Human Emotion

[Raulgr]

Below is an outline of the neurobiological explanation of human emotion, based on discoveries made through neural mapping of the limbic system. Gee, looks like Darwin was right, after all!

EMOTION

Emotion is a pleasant or unpleasant mental state organized in the limbic system of the mammalian brain. Specifically, these states are manifestations of nonverbally expressed feelings of agreement, anger, certainty, control, disagreement, disgust, disliking, embarrassment, fear, happiness, hate, interest, liking, love, sadness, shame, surprise, and uncertainty. Emotions are mammalian elaborations of vertebrate arousal patterns, in which neurochemicals (e.g., dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin) step-up or step-down the brain's activity level, as visible in body movements, gestures, and postures. In mammals, primates, and human beings, feelings are displayed as emotion cues.

The human emotion of love evolved from paleocircuits of the mammalian brain (specifically, modules of the cingulated gyrus) designed for the care, feeding, and grooming of offspring. Paleocircuits are neural platforms for bodily expression configured millions of years before the advent of cortical circuits for speech. They consist of pre-configured pathways or networks of nerve cells in the forebrain, brain stem and spinal cord. They evolved in the earliest mammalian ancestors, the jawless fishes, to control motor function.

Before the mammalian brain, life in the Nonverbal World was automatic, preconscious, and predictable. Reptilian motor centers reacted to vision, sound, touch, chemical, gravity, and motion sensory cues with preset body movements and programmed postures. With the arrival of night-active mammals, circa 180 million years ago, smell replaced sight as the dominant sense, and a newer, more flexible way of responding--based on emotion and emotional memory--arose from the olfactory sense. In the Jurassic period, the mammalian brain invested heavily in aroma circuits to succeed at night as reptiles slept. These odor pathways gradually formed the neural blueprint for what was later to become our limbic brain.

Primary (i.e., innate) emotions, such as fear, "depend on limbic system circuitry," with the amygdala and anterior cingulate gyrus being "key players" (Damasio 1994:133).

Secondary emotions (i.e., feelings attached to objects [e.g., to dental drills], events, and situations through learning) require additional input from the prefrontal and somatosensory cortices (Damasio 1994:134; viz. "The stimulus may still be processed directly via the amygdala but is now also analyzed in the thought process . . ." [Damasio 1994:137].). "Thoughts and emotions are interwoven: every thought, however bland, almost always carries with it some emotional undertone, however subtle" (Restak 1995:21).

Neuro-notes I. 1. Smell carries directly to limbic areas of the mammalian brain via nerves running from the olfactory bulbs to the septum, amygdala, and hippocampus. In the acquatic brain, olfaction was critical for detecting food, foes, and mates from a distance in murky waters. 2. Like an emotional feeling, aroma has a volatile or "thin-skinned" quality because sensory cells lie on the exposed exterior of the olfactory epithelium (i.e., on the bodily surface itself). 3. Like a whiff of smelling salts, a sudden feeling may jolt the mind. The force of a mood is reminiscent of a smell's intensity (e.g., soft and gentle, pungent, or overpowering), and similarly permeates and fades as well. The design of emotion cues, in tandem with the forebrain's olfactory prehistory, suggests that the sense of smell is the neurological model for our emotions.

Neuro-notes II. Like aromas, emotions are either positive or negative (i.e., pleasant or unpleasant)--and rarely neutral. Like odors, feelings come and go, defy logic, and clearly show upon our face in mood signs. It is likely that many emotions evolved from aroma paleocircuits a. in subcortical nuclei (e.g., the paleocortex of the amygdala), and b. in layers of nerve cells within the forebrain's outer covering of neocortex. (N.B.: The latter's stratified architecture resembles that of the olfactory bulb, which is organized in layers as well.)

[Eddier1]

Oops, I suspect I know what prompted you to post such an anatomical, technical excerpt as that about the Emotions, and the functions of the brain. But I am at least gentleman enough not to reveal it.

In Russell's theory of sense data, he has much to say about the pre-configurations of the pathways of the human brain. One of the highlights that has remained in my memory, is his exposition of our optical capacities in relation to the external world. He uses a lot of the technical jargon that the neuralogist uses too in describing the reality of what we see. And according to Russell, what we see is NOT the external world which we have a knowledge of by aquaintance. He proves through neuralogical research that what we only can ever see is ONLY A PATCH OF OUR BRAINS. However, that is enough for us, in concert with archetypal patterns of thought built into our brains through pre-configurations and our own new configurations, to obtain a knowledge by description which can reach the very limits of human understanding.

BTW what ever happened to your New Puerto Rican Party? I notice that you do almost no postings anymore in our Politics Forum. What happened Raul_gr? Inquiring political minds want to know.

Regards,
EddieR

[Suki]

Emotional postings??? Hey guys criticize my emotional self as much as possible. I love making friends and being emotional about them...sorry it is too late my innately mammalian brain has already decided to see you as amistades.(Hahaha and hehehe) to survive that diehard leftist dialectical materialist mom who is good at questioning the same things as you Eddie and Raul I have learned not to be afraid of Constructive Criticism...or my emotions.

Oh, maybe you think my scientific brain has gone soft. Okay. You harshies you. Pueden ser todo lo antipaticos or simpaticos que quieran los voy a querer de todos modos that is just me. Like it or not. IF you want to just stick to the facts like on Ancient Dragnet television and Sargeant Friday I am willing to do it. Or are you guys talking about DrMaduro? I don't think so. Why? Why would Eddie want to be a gentleman to DrMaduro? No, he is hinting at me. Esta bien. No more personal info. I will be strictly business. Muchos Besos para los dos. Suki.

[Suki]

And what about el Partido Puertorriqueno what is that about?

[Eddier1]

Originally posted by Suki
Emotional postings??? Hey guys criticize my emotional self as much as possible. I love making friends and being emotional about them...sorry it is too late my innately mammalian brain has already decided to see you as amistades.(Hahaha and hehehe) to survive that diehard leftist dialectical materialist mom who is good at questioning the same things as you Eddie and Raul I have learned not to be afraid of Constructive Criticism...or my emotions.

Oh, maybe you think my scientific brain has gone soft. Okay. You harshies you. Pueden ser todo lo antipaticos or simpaticos que quieran los voy a querer de todos modos that is just me. Like it or not. IF you want to just stick to the facts like on Ancient Dragnet television and Sargeant Friday I am willing to do it. Or are you guys talking about DrMaduro? I don't think so. Why? Why would Eddie want to be a gentleman to DrMaduro? No, he is hinting at me. Esta bien. No more personal info. I will be strictly business. Muchos Besos para los dos. Suki.

My gosh Suki, why do you package me with Raul? I would never make an issue of your emotional self, after all I as a Boricua know what it is to be a Puertorriqueno. We all are a volatile, expressive people. It is Raul_gr who has become Anglocized after many years working as a tax collector, and on top of that being of a cut and dry scientific bent. He isn't the first nor the last I suppose from the Hispanics I will meet who have become totally adopted children of the Anglo-Sajon ambience.

As to his Partido Puertorriqueno, my take on it was from the prolific agenda which he published about it on our Politics forum, and all the feedback he received about it. Indeed, he even recruited members to the New Party, and they were in the process of building a Web Page to recruit more Puertorriquenos. And then I am not sure what happened but Pava, aka Hombre-cuidad, who was a key player in his Party seems to have had a falling out with Raul and others like conciencia, and Raul who was of course the titular head of his own creation seems to have faded away from giving us his input in the Politics forum. That is a negative, since we need all the inputs of PRs who are educated and experienced, especially through these really difficult times of Vieques and the change to the PPD and the new gobernadora of Puerto Rico.

Please Suki give me a break, and make significant distinctions between me and others where applicable. I again say I am very experienced in the volatility of our Gente, and would never be condescending towards them, but at the same time I am able to discern condescension in others, no matter how subtile it may be couched in technical or arcane language.

Te Respeto Suki,
EddieR

[Suki]

Political party. I do not take the cyber world all that seriously Eddie. There is only so far you can take people in a cyber relationship, and then you need to either move on or become better friends. I hope you and I are the latter. I make a big distinction between you and Raul. But it seems you two like talking to each other if for no other reason that intellectual questions.

Las personalidades son muy distintas. I should ask Raul directly if he feels identified as a Puertorriqueno...but I think if he did not he would not attempt forming a political party about us Boricuas.

I will give you a break Eddie. Perdon por fastidiar. I am just trying to get to know people. Two people I have met in this forum are going to visit me at my home already. I never knew that such a sterile means of communication could actually develop and foster real-life friendships. Papotito thinks its like an exchange of postcards and letters. The same feeling of anticipation and expectation. It is very interesting.

I am not going to communicate for much longer. Just trying to get to know the smart ones a little better (como tu). You are direct aren't you? You don't beat around the bush?
I think you would have made some woman a fine husband...if all your energies were not quite so focused on the META. I think you are out of the ordinary Eddier1. Bendicion and I won't throw you in anymore with anyone else (as if I could) con esa personalidad super fuerte.

[Suki]

at first did not believe I was Puerto Rican and seriously doubted my puertorriquenidad?
If I would have taken what you said at face value I would have been offended, but I realized you did not know me and were just trying to find your social bearings. Like I am trying to do with you now.
Do you admit now that you had an initial wrong impression about me? Why? What was it about something I said or wrote that made you doubt mi puertorriquenidad? Because I would not like to cause that impression to someone else. Lo digo con sinceridad. Esperando su respuesta...