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The Default Mode Network's Role in Discrete Emotion.
Ajay B Satpute1, Kristen A Lindquist2
1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
|August 21, 2019
Summary
The default mode network (DMN) is crucial for constructing discrete emotions like anger or fear, not just basic affect. This brain network enables abstract thought, essential for categorizing diverse emotional experiences.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Affective Science
Background:
- Traditional models link emotions to subcortical limbic and brainstem areas.
- These areas are vital for representing core affective dimensions like valence and arousal.
- A gap exists in explaining the construction of discrete emotional experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose the default mode network (DMN) as critical for constructing discrete emotions.
- To integrate a constructionist theory of emotion with neurobiological evidence.
- To explain how the DMN facilitates abstract categorization of emotional experiences.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of findings from neuroimaging studies.
- Analysis of data from invasive electrical stimulation studies.
- Examination of evidence from lesion studies in humans.
Main Results:
- Evidence supports the DMN's role beyond basic affect representation.
- The DMN appears essential for constructing specific emotional categories (e.g., anger, fear).
- The DMN's capacity for abstraction underpins the categorization of diverse emotional patterns.
Conclusions:
- The default mode network (DMN) plays a key role in the construction of discrete emotions.
- Abstraction, supported by the DMN, is fundamental to categorizing varied emotional states.
- This framework offers novel predictions for understanding emotion construction and neural bases.