THE NEW NEUROLOGY AND THE BIOLOGY OF EMOTION: A STRUCTURAL APPROACH.

REVIEWS THE PROBLEM OF THE PHYSIOLOGY OF EMOTION. EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED TO SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS THAT NEUROHUMORAL MECHANISMS ARE SUBJECT TO "TUNING" BY EXPERIENCE AND IS THEN ADDUCED TO SHOW THAT SENSORY AS WELL AS HOMEOSTATIC PROCESSES ARE ORGANIZED AS NEURAL SERVO-MECHANISMS. THE VIEW THAT THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND EMOTION RESTS ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SENSORY AND NEUROHUMORAL MECHANISMS WAS REEVALUATED. THE AROUSAL THEORY OF EMOTION PROVIDED A VEHICLE FOR THE NEEDED REVISION BUT EVIDENCE IS MARSHALED AGAINST THE NOTION THAT AROUSAL INVOLVES CHANGES IN NEURAL INTENSITY. RATHER, A CHANGE IN "DISTRIBUTION" OF EXCITATION, I.E., ITS ORGANIZATION, OCCURS WHICH IS MEASURABLE AS UNCERTAINTY, I.E., INFORMATION. ENGINEERS HAVE SHOWN THAT INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEMS CAN CONTINUE TO FUNCTION ONLY AS LONG AS A SUFFICIENT VARIETY IN CONTROL MECHANISMS DEVELOPS TO KEEP PACE WITH DEMAND. FROM THIS, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT MOTIVATION AND EMOTION REFLECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF REQUISITE VARIETY OF CONTROL. EVIDENCE IS PRESENTED TO SHOW THAT NEURAL MECHANISMS EXIST WHICH CAN REGULATE THE RATE OF INFORMATION FLOW IN AFFERENT CHANNELS. SOME OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS ARE DISCUSSED. (31 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)