A functional architecture of the human brain: emerging insights from the science of emotion

Abstract

The 'faculty psychology' approach to the mind, which attempts to explain mental function in terms of categories that reflect modular 'faculties', such as emotions, cognitions, and perceptions, has dominated research into the mind and its physical correlates. In this paper, we argue that brain organization does not respect the commonsense categories belonging to the faculty psychology approach. We review recent research from the science of emotion demonstrating that the human brain contains broadly distributed functional networks that can each be re-described as basic psychological operations that interact to produce a range of mental states, including, but not limited to, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, and so on. When compared to the faculty psychology approach, this 'constructionist' approach provides an alternative functional architecture to guide the design and interpretation of experiments in cognitive neuroscience.

Box 1 Figure. Faculty psychology v. constructionist predictions for mapping mind to brain

Figure 1. Meta-analytic findings of emotion

Brain areas with a consistent increase in activity across studies of emotion are shown in yellow, orange, pink and magenta (corresponding to height and three extent-based thresholds, respectively). Data are from the largest meta-analysis of studies of emotion experience and perception to date (91 studies published between January, 1990- December, 2007) and demonstrate that emotions are implemented by a range of brain regions including those associated with the default network (medial prefrontal cortex, medial temporal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), salience network (insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala) and frontoparietal network (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex). © Cambridge University Press 2012. Reprinted with permission from [9].