The relation of emotions to polarization processes in sensory systems

A new concept of the neurophysiological mechanism of emotions is discussed. The emotions are thought to be a state of polarization of neurons involved in processing of emotion generating information. The hypothesis has been supported by an experiment performed to examine the behavior of rats in the "open field" during direct current polarization of visual and auditory cortices. It has been shown that artificial polarization of sensory neurons of the visual cortex but not of the auditory is followed by the appearance of negative emotion in the "open field." The results obtained are discussed in terms of the hypothesis advanced.