Piecing together the puzzle of emotional consciousness

Resumen

The search for neural correlates of emotional consciousness has gained momentum in the last decades. Nonetheless, disagreements concerning the mechanisms that determine the experiential qualities of emotional consciousness – the what is it like to feel an emotion - as well as on their neural correlates have far reaching consequence on how researchers study and measure emotion, sometimes leading to seemingly irresolvable impasses. The current paper lays out in a balanced way the viewpoint of both cognitive and precognitive approaches to emotional consciousness, on the basis of commonalities and differences between the claims of some relevant theories of emotions. We examine the sufficiency of the existing evidence in support of the proposed theories of emotional consciousness, by going through the methodological specificity of the study of emotional consciousness and its unique challenges, highlighting what can and cannot be imported by advances on research on perceptual consciousness. We propose that there are three key experimental contrasts which are each equally necessary in the search for the neural correlates of emotional consciousness, each contrast alone coming with its own limitations. We conclude by acknowledging some of the most promising avenues in the field which may help go beyond current limitations and collaboratively piece together the puzzle of emotional consciousness.

Áreas y palabras clave

Cómo citar (APA 7)

Engelen, T., & Mennella, R. (2020). Piecing together the puzzle of emotional consciousness. https://doi.org/10.1093/nc/niad005