Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

What is an emotional feeling? Lessons about affective origins from cross-species neuroscience

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Motivation and Emotion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cross-species affective neuroscience aspires to provide an evidence-based foundation for understanding the primary-process emotional networks that concurrently control instinctual emotional actions and affective feelings—direct emotional circuit mediated ‘rewards’ and ‘punishments’. In humans and other mammals, the ancestral subcortical regions of the brain are central to such affective BrainMind functions (a monistic term, here used synonymously with MindBrain, depending on stylistic needs). Although these circuits cannot be ‘identical’ across species (that would be incompatible with evolutionary principles) they are sufficiently similar, anatomically, neurochemically and functionally, to allow animal brain research to illuminate (yield testable predictions) about homologous human mind functions. Primal emotional feelings (affects) are inbuilt value functions of the brain that energize and inform the rest of the mental apparatus about basic survival values, thereby promoting secondary-process learning/memory functions and tertiary-process cognitive thinking-ruminative functions, yielding bottom-up evolutionary controls that ultimately allow top-down regulatory controls. As we envision how such “nested” hierarchies—two-way paths of causality—reflecting both bottom-up and top-down functions—we will need disciplined distinctions between cognitions and emotions at the primary-process level, while also accepting total interpenetrance of cognitions and affects at the tertiary-process level of MindBrain organization. This allows full and synergistic integration of basic and dimensional approaches to emotions. Here the primal emotional networks, so critically important for understanding ‘human-nature’ and psychiatric disorders, are discussed didactically in ways that can minimize dilemmas that non-evolutionary, non-hierarchical perspectives are subject to in modern emotion research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alcaro, A., Panksepp, J., Witczak, J., Hayes, D. J., & Northoff, G. (2010). Is subcortical-cortical midline activity in depression mediated by glutamate and GABA? A cross-species translational approach. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 34, 592–605.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, L. F. (2006). Emotions as natural kinds? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 28–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bejjani, B.-P., Damier, P., Arnulf, I., Thivard, L., Bonnet, A.-M., Dormont, D., et al. (1999). Transient acute depression induced by high-frequency deep-brain stimulation. New England Journal of Medicine, 341, 1003–1004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, K. (2004). Pleasure, unfelt affect, and irrational desire. In A. S. R. Manstead, N. Frijda, & A. Fischer (Eds.), Feelings and emotions: The Amsterdam symposium (pp. 243–262). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bewernick, B. H., Hurlemann, R., Matusch, A., Kayser, S., Grubert, C., Hadrysiewicz, B., et al. (2010). Nucleus accumbens deep brain stimulation decreases ratings of depression and anxiety in treatment-resistant depression. Biological Psychiatry, 67, 110–116.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Browning, J. R., Browning, D. A., Maxwell, A. O., Dong, Y., Jansen, H., Panksepp, J., & Sorg, B. A. (2011). Positive affective vocalizations during cocaine and sucrose self-administration: A model for spontaneous drug desire in rats. Neuropharmacology, 61, 268–275.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burgdorf, J., Kroes, R. A., Moskal, J. R., Pfaus, J. G., Brudzynski, S. M., & Panksepp, J. (2008). Ultrasonic vocalizations of rats (Rattus norvegicus) during mating, play, and aggression: Behavioral concomitants, relationship to reward and self-administration of playback. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 122, 357–367.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burgdorf, J., Wood, P. L., Kroes, R. A., Moskal, J. R., & Panksepp, J. (2007). Neurobiology of 50-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations in rats: Electrode mapping, lesion, and pharmacology studies. Behavioral Brain Research, 182, 274–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coenen, V. A., Honey, C. R., Hurwitz, T., Rahman, A. A., McMaster, J., Burgel, U., et al. (2009). Medial forebrain bundle stimulation as a pathophysiological mechanism for hypomania in subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. Neurosurgery, 64, 1106–1114.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coenen, V. A., Schlaepfer, T. E., Maedler, B., & Panksepp, J. (2011). Cross-species affective functions of the medial forebrain bundle-Implications for the treatment of affective pain and depression in humans. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2010 Dec 22. [Epub ahead of print].

  • Copeland, W. E., Sun, H., Costello, E. J., Angold, A., Heilig, M. A., & Barr, C. S. (2011). Child u-opioid receptor gene variant influences parent-child relations. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 1165–1170.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R., Grabowski, T. J., Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Ponto, L. L., Parvizi, J., et al. (2000). Subcortical and cortical brain activity during the feeling of self-generated emotions. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 1049–1056.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin, C. (1872/1998). The expression of emotions in man and animals, 3rd edn. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Davidson, R. J. (2003). Seven sins in the study of emotion: Correctives from affective neuroscience. Brain and Cognition, 52, 129–132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Denton, D. (2006). The primordial emotions: The dawning of consciousness. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Depue, R. A., & Collins, P. F. (1999). Neurobiology of the structure of personality: Dopamine, facilitation of incentive motivation, and extraversion. Behavioral Brain Sciences, 22, 491–517.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, R., & Barrett, L. (Eds.). (2007). Oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellsworth, P. C. (1994). William James and emotion: Is a century of fame worth a century of misunderstanding? Psychological Review, 101, 222–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freed, P. J., Yanagihara, T. K., Hirsch, J., & Mann, J. J. (2009). Neural mechanisms of grief regulation. Biological Psychiatry, 66, 33–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goleman, D. (2006). Social intelligence: The new science of human relationships. New York: Bantam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, P. E. (1997). What emotions really are: The problem of psychological categories. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heath, R. G. (1996). Exploring the mind-body relationship. Baton Rouge, LA: Moran Printing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ikemoto, S. (2010). Brain reward circuitry beyond the mesolimbic dopamine theory: A neurobiological theory. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 129–150.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1884). What is an emotion? Mind, 9(34), 188–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenemans, J. L., & Kähkönen, S. (2011). How human electrophysiology informs psychopharmacology: From bottom-up drive processing to top-down control. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 26–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnan, V., & Nestler, E. J. (2010). Linking molecules to mood: New insight into the biology of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167, 1350–1420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liotti, M., & Panksepp, J. (2004). Imaging human emotions and affective feelings: Implications for biological psychiatry. In J. Panksepp (Ed.), Textbook of biological psychiatry (pp. 33–74). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacLean, P. D. (1990). The triune brain in evolution. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGilchrist, I. (2009). The master and his emissary: The divided brain and the making of the western world. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMillan, F. (Ed.). (2005). Mental health and well-being in animals. Oxford, UK: F. Blackwell Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendl, M., Burman, O. H. P., & Paul, E. S. (2010). An integrative and functional framework for the study of animal emotions and mood. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 277, 2895–2904.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nashold, B. S., Wilson, W. P., & Slaughter, D. G. (1969). Sensations evoked by stimulation of the midbrain of man. Journal of Neurosurgery, 30, 14–24.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nestler, E. J., & Hyman, S. E. (2010). Animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Nature Neuroscience, 13, 1161–1169.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nietzsche, F. (1885/1996) Beyond good and evil. New York: Vintage.

  • Northoff, G., Schneider, F., Rotte, M., Matthiae, C., Tempelmann, C., Wiebking, C., et al. (2009). Differential parametric modulation of self-relatedness and emotions in different brain regions. Human Brain Mapping, 30, 369–382.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Northoff, G., Wiebking, C., Feinberg, T., & Panksepp, J. (2010). The ‘resting state hypothesis’ of major depressive disorder: A translational subcortical-cortical framework for a system disorder. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.12.007.

  • Okun, M. S., Bowers, D., Springer, U., Shapira, N. A., Malone, D., Rezai, A. R., et al. (2004). What’s in a “smile?” Intra-operative observations of contralateral smiles induced by deep brain stimulation. Neurocase, 10, 271–279.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ortony, A., & Turner, T. J. (1990). What’s basic about basic emotions? Psychological Review, 97, 315–331.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (1981). Brain opioids: A neurochemical substrate for narcotic and social dependence. In S. Cooper (Ed.), Progress in theory in psychopharmacology (pp. 149–175). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (1982). Toward a general psychobiological theory of emotions. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 5, 407–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (1985). Mood changes. In P. Vinken, G. Bruyn, & H. Klawans (Eds.), Handbook of clinical neurology (Vol. 45, pp. 271–285). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (1998). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2003). At the interface of affective, behavioral and cognitive neurosciences: Decoding the emotional feelings of the brain. Brain and Cognition, 52, 4–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2005a). Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans. Consciousness and Cognition, 14, 19–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2005b). On the embodied neural nature of core emotional affects. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 12, 161–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2007). Neuroevolutionary sources of laughter and social joy: Modeling primal human laughter in laboratory rats. Behavioral Brain Research, 182(2), 231–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2009a). Core consciousness. In T. Bayne, A. Cleeremans, & P. Wilken (Eds.), The Oxford companion to consciousness (pp. 198–200). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2009b). Primary process affects and brain oxytocin. Biological Psychiatry, 65, 725–727.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2010). Science of the brain as a gateway to understanding play. American Journal of Play, 3, 245–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J. (2011). Toward a cross-species neuroscientific understanding of the affective mind: Do animals have emotional feelings? American Journal of Primatology, 73, 545–561.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., Bean, N. J., Bishop, P., Vilberg, T., & Sahley, T. L. (1980). Opioid blockade and social comfort in chicks. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 13, 673–683.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., & Biven, L. (2011). The archaeology of mind: Neuroevolutionary origins of human emotion. Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.

  • Panksepp, J., Burgdorf, J., Gordon, N., & Turner, C. (2003). Modeling ADHD-type arousal with unilateral frontal cortex damage in rats and beneficial effects of play therapy. Brain and Cognition, 52, 97–105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., Knutson, B., & Burgdorf, J. (2002). The role of emotional brain systems in addictions: A neuro-evolutionary perspective. Addiction, 97, 459–469.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., Nocjar, C., Burgdorf, J., Panksepp, J. B., & Huber, R. (2004). The role of emotional systems in addiction: A neuroethological perspective. In R. A. Bevins & M. T. Bardo (Eds.), 50th nebraska symposium on motivation: Motivational factors in the etiology of drug abuse (pp. 85–126). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., Siviy, S., Normansell, L. A., White, K., & Bishop, P. (1982). Effects of B-chlornaltexamine on separation distress in chicks. Life Sciences, 31, 2387–2390.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Panksepp, J., & Watt, J. (2011). Why does depression hurt? Ancestral primary-process separation-distress (PANIC) and diminished brain reward (SEEKING) processes in the genesis of depressive affect. Psychiatry, 74, 5–14.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raichle, M. E. (2006). The brain’s dark energy. Science, 31(5803), 1249–1250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110, 145–173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schlaepfer, T. E., Cohen, M. X., Frick, C., Kosel, M., Brodesser, D., Axmacher, N., et al. (2008). Deep brain stimulation to reward circuitry alleviates anhedonia in refractory major depression. Neuropsychopharmacology, 33, 368–377.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schoene-Bake, J.-C., Parpaley, Y., Weber, B., Panksepp, J., Hurwitz, T. A., & Coenen, V. A. (2010). Tractographic analysis of historical lesion-surgery for depression. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 2553–2563.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schutter, D. J., & van Honk, J. (2010). An endocrine perspective on the role of steroid hormones in the antidepressant treatment efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 171–178.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, R. C. (2003). What is an emotion? Classic and contemporary readings (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stutz, R. M., Rossi, R. R., Hastings, L., & Brunner, R. L. (1974). Discriminability of intracranial stimuli: The role of anatomical connectedness. Physiology & Behavior, 12, 69–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swain, J. E., Lorberbaum, J. P., Korse, S., & Strathearn, L. (2007). Brain basis of early parent-infant interactions: Psychology, physiology, and in vivo function neuroimaging studies. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 48, 262–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen, N. (1951). The study of instinct. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vul, E., Harris, C., Winkelman, P., & Pashler, H. (2009). Puzzlingly high correlations in fMRI studies of emotion, personality, and social cognition. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 274–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vytal, K., & Hamann, S. (2010). Neuroimaging support for discrete neural correlates of basic emotions: A voxel-based meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 2864–2885.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zachar, P., & Ellis, R. (Eds.) (in press). Emotional theories of Jaak Panksepp and Jim Russell. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.

  • Zhang, F., Aravanis, A. M., Adamantidis, A., de Lecea, L., & Deisseroth, K. (2007). Circuit- breakers: Optical technologies for probing neural signals and systems. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8, 577–581.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zubieta, J. K., Ketter, T. A., Bueller, J. A., Xu, Y., Kilbourn, M. R., Young, E. A., et al. (2003). Regulation of human affective responses by anterior cingulate and limbic mu-opioid neurotransmission. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 1145–1153.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary & Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA

    Jaak Panksepp

Authors
  1. Jaak Panksepp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaak Panksepp.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Panksepp, J. What is an emotional feeling? Lessons about affective origins from cross-species neuroscience. Motiv Emot 36, 4–15 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9232-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-011-9232-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation