What is an emotion?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/arbor.2013.759n1003Keywords:
Marañón, sensory processing, emotion, feelings, pleasure, consciousness, reasonAbstract
Gregorio Marañón wrote relatively little about emotion. Nevertheless, he considered emotion to be “one of the most interesting problems of human life.” This article describes the basic brain processes of emotion that motivates living beings to follow patterns of behaviour whose ultimate meaning is the survival of the individual and the species. A description is given here of the emotional processing of sensory information. It is noted that any process of conscious learning and memory is always emotionally coloured. Finally, one of the main conclusions of this article is that there is no rational thought without a previous emotional process in the brain. There is no reason without emotion. This is a conclusion that would probably have amazed Professor Marañón.
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