The basic emotional circuits of mammalian brains: do animals have affective lives?

doi:10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2011.08.003

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The basic emotional circuits of mammalian brains: do animals have affective lives?

Journal Article•DOI•

The basic emotional circuits of mammalian brains: do animals have affective lives?

Jaak Panksepp¹•Institutions (1)

Washington State University¹

01 Oct 2011-Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (Pergamon)-Vol. 35, Iss: 9, pp 1791-1804

TL;DR: Since all vertebrates appear to have some capacity for primal affective feelings, the implications for animal-welfare and how the authors ethically treat other animals are vast.

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About: This article is published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.The article was published on 2011-10-01. It has received 351 citations till now.

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Journal Article•DOI•

Pleasure Systems in the Brain

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Kent C. Berridge¹, Morten L. Kringelbach²•Institutions (2)

University of Michigan¹, University of Oxford²

06 May 2015-Neuron

TL;DR: Human neuroimaging studies indicate that surprisingly similar circuitry is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency shared by all.

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996 citations

Cites background from "The basic emotional circuits of mam..."

...…to understand how brain mechanisms generate pleasures, and also displeasures, and eventually find more effective treatments for affective disorders (Anderson and Adolphs, 2014; Damasio and Carvalho, 2013; Haber and Knutson, 2010; Heller et al., 2013; Kringelbach and Berridge, 2010; Panksepp, 2011)....
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...…into its present form, or to have persisted throughout evolution, unless objective affective reactions actually conveyed significant consequences in terms of benefits for survival and fitness (Anderson and Adolphs, 2014; Damasio, 2010; Kringelbach and Berridge, 2010; LeDoux, 2012; Panksepp, 2011)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Ventromedial hypothalamic neurons control a defensive emotion state

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Prabhat S. Kunwar¹, Moriel Zelikowsky¹, Ryan Remedios¹, Haijiang Cai¹, Melis Yilmaz¹, Markus Meister¹, David J. Anderson¹ - Show less +3 more•Institutions (1)

California Institute of Technology¹

06 Mar 2015-eLife

TL;DR: Optogenetic manipulations indicate that the hypothalamus plays an integral role to instantiate emotion states, and is not simply a passive effector of upstream emotion centers.

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Abstract: Defensive behaviors reflect underlying emotion states, such as fear. The hypothalamus plays a role in such behaviors, but prevailing textbook views depict it as an effector of upstream emotion centers, such as the amygdala, rather than as an emotion center itself. We used optogenetic manipulations to probe the function of a specific hypothalamic cell type that mediates innate defensive responses. These neurons are sufficient to drive multiple defensive actions, and required for defensive behaviors in diverse contexts. The behavioral consequences of activating these neurons, moreover, exhibit properties characteristic of emotion states in general, including scalability, (negative) valence, generalization and persistence. Importantly, these neurons can also condition learned defensive behavior, further refuting long-standing claims that the hypothalamus is unable to support emotional learning and therefore is not an emotion center. These data indicate that the hypothalamus plays an integral role to instantiate emotion states, and is not simply a passive effector of upstream emotion centers.

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921 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The nature of feelings: evolutionary and neurobiological origins

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Antonio R. Damasio¹, Gil B. Carvalho¹•Institutions (1)

University of Southern California¹

01 Feb 2013-Nature Reviews Neuroscience

TL;DR: Feelings constitute a crucial component of the mechanisms of life regulation, from simple to complex, and can be found at all levels of the nervous system, from individual neurons to subcortical nuclei and cortical regions.

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Abstract: Feelings are mental experiences of body states. They signify physiological need (for example, hunger), tissue injury (for example, pain), optimal function (for example, well-being), threats to the organism (for example, fear or anger) or specific social interactions (for example, compassion, gratitude or love). Feelings constitute a crucial component of the mechanisms of life regulation, from simple to complex. Their neural substrates can be found at all levels of the nervous system, from individual neurons to subcortical nuclei and cortical regions.

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852 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Coming to terms with fear

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Joseph E. LeDoux¹•Institutions (1)

Center for Neural Science¹

25 Feb 2014-Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

TL;DR: A conception of so-called fear conditioning in terms of circuits that operate nonconsciously, but that indirectly contribute to conscious fear, is proposed as way forward.

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Abstract: The brain mechanisms of fear have been studied extensively using Pavlovian fear conditioning, a procedure that allows exploration of how the brain learns about and later detects and responds to threats. However, mechanisms that detect and respond to threats are not the same as those that give rise to conscious fear. This is an important distinction because symptoms based on conscious and nonconscious processes may be vulnerable to different predisposing factors and may also be treatable with different approaches in people who suffer from uncontrolled fear or anxiety. A conception of so-called fear conditioning in terms of circuits that operate nonconsciously, but that indirectly contribute to conscious fear, is proposed as way forward.

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678 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory.

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Chai Meei Tyng¹, Hafeez Ullah Amin¹, Mohamad Naufal Mohamad Saad¹, Aamir Saeed Malik¹•Institutions (1)

Universiti Teknologi Petronas¹

24 Aug 2017-Frontiers in Psychology

TL;DR: A basic evolutionary approach to emotion is highlighted to understand the effects of emotion on learning and memory and the functional roles played by various brain regions and their mutual interactions in relation to emotional processing.

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Abstract: Emotion has a substantial influence on the cognitive processes in humans, including perception, attention, learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. Emotion has a particularly strong influence on attention, especially modulating the selectivity of attention as well as motivating action and behavior. This attentional and executive control is intimately linked to learning processes, as intrinsically limited attentional capacities are better focused on relevant information. Emotion also facilitates encoding and helps retrieval of information efficiently. However, the effects of emotion on learning and memory are not always univalent, as studies have reported that emotion either enhances or impairs learning and long-term memory (LTM) retention, depending on a range of factors. Recent neuroimaging findings have indicated that the amygdala and prefrontal cortex cooperate with the medial temporal lobe in an integrated manner that affords (i) the amygdala modulating memory consolidation; (ii) the prefrontal cortex mediating memory encoding and formation; and (iii) the hippocampus for successful learning and LTM retention. We also review the nested hierarchies of circular emotional control and cognitive regulation (bottom-up and top-down influences) within the brain to achieve optimal integration of emotional and cognitive processing. This review highlights a basic evolutionary approach to emotion to understand the effects of emotion on learning and memory and the functional roles played by various brain regions and their mutual interactions in relation to emotional processing. We also summarize the current state of knowledge on the impact of emotion on memory and map implications for educational settings. In addition to elucidating the memory-enhancing effects of emotion, neuroimaging findings extend our understanding of emotional influences on learning and memory processes; this knowledge may be useful for the design of effective educational curricula to provide a conducive learning environment for both traditional "live" learning in classrooms and "virtual" learning through online-based educational technologies.

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611 citations

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References

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Book•

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

[...]

Antonio R. Damasio

01 Jan 1994

TL;DR: The authors argued that rational decisions are not the product of logic alone - they require the support of emotion and feeling, drawing on his experience with neurological patients affected with brain damage, Dr Damasio showed how absence of emotions and feelings can break down rationality.

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Abstract: Descartes' Error offers the scientific basis for ending the division between mind and body. Antonio Damasio contends that rational decisions are not the product of logic alone - they require the support of emotion and feeling. Drawing on his experience with neurological patients affected with brain damage, Dr Damasio shows how absence of emotions and feelings can break down rationality. He also offers a new perspective on what emotions and feelings actually are: a direct view of our own body states; a link between the body and its survival-oriented regulation on the one hand, and consciousness on the other. Written as a conversation between the author and an imaginary listener, Descartes' Error leads us to conclude that human organisms are endowed from their very beginning with a spirited passion for making choices, which the social mind can then use to build rational behaviour.

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9,648 citations

Book•

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

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Charles Darwin

01 Jan 1872

TL;DR: The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Introduction to the First Edition and Discussion Index, by Phillip Prodger and Paul Ekman.

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Abstract: Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Figures Plates Preface to the Anniversary Edition by Paul Ekman Preface to the Third Edition by Paul Ekman Preface to the Second Edition by Francis Darwin Introduction to the Third Edition by Paul Ekman The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Introduction to the First Edition 1. General Principles of Expression 2. General Principles of Expression -- continued 3. General Principles of Expression -- continued 4. Means of Expression in Animals 5. Special Expressions of Animals 6. Special Expressions of Man: Suffering and Weeping 7. Low Spirits, Anxiety, Grief, Dejection, Despair 8. Joy, High Spirits, Love, Tender Feelings, Devotion 9. Reflection - Meditation - Ill-temper - Sulkiness - Determination 10. Hatred and Anger 11. Disdain - Contempt - Disgust - Guilt - Pride, Etc. - Helplessness - Patience - Affirmation and Negation 12. Surprise - Astonishment - Fear - Horror 13. Self-attention - Shame - Shyness - Modesty: Blushing 14. Concluding Remarks and Summary Afterword, by Paul Ekman APPENDIX I: Charles Darwin's Obituary, by T. H. Huxley APPENDIX II: Changes to the Text, by Paul Ekman APPENDIX III: Photography and The Expression of the Emotions, by Phillip Prodger APPENDIX IV: A Note on the Orientation of the Plates, by Phillip Prodger and Paul Ekman APPENDIX V: Concordance of Illustrations, by Phillip Prodger APPENDIX VI: List of Head Words from the Index to the First Edition NOTES NOTES TO THE COMMENTARIES INDEX

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9,342 citations

"The basic emotional circuits of mam..." refers background in this paper

...…celebration of mammalian emotional systems, and that so many crafted summaries of the kinds of work and thinking that may allow us to finally answer the perennial question “What is an Emotion?” asked by Darwin (1872), James (1884) and hopefully innumerable future investigators of the human mind....
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Journal Article•DOI•

How do you feel? Interoception: the sense of the physiological condition of the body.

[...]

A.D. (Bud) Craig¹•Institutions (1)

Barrow Neurological Institute¹

01 Aug 2002-Nature Reviews Neuroscience

TL;DR: Functional anatomical work has detailed an afferent neural system in primates and in humans that represents all aspects of the physiological condition of the physical body that might provide a foundation for subjective feelings, emotion and self-awareness.

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Abstract: As humans, we perceive feelings from our bodies that relate our state of well-being, our energy and stress levels, our mood and disposition. How do we have these feelings? What neural processes do they represent? Recent functional anatomical work has detailed an afferent neural system in primates and in humans that represents all aspects of the physiological condition of the physical body. This system constitutes a representation of 'the material me', and might provide a foundation for subjective feelings, emotion and self-awareness.

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4,673 citations

"The basic emotional circuits of mam..." refers background in this paper

...…hat arise from intero-receptors that gauge a variety of bodily tates from air-hunger to thirst (Denton, 2006), and (iii) the sensory ffects that arise rather directly through our various sensory porals, especially taste, touch, smell and sound (Craig, 2003; Peciña t al., 2006; Rolls, 2005)....
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...Of course the older cortices, such as insula and orbitofrontal regions, contribute much to sensory and homeostatic feelings (Craig, 2003), but so do many other brain regions (Denton, 2006)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain

[...]

Sean A Spence

06 May 1995-BMJ

TL;DR: Brain books are similarly popular: humans are considered from a pathological/laboratory perspective and computer metaphors abound (your mind is your software!) and there are boxes and arrows in profusion.

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Abstract: Antonio R Damasio Picador, pounds sterling16.99, pp 312 ISBN 0 330 33927 3 Documentary makers find the brain sexy at present; surf the television channels and the workings of the psyche are hard to avoid: violence, paraphilias, psychopathy, all are explained. Brain books are similarly popular. They come in three varieties. There is the “you're only” school: you're only a cluster of neurons (Francis Crick), processes (Daniel Dennett), microtubules (Sir Roger Penrose) and so on in a reductionist vein. Humans are considered from a pathological/laboratory perspective. Computer metaphors abound (your mind is your software!) and there are boxes and arrows in profusion. Such books …

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4,386 citations

"The basic emotional circuits of mam..." refers background in this paper

...William ames guessed that our emotional feelings arise from the higher omatosensory cortical regions that harvest our bodily sensations as Damasio (1994) also later surmised), leading first to a century of isunderstandings (Ellsworth, 1994), and now another decade or wo....
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Book•

Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions

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Jaak Panksepp¹•Institutions (1)

Bowling Green State University¹

01 Jan 1998

TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework for the neurobiological analysis of affect is presented, based on the concepts of affective neuroscience and affective operating systems, and subjectivity.

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Abstract: PART I: CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND 1. Affective neuroscience: history and major concepts 2. Emotional operating systems and subjectivity: methodological problems and a conceptual framework for the neurobiological analysis of affect 3. The varieties of emotional systems in the brain: theories, taxonomies, and semantics 4. Neurostatistics: the anatomy of the brain/mind 5. Neurodynamics: the electrical languages of the brain 6. Neurodynamics: neurochemical maps of the brain PART II: BASIC EMOTIONAL AND MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES 7. Sleep, arousal, and mythmaking in the brain 8. SEEKING systems and anticipatory states of the nervous system 9. Energy is delight: the pleasures and pains of brain regulatory systems 10. Nature red in tooth and claw: the neurobiological sources of rage and anger 11. The sources of fear and anxiety in the brain PART III: THE SOCIAL EMOTIONS 12. The varieties of love and lust: neural control of sexuality 13. Love and the social bond: sources of nurturance and maternal behaviour 14. Loneliness and the social bond: the brain sources of sorrow and grief 15. Rough-and-tumble play: the brain sources of joy 16. Emotions, the higher cerebral processes and the SELF: some are born to sweet delight, some are born to endless night Appendix A: Bones, brains, and human origins Appendix B: Brain, language, and affective neuroscience Appendix C: Dualism and the neurosciences

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4,032 citations

"The basic emotional circuits of mam..." refers background in this paper

...Here are thumbnail ketches of the seven emotional systems, more fully described n many of the contributions to this Festschrift issue, but also n Panksepp (1998, 2005a) and Panksepp and Biven (in press). will not focus on the homeostatic and sensory affects in this hort essay....
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...I appreciate that so many former students, present colleagues and I thank my colleagues Casey Cromwell and Vern Bingman (2011) or organizing this Festschrift celebrating some of the achievements f a cross-species Affective Neuroscience at Bowling Green State niversity and elsewhere....
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...For literature overview, see Nelson and Panksepp (1998) and Panksepp (2011) for animals, and Freed and Mann (2007) and Swain et al. (2007) for human psychological implications....
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...…hich arise from the same neural circuits that integrate and rchestrate the emotional action and autonomic responses of the rain-body continuum (Panksepp, 1998), (ii) the homeostatic affects hat arise from intero-receptors that gauge a variety of bodily tates from air-hunger to thirst (Denton,…...
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...Indeed, such research is already leading to the development of many new mind medicines, including novel anti-depressants and perhaps medications to minimize the impact of autistic disorders (see Burgdorf et al., in this issue; Moskal et al., in this issue; Panksepp, 1998; Panksepp and Watt, 2011)....
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