From emotions to consciousness - a neuro-phenomenal and neuro-relational approach

Abstract

The James-Lange theory considers emotional feelings as perceptions of physiological body changes. This approach has recently resurfaced and modified in both neuroscientific and philosophical concepts of embodiment of emotional feelings. In addition to the body, the role of the environment in emotional feeling needs to be considered. I here claim that the environment has not merely an indirect and instrumental, i.e., modulatory role on emotional feelings via the body and its sensorimotor and vegetative functions. Instead, the environment may have a direct and non-instrumental, i.e., constitutional role in emotional feelings. This implies that the environment itself is constitutive of emotional feeling rather than the bodily representation of the environment. I call this the relational concept of emotional feeling. The present paper discusses recent data from neuroimaging that investigate emotions in relation to interoceptive processing and the brain's intrinsic activity. These data show the intrinsic linkage of interoceptive stimulus processing to both exteroceptive stimuli and the brain's intrinsic activity. This is possible only if the differences between intrinsic activity and intero- and exteroceptive stimuli is encoded into neural activity. Such relational coding makes possible the assignment of subjective and affective features to the otherwise objective and non-affective stimulus. I therefore consider emotions to be intrinsically affective and subjective as it is manifest in emotional feelings. The relational approach thus goes together with what may be described as neuro-phenomenal approach. Such neuro-phenomenal approach does not only inform emotions and emotional feeling but is also highly relevant to better understand the neuronal mechanisms underlying consciousness in general.

Keywords: James–Lange theory; consciousness; emotion; emotional feeling; insula.

Figure 1

The figure compares two different ways of neural coding in emotional feeling. On the left side translational coding describes how intero- and exteroceptive stimuli are separately represented and meta-represented in the neural activity of the brain. This meta-representation is then perceived which following Damasio and the James–Lange theory leads to emotional feelings. This is different in relational coding on the right side. Here intero- and exteroceptive stimuli are coded in relation to each other with this relation resulting in emotional feeling and subsequent experience of the relationship between body and environment.

Figure 2

The figure shows the relationship between intrinsic activity and stimuli (on the left) and emotional feeling (on the right). The intrinsic activity of the brain interacts with the stimuli that are by themselves non-affective and objective. That rest-stimulus interaction leads to the assignment of affect and subjectivity to the stimulus resulting in emotional feeling.

Figure 3

The figure shows the relationship between emotional feeling and phenomenal consciousness. By interacting with the brain’s intrinsic activity via relational coding affect and subjectivity is assigned to the intero- and exteroceptive stimuli. This in turn makes possible the generation of emotional feeling and phenomenal consciousness.

Figure A1

The figure illustrates schematically the relevant midline regions in the cortex. The image is a sagittal slice of the brain take in its midline. MOPFC, medial orbitofrontal cortex; VMPFC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex; DMPFC, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; PACC, perigenual anterior cingulate cortex; SACC, supragenual anterior cingulate cortex; PCC, posterior cingulate cortex; RSC, retrosplenial cortex; MPC, medial parietal cortex.