Neurophysiology of Emotions

Abstract

Emotions are automatic and primary patterns of purposeful cognitive-behavioral organizations. They have three main functions: coordination, signaling, and information. First, emotions coordinate organs and tissues, thus predisposing the body to peculiar responses. Scholars have not reached a consensus on the plausibility of emotion-specific response patterns yet. Despite the limitations, data support the hypothesis of specific response patterns for distinct subtypes of emotions. Second, emotional episodes signal the current state of the individual. Humans display their state with verbal behaviors, nonverbal actions (e.g., facial movements), and neurovegetative signals. Third, emotions inform the brain for interpretative and evaluative purposes. Emotional experiences include mental representations of arousal, relations, and situations. Every emotional episode begins with exposure to stimuli with distinctive features (i.e., elicitor). These inputs can arise from learning, expressions, empathy, and be inherited, or rely on limited aspects of the environment (i.e., sign stimuli). The existence of the latter ones in humans is unclear; however, emotions influence several processes, such as perception, attention, learning, memory, decision-making, attitudes, and mental schemes. Overall, the literature suggests the nonlinearity of the emotional process. Each section outlines the neurophysiological basis of elements of emotion.