The circumplex model of affect proposes that all affective states arise from cognitive interpretations of core neural sensations that are the product of two independent neurophysiological systems. This model stands in contrast to theories of basic emotions, which posit that a discrete and independent neural system subserves every emotion. We propose that basic emotion theories no longer explain adequately the vast number of empirical observations from studies in affective neuroscience, and we suggest that a conceptual shift is needed in the empirical approaches taken to the study of emotion and affective psychopathologies. The circumplex model of affect is more consistent with many recent findings from behavioral, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and developmental studies of affect. Moreover, the model offers new theoretical and empirical approaches to studying the development of affective disorders as well as the genetic and cognitive underpinnings of affective processing within the central nervous system.

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The circumplex model of affect: an integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology

The authors present an overview of the neural bases of emotion. They underscore the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala in 2 broad approach- and withdrawal-related emotion systems. Components and measures of affective style are identified. Emphasis is given to affective chronometry and a role for the PFC in this process is proposed. Plasticity in the central circuitry of emotion is considered, and implications of data showing experience-induced changes in the hippocampus for understanding psychopathology and stress-related symptoms are discussed. Two key forms of affective plasticity are described--context and regulation. A role for the hippocampus in context-dependent normal and dysfunctional emotional responding is proposed. Finally, implications of these data for understanding the impact on neural circuitry of interventions to promote positive affect and on mechanisms that govern health and disease are considered.

Emotion, plasticity, context, and regulation: perspectives from affective neuroscience.

Anterior cerebral asymmetry and the nature of emotion

http://www.wisebrain.org/papers/EmotGenderHemispheres.pdf

Valence, gender, and lateralization of functional brain anatomy in emotion: a meta-analysis of findings from neuroimaging.

Anxiety and affective style : role of prefrontal cortex and amygdala

• Evidence from psychiatric patients has suggested that depressive affect may coincide with a decrement in the functioning of the right cerebral hemisphere. We have observed that college students who reported greater depression also reported less vivid imagery. Students undergoing experimental induction of depressive and euphoric moods in the laboratory showed an auditory attentional bias and impaired imagery during the depression condition, while their arithmetic task performance was unchanged. A second mood-induction experiment indicated a depressed mood to be characterized by asymmetrical EEG activation over the frontal lobes, with relatively greater activity in the right frontal region. These observations suggest that anterior regions of the brain may modulate the differential effects of emotional arousal on the information-processing capacities of the cerebral hemispheres.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/psych/articlepdf/492485/archpsyc_38_2_007.pdf

M. Tucker

Papers

Right frontal lobe activation and right hemisphere performance. Decrement during a depressed mood.