An emotional response to a destruction of an obstacle is perhaps a better definition of anger.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6043598/
In fact, the emotion of anger, which is defined as a negative emotional response to goal-blockage and unfair behavior by others, is conceptually distinct from aggression, which is defined as an action intended to cause harm to another individual.
(recklessness)
https://europepmc.org/article/med/33748351
The positive affect of rewards is an important contributor to well-being. Reward involves components of pleasure 'liking', motivation 'wanting', and learning. 'Liking' refers to the hedonic impact of positive events, with underlying mechanisms that include hedonic hotspots in limbic brain structures that amplify 'liking' reactions. 'Wanting' refers to incentive salience, a motivational process that makes reward cues attractive and able to trigger craving for their reward, mediated by larger dopamine-related mesocorticolimbic networks. Under normal conditions, 'liking' and 'wanting' cohere. However, 'liking' and 'wanting' can be dissociated by alterations in neural signaling, either induced in animal neuroscience laboratories or arising spontaneously in addictions and other affective disorders, which can be detrimental to positive well-being.
wanting and liking.jpg
wanting and liking 2.jpg
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26547313/
Left medial orbitofrontal cortex volume correlates with skydive-elicited euphoric experience
The medial orbitofrontal cortex has been linked to the experience of positive affect. Greater medial orbitofrontal cortex volume is associated with greater expression of positive affect and reduced medial orbital frontal cortex volume is associated with blunted positive affect. However, little is known about the experience of euphoria, or extreme joy, and how this state may relate to variability in medial orbitofrontal cortex structure. To test the hypothesis that variability in euphoric experience correlates with the volume of the medial orbitofrontal cortex, we measured individuals' (N = 31) level of self-reported euphoria in response to a highly anticipated first time skydive and measured orbitofrontal cortical volumes with structural magnetic resonance imaging. Skydiving elicited a large increase in self-reported euphoria. Participants' euphoric experience was predicted by the volume of their left medial orbitofrontal cortex such that, the greater the volume, the greater the euphoria. Further analyses indicated that the left medial orbitofrontal cortex and amygdalo-hippocampal complex independently explain variability in euphoric experience and that medial orbitofrontal cortex volume, in conjunction with other structures within the mOFC-centered corticolimbic circuit, can be used to predict individuals' euphoric experience.
euphoria (i.e. intense feelings of well-being) <--> hedonic hotspots ('liking')
euphoria ---> meaningfulness ---> positive mood (happiness) ... epithalamus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion#Components
Cognitive appraisal: provides an evaluation of events and objects.
Bodily symptoms: the physiological component of emotional experience.
* Action tendencies: a motivational component for the preparation and direction of motor responses.
Expression: facial and vocal expression almost always accompanies an emotional state to communicate reaction and intention of actions.
Feelings: the subjective experience of emotional state once it has occurred.
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* This does not apply to euphoria so it is not a basic emotion.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...t-found-brain/
That circuit is fairly resilient. In our experience, disabling individual components within the pleasure circuit does not diminish the typical response to a standard sweet—with one exception. Damaging the ventral pallidum appears to eliminate an animal's ability to enjoy food, turning a nice taste nasty.
On the other hand, intense euphoria is harder to come by than everyday pleasures. The reason may be that strong enhancement of pleasure—like the chemically induced pleasure bump we produced in lab animals—seems to require activation of the entire network at once. Defection of any single component dampens the high.
[...]
With the help of powerful neuroimaging techniques, we have found that the activity of a small region within the orbitofrontal cortex, called the midanterior site, correlates tightly with the subjective pleasantness of a nice sensation, such as the taste of chocolate milk. At the first sip, for example, the site is alight with activity. Yet once subjects have consumed enough of the sweet stuff, the midanterior site shuts down, rendering the experience no longer pleasurable.
1.
euphoria ---> meaningfulness ---> positive mood (happiness) ... epithalamus
2. pleasure (or a lack of pain) ---> meaningfulness ---> euphoria (feeling energized or 'high') ---> positive mood
blue: excitement
grey: attention/interest ... this could be a basic emotion
green: fear
red: anger
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hypothalamus functions 12.jpg
http://www.tomkins.org/what-tomkins-...d-personality/
Interest-Excitement: The pull toward mastery
Inherently rewarding
An intensity of gaze, eyebrows down, “track, look, listen” is the face of interest. High intensity excitement usually involves muscle movement and vocalization. The purpose of interest is to make learning rewarding. Interest is the most seriously neglected of the affects, possibly because it doesn’t disrupt thinking, but often fuels it. And since emotions are so often seen to be at odds with rational thought, it has escaped the attention of devoted thinkers that there is a good feeling associated with thinking. That good feeling is interest. “The interrelationships between the affect of interest and the functions of thought and memory are so extensive that the absence of the affective support of interest would jeopardize intellectual development no less than destruction of brain tissue. To think, as to engage in any other human activity, one must care, one must be excited, must be continually rewarded.” (Affect Imagery Consciousness, Vol. I p. 343) Interest is triggered by a gradual, manageable increase in neural firing. We can see it on infants’ faces as they encounter new sights, sounds and sensations.
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excitement <--> a reward
interest <--> learning (a reward?)
Last edited by Petter; 10-13-2023 at 08:41 AM.
anger <--> destroy an obstacle
interest <--> outsmart an obstacle
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/53113
Within the medial PFC, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a particularly noteworthy role, because it is essential for regulating the direction of motivation.
[...]
The habenula constitutes—together with the stria medullaris and pineal gland—the epithalamus and consists of medial and lateral parts. The habenula regulates the intensity of reward-seeking and misery-fleeing behaviour probably in all our vertebrate ancestors.
habenula and mPFC.png
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8363507/
The anterior thalamic nuclei are a vital node within hippocampal-diencephalic-cingulate circuits that support spatial learning and memory. Reflecting this interconnectivity, the overwhelming focus of research into the cognitive functions of the anterior thalamic nuclei has been spatial processing. However, there is increasing evidence that the functions of the anterior thalamic nuclei extend beyond the spatial realm. This work has highlighted how these nuclei are required for certain classes of temporal discrimination as well as their importance for processing other contextual information; revealing parallels with the non-spatial functions of the hippocampal formation. Yet further work has shown how the anterior thalamic nuclei may be important for other forms of non-spatial learning, including a critical role for these nuclei in attentional mechanisms. This evidence signals the need to reconsider the functions of the anterior thalamic within the framework of their wider connections with sites including the anterior cingulate cortex that subserve non-spatial functions.
hypothalamus mammillary bodies.jpg
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...017.00050/full
Lateral Hypothalamic Control of the Ventral Tegmental Area: Reward Evaluation and the Driving of Motivated Behavior
The LH → VTA circuit clearly plays an important role in driving behavior. Initial studies showed the importance of the LH in motivating basic functions such as mating, feeding, drinking, nest-building and gnawing, and the evidence that lesioning the LH results in a loss of these behaviors such as dramatic weight-loss, has highlighted the importance of this circuit for survival. Understanding this circuit will be important for understanding how normal behavior is elicited, and what is going wrong when these behaviors become disordered in cases such as obesity, anorexia, drug-abuse, anhedonia, etc. Considering the two main facets of goal-oriented behavior are the energizing and directing of behavior and what is known of the LH and VTA, it would appear that the LH neurons may play more of a role in the “driving” motivated behavior whereas the VTA likely directs the behavior toward relevant goals/rewards via the dopaminergic system for example, by modulating the reward-value of different environmental rewards. Although there are still many outstanding questions regarding the LH → VTA circuit, the development of new research technologies are allowing researchers more promising opportunities to probe this circuit and gain a more specific understanding of the basis for the dysregulation of this circuit and the negative behavioral consequences associated with it, such as drug abuse and obesity.
The activities of the NAcbC and NAcbS, in turn, are regulated by monoaminergic nuclei within the midbrain. These nuclei transmit signals through dopaminergic (ventral tegmental area), adrenergic (norepinephrine, locus coeruleus) and serotonergic (raphe nuclei) tracts. In addition to their direct regulation of the NAcbC and/or NAcbS, these monoaminergic nuclei regulate the activity of other, first relay station, basal ganglia and important parts of other areas in the forebrain. Therefore, it may be concluded that behavioural output is controlled at three levels within the brain. The highest level is the cerebral cortex (isocortex, limbic cortex, corticoid (cortical, basolateral) amygdala and hippocampal complex). The second level is the subcortical forebrain (dorsal striatum, ventral striatum, extended amygdala). The third level of control is the midbrain (monoaminergic regulation centres).
As part of our model, we suggest that a fourth regulatory system exists, the habenula, which connects the cerebral cortex and midbrain systems (Figure 8).
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...1EF15EEDA5035A
Evolution of circuits regulating pleasure and happiness with the habenula in control
The habenula, which in humans is a small nuclear complex within the epithalamus, plays an essential role in regulating the intensity of reward-seeking and adversity-avoiding behavior in all vertebrate ancestors by regulating the activity of ascending midbrain monoaminergic tracts.
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midbrain and locus coeruleus.png
1. the need for pleasure and avoidance of pain <--> euphoria and dysphoria (---> +/- mood)
2. the need for control/orientation (achieve goals) <--> basic emotions
3. the need for attachment (cooperation: safety needs, work, play, care) <--> laughing and crying (<--- 1 and 2)
4. the need for self-esteem enhancement (social hierarchy: show off achievements) <--> pride and shame
excitement ----- disappointment
interest ----- boredom
fear ----- relief
anger ----- calmness, patience or thankfulness
I think awe, guilt, remorse, jealousy and other social emotions are variations of pride and shame.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics...social-emotion
The Role of the MPFC in Self-Awareness
Social emotions require that people be aware of the effects of their behavior on others, which necessitates self-awareness. That is, when people commit a faux pas, they must be able to recognize that the behavior they performed is inappropriate and that the feelings they are experiencing are embarrassment at having committed the faux pas. Self-awareness occurs when people themselves are the objects of their attention, such as when they think about themselves or process other information in a personal manner. Many years of research in psychology has revealed that information processed with reference to self seems to be treated “specially.”
Converging evidence from patient research indicates that frontal lobe lesions, particularly to the MPFC and adjacent structures, have a deleterious effect on personality, mood, motivation, and self-awareness. Patients with frontal lobe lesions show dramatic deficits in recognizing their own limbs, engaging in self-reflection and introspection, identifying a faux pas as being socially inappropriate, and even reflecting on personal knowledge.
A series of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have also indicated that the MPFC plays a vital role in self-awareness. This region is more active, for example, when people report on their personality traits, make self-relevant judgments about pictures, or retrieve autobiographical memories of past events. Interestingly, the MPFC has also been identified as part of a “default network.” This network is active when the brain is at rest (ie, not engaged in an overt cognitive task). An abundance of neuroimaging data suggest that the default network plays a dominant role in self-awareness. As such, the default network supports important components of social emotions. The convergence of patient and imaging data support the conclusion that MPFC plays a prominent role in self-awareness, a necessary and critical contributor to the experience of social emotions.
Quora: "Envy is a byproduct of pride. Envy is the imaginary sense of shame that provokes a longing for objects of pride."
awe: Wow, that's very impressive! You should be proud of yourself.
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