Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T12:09:36.682Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

On The brain and emotion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2000

Edmund T. Rolls
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3UD, Englandedmund.rolls@psy.ox.ac.uk

Abstract

There are many advantages to defining emotions as states elicited by reinforcers, with the states having a set of different functions. This approach leads towards an understanding of the nature of emotion, of its evolutionary adaptive value, and of many principles of brain design. It also leads towards a foundation for many of the processes that underlie evolutionary psychology and behavioral ecology. It is shown that recent as well as previous evidence implicates the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex in positive as well as negative emotions. The issue of why emotional states feel like something is part of the much larger problem of phenomenal consciousness. It is argued that thinking about one's own thoughts would have adaptive value by enabling first order linguistic thoughts to be corrected. It is suggested that reflecting on and correcting one's own thoughts and plans would feel like something, and that phenomenal consciousness may occur when this type of monitoring process is taking place.

Type
Author's Response
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)