The emotional function is a crucial factor in understanding human behaviour, decision-making processes, social interactions and all in all mental health. To begin with, it’s important to define what emotional function is. It’s a combination of several processes by which individuals express, recognise and regulate their emotions. Emotions are intense feelings which are appearing as a reaction to outward stimuli such as changes in the environment or social interactions. There are 6 basic emotions: anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness and happiness (Andrews, 2016). Also, it’s important to outdraw 3 components of Emotional function: autonomic arousal, which happens involuntarily triggered by emotions as a physiological response (Andrews, 2016); emotions can be categorised as positive and negative effects which include both internal feelings and external expressions (Lazarus, 1991); State vs. Mood component- moods are more stable over time and enduring when states are transient and situational. Such emotional disorders as anxiety, for instance, illustrate how these states could be pathological (Andrews, 2016).
Indeed the importance of the emotional function cannot be denied. If to look at it from the evolutionary point of view it has an important role in increasing individual survival and social communication. According to Darwin’s Theory of Emotions (1872), emotions are inherited behavioural patterns that have evolved to enhance survival. For example, the function of raised eyebrows and widened eyes, while being in a state of fear, is the increased visual sharpness which is a helpful mechanism of threat detection. Also, Darwin argued on the example of blind children who blushed when felt shame that emotions are innate or inherited and are not learned by individuals. Thus, making it crucially important for studying to understand human behaviour. This essay will specifically focus on exploring the contribution that cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology have made to the study of emotional function.
When behaviourism was a dominant approach brain functions have been viewed as more simple stimuli-reaction mechanisms. For example, the James-Lange theory claims that emotions result from psychological reactions to events. Another theory of this time is Cannon-Bard (1927), which proposed that emotions and psychological responses happen simultaneously and independently in response to stimuli, with the thalamus playing a central role in emotional generation. Later research has shown that the thalamus is not the sole centre for emotional processing. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed that the limbic system, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex and insula, plays a crucial role in emotional generation and regulation (Phan et al., 2002).
For example, the latest meta-analysis by Berboth and Morawetz (2021) examined the neural underpinnings of specific brain regions involved in emotional functions across 15 neuroimaging studies. They performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) algorithm on studies which research the connectivity between the amygdala and other regions involved in emotion regulation through psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. Results showed that during emotion regulation, connectivity between the amygdala and the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was identified in PPI studies. This suggests that reappraisal, as a specific strategy of emotion regulation, influences how these brain regions communicate during the process. Additionally, they have found convergent connectivity between the amygdala and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during the analysis of the functional interaction of these brain parts during the process of down-regulation of emotions. These findings show the neurally-derived models of emotion regulation and highlight the dynamic of interactions between systems responsible for generating and regulating emotions.
Such advanced tools as fMRI and PET showed how complex the brain is. In contrast to the previous view of the brain as a simple stimuli-reaction mechanism, fMRI and PET allowed scientists to examine the hierarchical organisation of the brain, showing how different layers of neural circuits predict sensory inputs at various levels of abstraction (Friston, 2005). These findings refined models like dual-process theory, which posits that both automatic and controlled processes are involved in emotional regulation (Thompson, 2009). Moreover, dysfunction in dual-processing can cause different psychological disorders. For example, there have been studies that show how impaired prefrontal regulation (analytic process) can lead to an overactive amygdala response (heuristic process). This contributes to the development of anxiety and mood disorders, additionally, this can lead to cognitive biases and delusions (Bronstein et al., 2019).
Studying the dysregulation mechanism of effective regulation could be beneficial for uncovering the nature of associated psychological disorders and thus give a better understanding of effective cognitive and pharmacological treatment. Many forms of psychopathology connect with failures in emotional regulation processes, which can lead to the development of various issues from distress to self-destructive behaviours (Ochsner and Gross, 2005).
Cognitive neuroscience has contributed to neuropsychological accounts by elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying emotional function. For instance, lesion studies have shown that damage to the prefrontal cortex impairs emotional regulation, supporting its role in top-down control of emotions. One of the notable examples is – the case of Phineas Gage, which involves a railway worker who survived severe brain damage that dramatically changed his personality and behaviour (Harlow, 1868).
However, limitations such as small sample sizes and the complexity of isolating specific neural correlates highlight the need for further research. (Andrews, 2016)
More recent research, specifically on neural correlations of emotional regulation, found that the interaction between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex is critical for effective emotional regulation. This has been possible to uncover with the use of fMRI technology, which highlights how advancement in brain imaging techniques is deepening our understanding of the underlying mechanisms (Pessoa, 2020). Another notable example is research by Torrisi et al. (2018), where they explored in depth 2 interconnected parts of the brain: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the central amygdala (CeA) of the extended amygdala, which is responsible for mediating responses to sustained, unpredictable threats. In their study, they examined the changes in the connectivity of these parts during sustained anticipation of electric shock. According to the results BNST and CeA become less coupled with ventromedial prefrontal cortex cingulate, and nucleus accumbens, at the same time they become more coupled with the thalamus, under threat. These findings suggest that by examining specific roles and interactions of CeA and BNST it’s possible to see their contribution to the anxious state and its maintenance.
It’s without a doubt, that combination of cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of emotional function. Cognitive psychology provides theoretical frameworks, neuropsychology highlights the insights through lesion and behavioural studies, while neuroscience shows the underlying mechanism of it all. Emotional function is multidimensional and complex, it requires interdisciplinary research. Future research should explain other emotion regulation strategies, understand individual differences and develop targeted interventions for emotional dysregulation. This will further enrich the understanding and treatment of psychological disorders.
References
Andrewes, D. (2016). Chapter 8: Emotional and Social Dysfunction. In Neuropsychology:
From Theory to Practice. Routledge: Dawson Books.
Berboth, S., & Morawetz, C. (2021). Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity during emotion
regulation: A meta-analysis of psychophysiological interactions. Neuropsychologia,
153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107767.
Bronstein, M. V., Pennycook, G., Joormann, J., Corlett, P. R., & Cannon, T. D. (2019). Dual-
process theory, conflict processing, and delusional belief. Clinical psychology review,
72, 101748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101748
Cannon, W. B. (1927). The James-Lange theory of emotions: a critical examination and an
alternative theory. The American Journal of Psychology, 39, 106–124.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1415404
Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. John Murray.
Harlow, J. M. (1868). Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head.
Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 2, 327-347.
Friston, K. (2005). A theory of cortical responses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal
Society B: Biological Sciences, 360(1456), 815-836.7
Lazarus, R.S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive–motorational relational theory of emotion.
American Psychologist 46, 819–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.8.819
Ochsner, K., Gross, J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 9(5), 242-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010
Pessoa, L. (2020). The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration. MIT
Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262019569.003.0001
Phan, K. L., Wager, T., Taylor, S. F., & Liberzon, I. (2002). Functional Neuroanatomy of
Emotion: A Meta-Analysis of Emotion Activation Studies in PET and fMRI.
NeuroImage, 16(2), 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2002.1087
Thompson, V. A. (2009). Dual-process theories: A metacognitive perspective. In J. St. B. T.
Evans & K. Frankish (Eds.), In two minds: Dual processes and beyond, 171-195.
Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230167.003.0008
Torrisi, S., Gorka, A. X., Gonzalez-Castillo, J., O’Connell, K., Balderston, N., Grillon, C., &
Ernst, M. (2018). Extended amygdala connectivity changes during sustained shock
anticipation. Translational psychiatry, 8(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-017-
0074-6
We're asking questions 