What affective neuroscience means for science of consciousness.
Leonardo Ferreira Almada, Alfredo Pereira, Claudia Carrara-Augustenborg
Mens Sana Monographs 2013 DOI: 10.4103/0973-1229.100409 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Cognition Consciousness Emotions Feelings Affective neuroscience Endogenous feedback |
| Key points | The authors propose that two interacting brain circuits exist, one handling cognitive processes and the other mediating feelings about cognitive contents, and that their coupling generates an endogenous feedback that supports conscious processes. They argue that a science of consciousness requires detailed study of both affective and cognitive processes, their interactions, and their respective brain networks. |
Abstract
The field of affective neuroscience has emerged from the efforts of Jaak Panksepp in the 1990s and reinforced by the work of, among others, Joseph LeDoux in the 2000s. It is based on the ideas that affective processes are supported by brain structures that appeared earlier in the phylogenetic scale (as the periaqueductal gray area), they run in parallel with cognitive processes, and can influence behaviour independently of cognitive judgements. This kind of approach contrasts with the hegemonic concept of conscious processing in cognitive neurosciences, which is based on the identification of brain circuits responsible for the processing of (cognitive) representations. Within cognitive neurosciences, the frontal lobes are assigned the role of coordinators in maintaining affective states and their emotional expressions under cognitive control. An intermediary view is the Damasio-Bechara Somatic Marker model, which puts cognition under partial somatic-affective control. We present here our efforts to make a synthesis of these views, by proposing the existence of two interacting brain circuits; the first one in charge of cognitive processes and the second mediating feelings about cognitive contents. The coupling of the two circuits promotes an endogenous feedback that supports conscious processes. Within this framework, we present the defence that detailed study of both affective and cognitive processes, their interactions, as well of their respective brain networks, is necessary for a science of consciousness.