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Emotional expression encompasses how individuals convey their emotions through verbal communication and non-verbal cues. These non-verbal actions include facial expressions, body language, and physical gestures, such as frowning or smiling. Among these, facial expressions play a crucial role in emotional expression and are understood universally, indicating a biological basis for how humans communicate emotions.
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Emotional labeling is a cognitive process that involves identifying and naming one's emotions, such as anger, fear, happiness, or sadness. It allows individuals to recognize and express their internal emotional states, a critical aspect of emotional regulation and communication. Labeling emotions requires more than mere recognition; it also involves drawing upon memory and contextual cues to understand the current situation and apply a corresponding emotional label. For instance, feeling...
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Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer proposed the two-factor theory of emotion, which emphasizes the interplay between physiological arousal and cognitive labeling in forming emotional experiences. This theory suggests that emotions are not simply a result of physiological responses but rather a combination of these responses and the individual's cognitive interpretation of them.
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Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor. 
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The physiology of emotions is a multifaceted process involving the autonomic nervous system, brain structures, hormones, and neurotransmitters. This intricate interplay dictates how emotions manifest in the body and influence behavior.
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Motivation is a multifaceted process that drives behavior toward fulfilling various physiological or psychological needs. This process involves initiating, guiding, and maintaining specific actions influenced by internal and external factors. For example, when someone feels hungry while watching television, hunger is a motivator, prompting the individual to get up, walk to the kitchen, and find something to eat. In this instance, hunger initiates and sustains the behavior necessary to meet the...
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A Cross-Disciplinary and Multi-Modal Experimental Design for Studying Near-Real-Time Authentic Examination Experiences
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Making sense of feelings.

Brian Key1, Deborah J Brown2

  • 1School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.

Neuroscience of Consciousness
|September 20, 2024
PubMed
Summary

Internal feeling states like pain do not directly cause behavior. The

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Philosophy of Mind
  • Animal Behavior

Background:

  • The traditional view posits that internal feelings (e.g., pain, hunger) directly drive behaviors crucial for survival and homeostasis.
  • This 'causal assumption' faces challenges reconciling with modern neuroscience's understanding of motor action and the brain's explanatory gap.
  • An alternative perspective is needed to understand the function of subjective experiences without resorting to epiphenomenalism.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the conventional 'causal assumption' regarding the function of internal feeling states.
  • To propose a novel framework, the 'sense-making sense' hypothesis, for understanding subjective experience.
  • To integrate neural computations, motor control, and feelings within a coherent explanatory model.

Main Methods:

Keywords:
awarenessneural circuitryphenomenal consciousnessqualiasubjective experience

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  • Conceptual analysis of the relationship between feelings, behavior, and neuroscience.
  • Development of the 'sense-making sense' hypothesis as an alternative to the causal assumption.
  • Integration of established neural computation models with theories of subjective experience and motor control.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrates the incompatibility of the 'causal assumption' with current neuroscience models of motor action.
  • Introduces the 'sense-making sense' hypothesis, proposing that subjective experience functions as a form of restricted explanation.
  • Presents a framework integrating neural processes for motor control, feelings, and explanatory functions.

Conclusions:

  • Internal feeling states may not directly cause behavior but serve an explanatory role in how organisms make sense of their actions.
  • The 'sense-making sense' hypothesis offers a functional account of subjective experience compatible with evolutionary biology.
  • This research provides a new perspective on the integration of feelings into our understanding of action and motivation.