The question "what is an emotion" is as old as the study of the mind and brain. Scientists from Western, English-speaking, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) nations tend to adopt certain definitions, but these definitions do not map onto the lived experiences of all people around the world. My approach to the question "what is an emotion?" is thus to accept that emotions are folk...
Emotions are often assumed to manifest in subcortical limbic and brainstem structures. While these areas are clearly important for representing affect (e.g. valence, arousal), we propose that the default mode network (DMN) is additionally important for constructing discrete emotional experiences (of anger, fear, disgust, etc.). Findings from neuroimaging studies, invasive electrical stimulation...