Emotional Objectivity: Neural Representations of Emotions and Their Interaction with Cognition

Posted: 16 Jan 2020

See all articles by Rebecca M. Todd

Rebecca M. Todd

University of British Columbia (UBC)

Vladimir Miskovic

Binghamton University

Junichi Chikazoe

National Institute for Physiological Sciences

Adam K. Anderson

Cornell University

Date Written: January 2020

Abstract

Recent advances in our understanding of information states in the human brain have opened a new window into the brain's representation of emotion. While emotion was once thought to constitute a separate domain from cognition, current evidence suggests that all events are filtered through the lens of whether they are good or bad for us. Focusing on new methods of decoding information states from brain activation, we review growing evidence that emotion is represented at multiple levels of our sensory systems and infuses perception, attention, learning, and memory. We provide evidence that the primary function of emotional representations is to produce unified emotion, perception, and thought (e.g., “That is a good thing”) rather than discrete and isolated psychological events (e.g., “That is a thing. I feel good”). The emergent view suggests ways in which emotion operates as a fundamental feature of cognition, by design ensuring that emotional outcomes are the central object of perception, thought, and action.

Suggested Citation

Todd, Rebecca M. and Miskovic, Vladimir and Chikazoe, Junichi and Anderson, Adam K., Emotional Objectivity: Neural Representations of Emotions and Their Interaction with Cognition (January 2020). Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 71, pp. 25-48, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3520459 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-051044

Rebecca M. Todd (Contact Author)

University of British Columbia (UBC)

2329 West Mall
Vancouver, British Columbia BC V6T 1Z4
Canada

Vladimir Miskovic

Binghamton University

PO Box 6001
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
United States

Junichi Chikazoe

National Institute for Physiological Sciences

5-1 Higashiyama
Myodaiji, Okazaki
Aichi 444-8787
Japan

Adam K. Anderson

Cornell University ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14853
United States

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