Phil/Psych 446
Seminar in Cognitive Science
Week 10: Emotion
Theories of emotion
Cognitive appraisal
Somatic perception
How to unify?
What is to be explained?
Diversity of emotions
Integration of emotions with cognitions
Intensity of emotional experience
Positive/negative character of experience
Change of emotional states
EMOCON model
Cognitive appraisal as constraint satisfaction
Somatic perception
Perceptual inputs
Working memory
Animal consciousness?
Panksepp: all animals have affective consciousness.
Primary: raw sensory/perceptual feelings.
Secondary: thoughts about experience.
Tertiary: thoughts about thoughts
Does consciousness differ in male and female humans?
Brizendine (2006): The Female Brain. Differences? Note: this book
is unreliable in its references to evidence.
Anatomical
- Anterior cingulate, PFC, insula, hippocampus larger in women
- Amygdala: larger in men
Hormonal
- More in women: estrogen, oxytocin.
- More in men: testosterone, vasopressin.
Behavioral
- Interest in sex
- Interest in emotions and relationships
Cultural
Discussion questions
- Does EMOCON succeed in unifying cognitive and somatic approaches to emotion?
- What is missing from brain-based explanations of emotions such as love?
- How does human emotional consciousness differ from that of animals?
- Is there a difference between the emotional consciousness of men and women?
- How do theories of embodiment change thinking about emotion?
Computational Epistemology
Laboratory.
Paul
Thagard
This page updated Nov. 9, 2007