The beginning of an alternative view of the neurobiology of emotion

Abstract

This article attempts to provide a sketch of the neurobiology of emotion that includes essential aspects of emotion as identified by personality and social psychologists. We offer a model of emotion that includes a negative valence system with the amygdala at its core and a positive evaluation system with the nucleus accumbens at its core. The apparent specificity of emotion is conferred by the additional contribution of two monoaminergic systems - serotonin produced by the raphe nucleus and norepinephrine produced by the locus coeruleus. This view of emotion stands in sharp contrast to the usual approach to the understanding of the neurobiology of emotion, which seeks to find a specific pathway for each emotion.