interactions between brain structures including those structures mentioned above and their closely linked regions: the medial prefrontal cortex, septal area, ventral pallidum, bed nucleus of stria terminalis, preoptic area, lateral hypothalamic areas, lateral habenula, periaqueductal gray, laterodorsal tegmental nucleus and parabrachical area.
What is the basic structure of emotional experience and how is it represented in the human brain? One highly influential theory, discrete basic emotions, proposes a limited set of basic emotions such as happiness and fear, which are characterized by unique physiological and neural profiles. Although many studies using diverse methods have linked particular brain structures with specific basic emotions, evidence from individual neuroimaging studies and from neuroimaging meta-analyses has been inconclusive regarding whether basic emotions are associated with both consistent and discriminable regional brain activations. We revisited this question, using activation likelihood estimation (ALE), which allows spatially sensitive, voxelwise statistical comparison of results from multiple studies. In addition, we examined substantially more studies than previous meta-analyses. The ALE meta-analysis yielded results consistent with basic emotion theory. Each of the emotions examined (fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and happiness) was characterized by consistent neural correlates across studies, as defined by reliable correlations with regional brain activations. In addition, the activation patterns associated with each emotion were discrete (discriminable from the other emotions in pairwise contrasts) and overlapped substantially with structure–function correspondences identified using other approaches, providing converging evidence that discrete basic emotions have consistent and discriminable neural correlates. Complementing prior studies that have demonstrated neural correlates for the affective dimensions of arousal and valence, the current meta-analysis results indicate that the key elements of basic emotion views are reflected in neural correlates identified by neuroimaging studies.
In recent years there has been an expansion of scientific work on consciousness. However, there is an increasing necessity to integrate evolutionary and interdisciplinary perspectives and to bring affective feelings more centrally into the overall discussion. Pursuant especially to the theorizing of Endel Tulving (1985, 2004, 2005), Panksepp (1998a, 2003, 2005) and Vandekerckhove (2009) we will look at the phenomena starting with primary-process consciousness, namely the rudimentary state of autonomic awareness or unknowing (anoetic) consciousness, with a fundamental form of first-person 'self-experience' which relies on affective experiential states and raw sensory and perceptual mental existences, to higher forms of knowing (noetic and autonoetic) and self-aware consciousness. Since current scientific approaches are most concerned with the understanding of higher declarative states of consciousness, we will focus on these vastly underestimated primary forms of consciousness which may be foundational for all forms of higher 'knowing consciousness'.
During the last 20 years of neuroscience research, we have witnessed a fundamental shift in the conceptualization of psychiatric disorders, with the dominant psychological and neurochemical theories of the past now complemented by a growing emphasis on developmental, genetic, molecular, and brain circuit models. Facilitating this evolving paradigm shift has been the growing contribution of functional neuroimaging, which provides a versatile platform to characterize brain circuit dysfunction underlying specific syndromes as well as changes associated with their successful treatment. Discussed here are converging imaging findings that established a rationale for testing a targeted neuromodulation strategy, deep brain stimulation, for treatment-resistant major depression.
To understand what is happening in the brain in the moment you decide, at will, to summon to consciousness a passage of Mozart's music, or decide to take a deep breath, is like trying to 'catch a phantom by the tail'. Consciousness remains that most elusive of all human phenomena - one so mysterious that even our highly developed knowledge of brain function can only partly explain it. This book traces the origins of consciousness. It takes the investigation back many years in an attempt to uncover just how consciousness might have first emerged. Consciousness did not develop suddenly in humans - it evolved gradually. The book investigates the evolution of consciousness. Central to the book is the idea that the primal emotions - elements of instinctive behaviour - were the first dawning of consciousness. Throughout the book examines instinctive behaviours, such as hunger for air, hunger for minerals, thirst, and pain, arguing that the emotions elicited from these behaviours and desire for gratification culminated in the first conscious states. To develop the theory the book looks at behaviour at different levels of the evolutionary tree, for example of octopuses, fish, snakes, birds, and elephants. Coupled with findings from neuroimaging studies, and the viewpoints on consciousness from figures in philosophy and neuroscience, the book presents a new look at the problem of consciousness.
Some investigators have argued that emotions, especially animal emotions, are illusory concepts outside the realm of scientific inquiry. With advances in neurobiology and neuroscience, however, researchers are proving this position wrong while moving closer to understanding the biology and psychology of emotion. In Affective Neuroscience, Jaak Panksepp argues that emotional systems in humans, as well as other animals, are necessarily combinations of innate and learned tendencies; there are no routine and credible ways to really separate the influences of nature and nurture in the control of behavior. The book shows how to move toward a new understanding by taking a psychobiological approach to the subject, examining how the neurobiology and neurochemistry of the mammalian brain shape the psychological experience of emotion. It includes chapters on sleep and arousal, pleasure and pain systems, the sources of rage and anger, and the neural control of sexuality. The book will appeal to researchers and professors in the field of emotion.
But I do not mean to imply criticism by these comments. The editor of Textbook of Biological Psychiatry does not pretend to compete with the standard texts above or to present an overview of biological psychiatry as a whole. Rather, he has made a conscious decision to focus on certain aspects of biological psychiatry, especially "functional neuroscientific psychiatry," to use the term offered by Dr Mortimer Ostow in his foreword. Functional neuroscientific psychiatry addresses such issues as the neural substrates of consciousness—a topic that becomes the subject of an entire chapter in this book. Also emphasized is research on basic emotional systems, together with investigations of their physiologic correlates, including Panksepp's concepts of SEEKING, RAGE, FEAR, etc (intentionally capitalized to indicate that they are postulated as distinct neural entities rather than simply psychological concepts). From the vantage point of neuroscientific psychiatry, as argued in many chapters, one can attain new insights into psychiatric diagnosis and devise rational approaches for developing new treatments. The stamp of the editor's thinking is felt throughout much of the volume; he is the author or coauthor of six of its 21 chapters, and his seminal 1998 work, Affective Neuroscience, is repeatedly cited.
Abundant neurobehavioral data, not discussed by Lisa Feldman Barrett (2006), support the existence of a variety of core emotional operating systems in ancient subneocortical regions of the brain (Panksepp, 1998a, 2005a). Such brain systems are the primary-process ancestral birthrights of all mammals. There may be as many genetically and neurochemically coded subcortical affect systems in emotionally rich medial regions of the brain as there are "natural" emotional action systems in the brain. When emotional primes are aroused directly, as with local electrical or chemical stimulation, the affective changes sustain conditioned place preferences and place aversions, which are the premier secondary-process indices of affective states in animals. Humans are not immune to such brain manipulations; they typically exhibit strong emotional feelings. Human emotion researchers should not ignore these systems and simply look at the complex and highly variable culturally molded manifestations of emotions in humans if they wish to determine what kinds of "natural" emotional processes exist within all mammalian brain. Basic emotion science has generated workable epistemological strategies for under-standing the primal sources of human emotional feelings by detailed study of emotional circuits in our fellow animals.
© 2007 Association for Psychological Science.
Our basic thesis is that depression is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism in mammalian brains, selected as a shutdown mechanism to terminate protracted separation distress (a prototype mammalian emotional state), which, if sustained, would be dangerous for infant mammals. However, this fundamental shutdown mechanism remains available to more mature mammalian and hominid brains, particularly those with certain polymorphisms in genetic endowment, early loss/separation trauma, or other predisposing factors, which can promote reactivation in relationship to almost any chronic stressor. Such evolutionarily selected shutdown mechanisms could become hypertrophied, and released from normal adaptive control mechanisms in vulnerable individuals, to potentially yield the full spectrum of depressive illness. Depression remains a challenging puzzle of neurobiological correlates, involving changes in many biogenic amine and neuropeptide systems and alterations in neuroendocrine and immune function. We suggest that core factors form an interactive and even synergistic “depressive matrix,” which argues against any “single-factor” theory. We examine core contributions from stress cascades, immune function, and multiple neuropeptide and monoamine systems. Contrary to many single-factor or primary factors, our review suggests active synergisms between factors, as well as a complex recursive (looping) control architecture regulating both entry and exit from depression. Such an interactive matrix of factors may help explain why such an enormous multiplicity of potential treatments are antidepressant, ranging from psychotherapy and exercise to multiple drugs, vagal and deep brain stimulation, and ECT. This review bridges domains generally disconnected in current literature. Traditional biological psychiatric perspectives are almost totally “bottom-up” (neglecting relationships between depression and social stress) and typically cannot explain why depression is such a pervasive problem, or why evolution could have ever selected for such a mechanism. Linking depression to protracted separation distress provides a heuristic potential integration of findings, particularly between long-standing psychotherapy and psychodynamic perspectives and emerging neuroscience insights. This hypothesis yields various testable predictions at both clinical and neuroscience levels.
Based on evidence for brain affective systems, parceled into six distinct groups (Panksepp, 1998a), it was hypothesized that a great deal of personality variability would be related to strengths and weaknesses found in these six systems. If supported, this hypothesis would provide further evidence for the physiological bases of personality. Personality scales, modeled after the Spielberger State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI), were constructed to estimate self-reported feedback concerning the putative influences of these six neurally based networks, which are labeled PLAY, SEEK, CARE, FEAR, ANGER, and SADNESS systems, along with a Spirituality scale and various filler questions. Subjects completed these Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS) as well as a Five-Factor Model (FFM) scale. Data revealed various strong relationship between the APNS and the FFM scales. Implications for psychometric theory, the relationships between affect and personality, as well as the physiological bases of personality are discussed.
Empathy is a process essential for mitigation of human suffering and for the creation and long-term stability of social bonds. Although it has recently become the focus of intensive study after decades of neglect, models of empathy emerging from cognitive neuroscience, affective neuroscience, and functional imaging studies show considerable confusion about defining empathy and widespread differences of opinion about the cognitive vs. affective dimensions to empathy. Human empathy probably reflects variable admixtures of more primitive affective resonance mechanisms, melded with developmentally later-arriving theory of mind and perspective taking. This integration of primitive with more cognitive mechanisms occurs under the “supervision” of a motivated valuing of another sentient creature, a supervision that underlines intrinsic ties between empathy and attachment processes. We know little, however, about how more primitive resonance-induction mechanisms centrally involved in attachment connect developmentally to more later arriving cognitive theory of mind components. From these considerations, a basic model of affective empathy is generated as a gated resonance induction of the internal distress of another creature, with an intrinsic motivation to relieve the distress. It is “gated” in that at least four classes of poorly mapped variables determine the intensity of an empathic response to the suffering of another. Potential classes of variables affecting empathic inductions are: (1) genotypic and (2) phenotypic effects; (3) state-dependent influences (on the affective state of the empathizer); and finally (4) the perceived qualities of the suffering party. Most current models have failed to conceptualize this critical “gating” process, subsequently losing any naturalistic predictive efficacy in modeling real-world social phenomena. Contagion has been generally neglected in affective neuroscience, but it may point to poorly understood receptive processing capabilities, embedded in the distributed paralimbic and subcortical architectures for primary emotion. Thus, contagion may be a developmentally primitive emotion-induction mechanism that cognitive development largely (but not totally) supplants. Detailed differential predictions of this model are proposed.
Some of the personality characteristics of infants emerge from the positive and negative interactions of their brain emotional strengths with world events. Positive emotional systems appear to operate as attractors that capture cognitive spaces, leading to their broadening, cultivation, and development. Negative emotions tend to constrain cognitive activities to more narrow and obsessive channels. One aim of healthy development is to generate harmonious, well-integrated layers of emotional and higher mental processes, as opposed to conflicts between emotional and cognitive experiences. To understand such processes scientifically, we need to conceptualize the deep nature of the emotional brain and the psychiatric difficulties that can emerge from underlying imbalances. Obviously, one has to view the infant as a coherent entity rather than a conglomeration of neurological parts—but a scientific understanding of how their fundamental brain emotional systems may operate (based on the detailed neurobehavioral study of other mammals), may provide new ways to conceptualize how different social environments may modify those paths. Herein, I will highlight areas of research we might cultivate to promote a deeper understanding of key neuro-developmental issues. The basic premise is that with the emergence of habitual capacities to project their emotions into the world, infants gradually come to see their environments as fundamentally friendly places or uncaring and threatening ones. A great deal of this presumably emerges from brain systems that control sadness and joy. Those brain processes, along with developmental implications, are discussed in some detail. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.
Episodic memory is a neurocognitive (brain/mind) system, uniquely different from other memory systems, that enables human beings to remember past experiences. The notion of episodic memory was first proposed some 30 years ago. At that time it was defined in terms of materials and tasks. It was subsequently refined and elaborated in terms of ideas such as self, subjective time, and autonoetic consciousness. This chapter provides a brief history of the concept of episodic memory, describes how it has changed (indeed greatly changed) since its inception, considers criticisms of it, and then discusses supporting evidence provided by (a) neuropsychological studies of patterns of memory impairment caused by brain damage, and (b) functional neuroimaging studies of patterns of brain activity of normal subjects engaged in various memory tasks. I also suggest that episodic memory is a true, even if as yet generally unappreciated, marvel of nature.
Basic affects reflect the diversity of satisfactions (potential rewards/reinforcements) and discomforts (punishments) that are inherited tools for living from our ancestral past. Affects are neurobiologically-ingrained potentials of the nervous system, which are triggered, moulded and refined by life experiences. Cognitive, information- processing approaches and computational metaphors cannot penetrate foundational affective processes. Animal models allow us to empirically analyse the large-scale neural ensembles that generate emotional-action dynamics that are critically important for creating emotional feelings. Such approaches offer robust neuro-epistemological strategies to decode the fundamental nature of affects in all mammals, including humans, but they remain to be widely implemented. Here I summarize how we can develop a cross-species affective neuroscience that probes the neural nature of emotional affective states by studying the instinctual emotional apparatus of the mammalian body and brain. Affective feelings and emotional actions may reflect the dynamics of the primal viscero-somatic homunculus of SELF-representation.
Tornochuk and Ellis argue that DISGUST should be considered a basic emotional system, on a par with the other basic emotional systems such as SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC and PLAY, which constitute the groundwork for a cross-species emotion neuroscience with immediate implications for understanding emotional imbalances that characterise psychiatric disorders. Disgust is clearly a basic sensory/interoceptive affect (Rozin & Fallon, 198736.
Rozin , P. and Fallon , A. 1987 . A perspective on disgust . Psychological Review , 94 : 23 – 41 . [CrossRef], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®]View all references), and a socially constructed moral emotion (Haidt, 2003a14.
Haidt , J. 2003a . “ The moral emotions ” . In Handbook of affective sciences , Edited by: Davidson , R. J. , Scherer , K. R. and Goldsmith , H. H. 852 – 870 . New York : Oxford University Press . View all references, b15.
Haidt , J. 2003b . The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment . Psychological Review , 108 : 814 – 834 . [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references), but perhaps it is a category error to classify disgust as a basic emotion. It is more akin to a sensory affect. If we consider sensory disgust to be a basic emotional systems, then why not include hunger, thirst, fatigue and many other affective states of the body as emotions?
Summarizes results from a series of open and double-blind trials that have yielded positive therapeutic effects with low doses of naltrexone (NTX), including reductions in autistic stereotypes, aggressiveness, and self-injurious behaviors, and the production of heightened prosocial emotional attitudes that are accompanied by increased smiling, eye contact, attention, and attempts to communicate. The positive behavioral change seems to be enhanced by social support, and how such features of therapeutic situations can be maximized to optimize clinical benefits from NTX is discussed. Since "serenic" drugs (e.g., eltoprazine) have strong antiaggressive effects in other preclinical models while leaving prosocial activities intact or elevated, they may be useful agents for the treatment of various autistic symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This chapter is about the human sense of subjective time. To distinguish it from other time-related and time dependent achievements of the brain/mind, the author refers to it as chronesthesia, which is tentatively defined as a form of consciousness that allows individuals to think about the subjective time in which they live and that makes it possible for them to "mentally travel" in such time. In this chapter, the author attempts to explicate the concept of chronesthesia, suggests what it is (and what it is not), contrast it with other kinds of time-related mentation, discuss the origin of the concept, and, the main reason for the chapter's appearance in the present volume, speculate on chronesthesia's relation to prefrontal cortex. The author concludes the chapter by discussing the role of chronesthesia in human evolution and human culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Drug-induced state dependent learning (SDL), as well as similar effects on memory retrieval exercised by physiological states, have been known since 1830. Before 1950, understanding of this area derived primarily from clinical descriptions of somnambulism, dream recall, fugue states, and cases of multiple personality. After 1950, experimental demonstrations of the properties of SDL and drug discriminations (DDs), along with a series of changes in the DD procedure, have led to the DD paradigm that is currently employed, and which has properties that make it an extremely useful tool for preclinical investigation of a variety of pharmacological and psychological questions. These conceptual and technical developments have resulted in widespread acceptance of the DD paradigm as a preclinical research method. This paper reviews the nineteeth and twentieth century history of clinical observations, concepts, and experiments, that have led to our current status of knowledge about drug discriminations and SDL.
(C) Lippincott-Raven Publishers.
Emotions seem to arise ultimately from hard-wired neural circuits in the visceral-limbic brain that facilitate diverse and adaptive behavioral and physiological responses to major classes of environmental challenges. Presumably these circuits developed early in mammalian brain evolution, and the underlying control mechanisms remain similar in humans and “lower” mammals. This would suggest that theoretically guided studies of the animal brain can reveal how primitive emotions are organized in the human brain. Conversely, granted this cross-species heritage, it is arguable that human introspective access to emotional states may provide direct information concerning operations of emotive circuits and thus be a primary source of hypotheses for animal brain research. In this article the possibility that emotions are elaborated by transhypothalamic executive (command) circuits that concurrently activate related behavior patterns is assessed. Current neurobehavioral evidence indicates that there are at least four executive circuits of this type – those which elaborate central states of expectancy, rage, fear, and panic. The manner in which learning and psychiatric disorders may arise from activities of such circuits is also discussed.
Utility of Animal ModelsBasic Emotional Substrates of JealousyOnce More: Is Jealousy Initially an “Objectless” Primary-Emotional Process?Jealousy: From Primary Process to Tertiary Process Levels of AnalysisNeurological and Gender Aspects of JealousyJealousy in AnimalsToward a Neurochemistry of JealousyEvolutionary ReflectionsConclusions
References
This chapter reviews current perspectives on the neural substrates of consciousness, including a basic functional neuroanatomy and neurodynamics of consciousness, emphasizing concepts about the extended reticular thalamic activating system (ERTAS) and the importance of multiple mesodiencephalic regions for core consciousness, and various thalamocortical regions for extended consciousness. There is also a summary review of basic lesion correlates for major diseases of consciousness, including coma, persistent vegetative state, akinetic mutism, hyperkinetic mutism, and delirium, along with summary heuristics for current and future research.
Laypeople and scientists alike believe that they know anger, or sadness, or fear, when they see it. These emotions and a few others are presumed to have specific causal mechanisms in the brain and properties that are observable (on the face, in the voice, in the body, or in experience)-that is, they are assumed to be natural kinds. If a given emotion is a natural kind and can be identified objectively, then it is possible to make discoveries about that emotion. Indeed, the scientific study of emotion is founded on this assumption. In this article, I review the accumulating empirical evidence that is inconsistent with the view that there are kinds of emotion with boundaries that are carved in nature. I then consider what moving beyond a natural-kind view might mean for the scientific understanding of emotion.
© 2006 Association for Psychological Science.
The development of clinically useful drugs to modify brain neuropeptide activities is yielding new therapeutic possibilities. Although psychiatric payoffs from the study of these systems remain modest, the potential remains vast. A conceptual shift in pre-clinical studies from mere behavioral analyses to deployment of affective constructs opens novel opportunities. Since affective feelings probably arise from the intrinsic properties of instinctual emotional systems in action, to understand the neurochemical details of such brain systems in humans may we advocate investment in ethological animal models. Neuropeptide controls revealed by such strategies provide opportunities to modify specific emotional and motivational processes at a level of precision inconceivable with traditional agents used in psychiatric practice.
Major depressive disorder has recently been characterized by abnormal resting state hyperactivity in anterior midline regions. The neurochemical mechanisms underlying resting state hyperactivity remain unclear. Since animal studies provide an opportunity to investigate subcortical regions and neurochemical mechanisms in more detail, we used a cross-species translational approach comparing a meta-analysis of human data to animal data on the functional anatomy and neurochemical modulation of resting state activity in depression. Animal and human data converged in showing resting state hyperactivity in various ventral midline regions. These were also characterized by abnormal concentrations of glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) as well as by NMDA receptor up-regulation and AMPA and GABA receptor down-regulation. This cross-species translational investigation suggests that resting state hyperactivity in depression occurs in subcortical and cortical midline regions and is mediated by glutamate and GABA metabolism. This provides insight into the biochemical underpinnings of resting state activity in both depressed and healthy subjects.
John Searle's Speech Acts (1969) and Expression and Meaning (1979) developed a highly original and influential approach to the study of language. But behind both works lay the assumption that the philosophy of language is in the end a branch of the philosophy of the mind: speech acts are forms of human action and represent just one example of the mind's capacity to relate the human organism to the world. The present book is concerned with these biologically fundamental capacities, and, though third in the sequence, in effect it provides the philosophical foundations for the other two. Intentionality is taken to be the crucial mental phenomenon, and its analysis involves wide-ranging discussions of perception, action, causation, meaning, and reference. In all these areas John Searle has original and stimulating views. He ends with a resolution of the 'mind-body' problem.
Various surgical brain ablation procedures for the treatment of refractory depression were developed in the twentieth century. Most notably, key target sites were (i) the anterior cingulum, (ii) the anterior limb of the internal capsule, and (iii) the subcaudate white matter, which were regarded as effective targets. Long-term symptom remissions were better following lesions of the anterior internal capsule and subcaudate white matter than of the cingulum. It is possible that the observed clinical improvements of these various surgical procedures may reflect shared influences on presently unspecified brain affect-regulating networks. Such possibilities can now be analyzed using modern brain connectivity procedures such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. We determined whether the shared connectivities of the above lesion sites in healthy volunteers might explain the therapeutic effects of the various surgical approaches. Accordingly, modestly sized historical lesions, especially of the anatomical overlap areas, were 'implanted' in brain-MRI scans of 53 healthy subjects. These were entered as seed regions for probabilistic DTI connectivity reconstructions. We analyzed for the shared connectivities of bilateral anterior capsulotomy, anterior cingulotomy, subcaudate tractotomy, and stereotactic limbic leucotomy (a combination of the last two lesion sites). Shared connectivities between the four surgical approaches mapped onto the most mediobasal aspects of bilateral frontal lobe fibers, including the forceps minor and the anterior thalamic radiations that contacted subgenual cingulate regions. Anatomically, convergence of these shared connectivities may derive from the superolateral branch of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB), a structure that connects these frontal areas to the origin of the mesolimbic dopaminergic 'reward' system in the midbrain ventral tegmental area. Thus, all four surgical anti-depressant approaches may be promoting positive affect by converging influences onto the MFB.