Work

Affect is a form of cognition: A neurobiological analysis

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: In this paper, we suggest that affect meets the traditional definition of "cognition" such that the affect-cognition distinction is phenomenological, rather than ontological. We review how the affect-cognition distinction is not respected in the human brain, and discuss the neural mechanisms by which affect influences sensory processing. As a result of this sensory modulation, affect performs several basic "cognitive" functions. Affect appears to be necessary for normal conscious experience, language fluency, and memory. Finally, we suggest that understanding the differences between affect and cognition will require systematic study of how the phenomenological distinction characterising the two comes about, and why such a distinction is functional.

Source: Cognition & Emotion

DOI: 10.1080/02699930701437931

Authors: Seth Duncan, Lisa Feldman Barrett

Institution: Boston College

Language: English

Topic: Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Mental Health

Awards: Emotional Granularity: A View From Multiple Levels, Neural Mechanisms of Affective Salience in Aging