cognitive neuroscience of emotion

This monograph from a leading neuroscientist and neural networks researcher investigates and offers a fresh approach to the perplexing scientific and philosophical problems of minds and brains. It explains how brains have evolved from our earliest vertebrate ancestors. It details how brains provide the basis for successful comprehension of the environment, for the formulation of actions and prediction of their consequences, and for cooperating or competing with other beings that have brains. The book also offers observations regarding such issues as:

* how and why people fall in and out of love;
* the biological basis for experiencing feelings of love and hate; and
* how music and dance have provided the ancestral technology for forming social groups such as tribes and clans.

The author reviews the history of the mind-brain problem, and demonstrates how the new sciences of behavioral electrophysiology and nonlinear dynamics — combined with the latest computer technology — have made it possible for us to observe brains in action. He also provides an answer to the question: What happens to a stimulus after it enters the brain? The answer: The stimulus triggers the construction of a percept and is then washed away. All that we know is what our brains construct for us by neurodynamics. Brains are not logical devices that process information. They are dynamical systems that create meaning through interactions with the environment — and each other.

The book shows how the learning process by which brains construct meaning tends to isolate brains into self-centered worlds, and how nature has provided a remedy — first appearing in mammals as a mechanism for pair-bonding — to ensure reproduction of the young dependent on parents. The remedy is based in the neurochemistry of sex which serves to dissolve belief structures in order to open the way for new patterns of understanding and behavior. Individuals experience these changes in various ways, such as falling in love, collegiate indoctrination, tribal bonding, brain washing, political or religious conversions, and related types of socialization. The highest forms of meaning for humans come through these social attachments.

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Emotions can have profound effects on a wide range of cognitive processes (from attention and memory to decision-making).  In the reverse direction, there is clear evidence that cognitive processes can modulate emotional responses.  This special issue provides a broad sampling of recent, cutting-edge research on cognition and emotion.  The overarching goal is to provide a deeper and more complete theoretical framework relating cognition and emotion, covering both behavioral and neuroscientific views. 

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This book aims to highlight the vigour, diversity and insight of the various cognitive science perspectives on personality and emotion. It aims also to emphasise the rigorous scientific basis for research to be found in the integration of experimental psychology with neuroscience, connectionism and the new evolutionary psychology. The contributors to this book provide a wide-ranging survey of leading-edge research topics. It is divided into three parts, on general frameworks for cognitive science, on perspectives from emotion research, and on perspectives from studies of personality traits.

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What produces emotions? Why do we have emotions? How do we have emotions? Why do emotional states feel like something? This book seeks explanations of emotion by considering these questions.

Emotion continues to be a topic of enormous scientific interest. Emotion Explained describes the nature, functions, and brain mechanisms that underlie both emotion and motivation. However it goes beyond examining brain mechanisms of emotion, by proposing a theory of what emotions are, and an evolutionary, Darwinian, theory of the adaptive value of emotion. It also shows that there is a clear relationship between motivation and emotion. The book also examines how cognitive states can modulate emotions, and in turn, how emotions can influence cognitive states. It considers the role of sexual selection in the evolution of affective behavior. It also examines emotion and decision making, with links to the burgeoning field of neuroeconomics. The book is also unique in considering emotion at several levels- the neurophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, behavioral, and computational neuroscience levels.

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The author describes an approach to the analysis of emotion that can be used independently of conventional emotion theories: that expression, feeling, and motivation can be considered in a scientific manner. As a central theme he argues that biological and, in particular, evolutionary considerations are useful in understanding the basic components of emotion, and he applies this idea to a wide variety of the phenomena of emotion. The resultant review should be useful as an undergraduate text in which the explanations are aimed at the nonspecialist. The specific conclusions should be of interest to anyone who conducts research on emotion, and particularly those who need a solid framework on which to base interdisciplinary studies.

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Few areas have witnessed the type of growth we have seen in the affective sciences in the past decades. Across psychology, philosophy, economics, and neuroscience, there has a been an explosion of interest in the topic of emotion and affect.

Comprehensive, authoritative, up-to-date, and easy-to-use, the new Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences is an indispensable resource for all who wish to find out about theories, concepts, methods, and research findings in this rapidly growing interdisciplinary field – one that brings together, amongst others, psychologists, neuroscientists, social scientists, philosophers, and historians. Organized by alphabetical entries, and presenting brief definitions, concise overviews, and encyclopaedic articles (all with extensive references to relevant publications), this Companion lends itself to casual browsing by non-specialists interested in the fascinating phenomena of emotions, moods, affect disorders, and personality.

Not only does the book provide entries on affective phenomena, but also on their cognitive antecedents and the associated responses in physiological systems, facial, vocal, and bodily expressions, and action tendencies. Numerous entries also consider the role of emotion in society and social behavior, as well as in cognitive processes such as those critical for perception, attention, memory, judgement and decision-making.

The volume has been edited by a group of internationally leading authorities in the respective disciplines who have commissioned and reviewed contributions from major experts on specific topics. In addition to comprehensive coverage of technical terms and fundamental issues, the volume also highlights current debates that inform the ongoing research process. In addition, the Companion contains a wealth of material on the role of emotion in applied domains such as economic behaviour, music and arts, work and organisation, the family and group dynamics, religion, law and justice, and societal change.

Highly accessible and wide-ranging, this book is a vital resource for scientists, students, and professionals eager to obtain a rapid, conclusive overview on central terms and topics and anyone wanting to learn more about the mechanisms underlying the emotions dominating many aspects of our lives.

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