What are emotions and how are they created in the brain?

摘要

Philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists have debated the nature of emotion for centuries because it touches on our most precious questions. Do emotions show us to be the same or different from the rest of the animal kingdom? Do we respond automatically and reflexively to the world or do we have free will? Is it possible to have an objective science of subjective phenomena? How do we map psychological descriptions to physical measurements? These basic issues are at the foundation of the commentaries on our target article. We are grateful for the thought-provoking commentaries that provide us with the opportunity to clarify misconceptions, rectify ambiguities, address points of contention, and discuss exciting suggestions for applications and future directions of our model.