Emotion
Lecture 1: Introduction and Approaches
How little do we know about emotions?
Key ideas and errors of the movie “inside out”:
1. There are few basic emotions (fear, sadness, joy, anger,
disgust)
- Basic emotion theories; most commonly used in psychology books
o Panksepp’s list of basic emotions: expectancy, fear, rage,
panic
o There are many proposed classification schemes for basic
emotions
- Basic emotions are irreducible (to atoms) and distinct (separate and
not intertwined; distinct characters in inside out)
o There is not much evidence for the existence of basic
emotions
o Maybe basic emotions are like molecules? -> build-up of a
partly shared collection of components (build-up of atoms)
o Why should scientific categories of emotions map on the
names we have for them?
- How to taxonomize (classify) emotions?
o How many are there? What should we name them?
o Do they differ per culture and species?
o Can we use the same “fear” for people, dogs, birds, etc.?
o How and why did they arise from evolution?
2. Emotions are like reflexes
- Idea that emotions are pretty automatic and simple; specific stimuli
trigger specific emotions
o But… many different stimuli can trigger emotions,
depending on the context and individual
- Which emotions are triggered by which stimuli under which
circumstances?
o What role do development dan learning play?
3. Emotions control behavior
- The idea that behavior is controlled from inside to outside by our
emotions
o Specific emotions cause fixed and specific behaviors
o But. Other ideas are proposed: “I feel afraid because I run
from the bear” -> turning this “inside out” idea around
- What are causal links between stimuli, emotions, and behavior?
o Do internal states cause behavior, or are they an
epiphenomenon; just a side effect of behavior? Or, are
they a consequence of behavior?
o Could we identify emotions in absence of behavior?
o Emotions as “decoupled reflexes”; internal states that
afford a flexible mapping from stimuli to behavior
, 4. Emotions are localized to specific brain regions
- Different emotions are localized in different discrete brain regions
(modules)
o Supported by some brain lesions and older fMRI studies
o Biased due to focus specifically on brain region of interest
before scanning. Not supported by more recent work
- How is the processing of emotion carried out across the brain?
o Are there identifiable neural substrates that implement
specific emotion states?
o Or is any given emotional state produced in such a highly
distributed manner that it’s impossible to assign a function to
any emotion brain circuit?
5. Emotions are conscious homunculi
- Emotions are conscious experiences in the brain and must therefore
be found in the brain
o Experience is however a global property, and the
mechanisms that produce it do not themselves have that
property
- Can we separate emotional states from conscious experiences of
emotion?
o Emotions and feelings are not the same thing
o Distinguish between emotions as internal functional states vs
conscious experience of emotions (feelings)
Toward a science of emotion
Different types of data exist on emotions:
- Conscious feelings: feeling emotions
- Attributing emotions through observations and behavior:
infer that people have an emotion based on behavior
- Neurobiological emotion state: record traces of emotion in the
brain
,Emotional state data are collected in different disciplines (psychology,
neuroscience, ethology), but all refer to the same thing: “internal
emotional state”
So, different approaches, different explanations, different data
An introduction to approaches to emotion
1. Charles Darwin; Expression and perception of emotion
- The “father of emotion science”
- Focus on physical expression of emotions; facial muscles
o His approach fits in “observation of behavior” (behavior in the
figure above)
o There are several basic emotions that are largely innate
o There is a universal expression of emotions in human beings
- Emotion expression had an adaptive function
o “Serviceable associated habits”; expressions of emotions
have an ancestral survival-related adaptive function
o Emotion expression originally served for survival, not social
communication
o Emotion states can be observed in animal behavior
o In humans, expressions may have lost their original
function, and now primarily serve social
communication
- Darwin was not holding back with anthropomorphism; assigning
human conscious states to animal behavior
o Linking emotion to animal expressions:
o We have good consensus for the emotional meaning of
expressions by animals that we interact with extensively; cats,
dogs
, o For others (mice, chimpanzee) it’s hard to detect without
context
o In invertebrates (octopus, fly), it’s basically impossible
without extensive studying
- Similarities across cultures and species, and innate basic
emotions, inspired Paul Ekman; the founder of big 5/6 emotions
o Basic facial expressions that are linked to the basic emotions
o How consistent is this across cultures?
Showed overlap between different countries, and even
with New Guinea and Borneo tribes
o Also, study with isolated Papua New Guineans; never seen
outsiders, tv, magazines, no written language
Approach: tell brief emotional stories, then let them
match a face photograph
Result: high agreement (correct choosing of face),
except for fear vs surprise; hard to distinguish
o Facial Affect Coding System (FACS); by Ekman
It breaks down facial expressions (not just emotions)
into components of certain muscle movements
“Action Units” (AUs) from the FACS are used by
scientists, animators, etc.
AUs can be combined to create emotional expressions.
One AU describes a certain combination of facial muscle
movements; e.g., “inner brow raised” = AU1.
Happiness/joy = AU6 + AU12
“Duchenne smile” = when your mouth is smiling but
eyes do not move accordingly. This is hard to do since
upper facial muscles are more difficult to control
- Darwin: Adaptive functions of expressions of fear and
disgust
o As a function to regulate sensory exposure:
Fear: increase sensory exposure; detect source of
threat/predator
Disgust: decrease sensory exposure; to avoid
contaminants
o Fearful and disgusted
faces are approximately
opposite appearances;
the “antiface” of fear is
similar to the disgust
face ->
o Does posing (imitating)
fear and disgust have
opposite effects on
perception and action?
Visual Field size: larger with fear, smaller with disgust
Eye Movements during target detection: faster with
fear, slower with disgust
Lecture 1: Introduction and Approaches
How little do we know about emotions?
Key ideas and errors of the movie “inside out”:
1. There are few basic emotions (fear, sadness, joy, anger,
disgust)
- Basic emotion theories; most commonly used in psychology books
o Panksepp’s list of basic emotions: expectancy, fear, rage,
panic
o There are many proposed classification schemes for basic
emotions
- Basic emotions are irreducible (to atoms) and distinct (separate and
not intertwined; distinct characters in inside out)
o There is not much evidence for the existence of basic
emotions
o Maybe basic emotions are like molecules? -> build-up of a
partly shared collection of components (build-up of atoms)
o Why should scientific categories of emotions map on the
names we have for them?
- How to taxonomize (classify) emotions?
o How many are there? What should we name them?
o Do they differ per culture and species?
o Can we use the same “fear” for people, dogs, birds, etc.?
o How and why did they arise from evolution?
2. Emotions are like reflexes
- Idea that emotions are pretty automatic and simple; specific stimuli
trigger specific emotions
o But… many different stimuli can trigger emotions,
depending on the context and individual
- Which emotions are triggered by which stimuli under which
circumstances?
o What role do development dan learning play?
3. Emotions control behavior
- The idea that behavior is controlled from inside to outside by our
emotions
o Specific emotions cause fixed and specific behaviors
o But. Other ideas are proposed: “I feel afraid because I run
from the bear” -> turning this “inside out” idea around
- What are causal links between stimuli, emotions, and behavior?
o Do internal states cause behavior, or are they an
epiphenomenon; just a side effect of behavior? Or, are
they a consequence of behavior?
o Could we identify emotions in absence of behavior?
o Emotions as “decoupled reflexes”; internal states that
afford a flexible mapping from stimuli to behavior
, 4. Emotions are localized to specific brain regions
- Different emotions are localized in different discrete brain regions
(modules)
o Supported by some brain lesions and older fMRI studies
o Biased due to focus specifically on brain region of interest
before scanning. Not supported by more recent work
- How is the processing of emotion carried out across the brain?
o Are there identifiable neural substrates that implement
specific emotion states?
o Or is any given emotional state produced in such a highly
distributed manner that it’s impossible to assign a function to
any emotion brain circuit?
5. Emotions are conscious homunculi
- Emotions are conscious experiences in the brain and must therefore
be found in the brain
o Experience is however a global property, and the
mechanisms that produce it do not themselves have that
property
- Can we separate emotional states from conscious experiences of
emotion?
o Emotions and feelings are not the same thing
o Distinguish between emotions as internal functional states vs
conscious experience of emotions (feelings)
Toward a science of emotion
Different types of data exist on emotions:
- Conscious feelings: feeling emotions
- Attributing emotions through observations and behavior:
infer that people have an emotion based on behavior
- Neurobiological emotion state: record traces of emotion in the
brain
,Emotional state data are collected in different disciplines (psychology,
neuroscience, ethology), but all refer to the same thing: “internal
emotional state”
So, different approaches, different explanations, different data
An introduction to approaches to emotion
1. Charles Darwin; Expression and perception of emotion
- The “father of emotion science”
- Focus on physical expression of emotions; facial muscles
o His approach fits in “observation of behavior” (behavior in the
figure above)
o There are several basic emotions that are largely innate
o There is a universal expression of emotions in human beings
- Emotion expression had an adaptive function
o “Serviceable associated habits”; expressions of emotions
have an ancestral survival-related adaptive function
o Emotion expression originally served for survival, not social
communication
o Emotion states can be observed in animal behavior
o In humans, expressions may have lost their original
function, and now primarily serve social
communication
- Darwin was not holding back with anthropomorphism; assigning
human conscious states to animal behavior
o Linking emotion to animal expressions:
o We have good consensus for the emotional meaning of
expressions by animals that we interact with extensively; cats,
dogs
, o For others (mice, chimpanzee) it’s hard to detect without
context
o In invertebrates (octopus, fly), it’s basically impossible
without extensive studying
- Similarities across cultures and species, and innate basic
emotions, inspired Paul Ekman; the founder of big 5/6 emotions
o Basic facial expressions that are linked to the basic emotions
o How consistent is this across cultures?
Showed overlap between different countries, and even
with New Guinea and Borneo tribes
o Also, study with isolated Papua New Guineans; never seen
outsiders, tv, magazines, no written language
Approach: tell brief emotional stories, then let them
match a face photograph
Result: high agreement (correct choosing of face),
except for fear vs surprise; hard to distinguish
o Facial Affect Coding System (FACS); by Ekman
It breaks down facial expressions (not just emotions)
into components of certain muscle movements
“Action Units” (AUs) from the FACS are used by
scientists, animators, etc.
AUs can be combined to create emotional expressions.
One AU describes a certain combination of facial muscle
movements; e.g., “inner brow raised” = AU1.
Happiness/joy = AU6 + AU12
“Duchenne smile” = when your mouth is smiling but
eyes do not move accordingly. This is hard to do since
upper facial muscles are more difficult to control
- Darwin: Adaptive functions of expressions of fear and
disgust
o As a function to regulate sensory exposure:
Fear: increase sensory exposure; detect source of
threat/predator
Disgust: decrease sensory exposure; to avoid
contaminants
o Fearful and disgusted
faces are approximately
opposite appearances;
the “antiface” of fear is
similar to the disgust
face ->
o Does posing (imitating)
fear and disgust have
opposite effects on
perception and action?
Visual Field size: larger with fear, smaller with disgust
Eye Movements during target detection: faster with
fear, slower with disgust
