A sensorimotor control framework for understanding emotional communication and regulation

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, vol. 112, pp. 503–518

Abstract

Our research team was asked to consider the relationship of the neuroscience of sensorimotor control to the language of emotions and feelings. Actions are the principal means for the communication of emotions and feelings in both humans and other animals, and the allostatic mechanisms controlling action also apply to the regulation of emotional states by the self and others. We consider how motor control of hierarchically organised, feedback-based, goal-directed action has evolved in humans, within a context of consciousness, appraisal and cultural learning, to serve emotions and feelings. In our linguistic analysis, we found that many emotion and feelings words could be assigned to stages in the sensorimotor learning process, but the assignment was often arbitrary. The embodied nature of emotional communication means that action words are frequently used, but that the meanings or senses of the word depend on its contextual use, just as the relationship of an action to an emotion is also contextually dependent.

Authors 13

1. Justin H. G. Williams corresponding

   University of Aberdeen

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Justin.williams@abdn.ac.uk

   University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, United Kingdom

2. Charlotte F. Huggins

   University of Aberdeen

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, United Kingdom

3. Barbra Zupan

   Central Queensland University

   Affiliation as printed

   Central Queensland University, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, QLD 4702, Australia

4. Megan L. Willis

   ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders · Australian Catholic University

   Affiliation as printed

   Australian Catholic University, School of Psychology, ARC Centre for Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia

5. Tamsyn E. Van Rheenen

   The University of Melbourne

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Melbourne, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, 161 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia

6. Wataru Sato

   Kyoto University

   Affiliation as printed

   Kyoto University, Kokoro Research Centre, 46 Yoshidashimoadachicho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

7. Romina Palermo

   The University of Western Australia

   Affiliation as printed

   University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia

8. Catherine N. M. Ortner

   Thompson Rivers University

   Affiliation as printed

   Thompson Rivers University, Department of Psychology, 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8, Canada

9. Martin Krippl

   Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Universitätsplatz 2, Magdeburg, 39106, Germany

10. Mariska Esther Kret Aachen

    Leiden University

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden University, Cognitive Psychology, Pieter de la Court, Waassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, 2333 AK, the Netherlands

11. Joanne M. Dickson

    Edith Cowan University

    Affiliation as printed

    Edith Cowan University, Psychology Department, School of Arts and Humanities, 270 Joondalup Dr, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia

12. Chiang-Shan Ray Li

    Yale University · Connecticut Mental Health Center

    Affiliation as printed

    Yale University, Connecticut Mental Health Centre, S112, 34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519-1109, USA

13. Leroy J. Lowe
    Affiliation as printed

    Neuroqualia, Room 229A, Forrester Hall, 36 Arthur Street, Truro, Nova Scotia, B2N 1X5, Canada