Integration
of Physiological and Information Processing Perspectives
Emotion results from computation in distinct neuroanatomical
structures which constitute a separate information processing system acting
in parallel with cognition.
LeDoux's
theory (1989) represents a synthesis of different perspectives (physiological
and cognitive appraisal) by expanding the theory of Cannon
and Papez
that the hypothalamus computes the significance of a stimulus and signals
this to both the body, thus causing a particular state of arousal, and
the cortex, thus invoking higher-level cognitive processing. The question
whether cognition or affect are primary and which precedes the other becomes
less meaningful when we consider the tightly-coupled, interacting, distinct
systems that appear to mediate information processing. The arguments supporting
the two extremes, that is the primacy of cognition over affect vs. primacy
of affect over cognition, become less meaningful when we consider the larger
picture and the fact that some processing of information must take place
before an affective reaction can result. In fact, such a convergence seems
apparent upon careful reading of the arguments by the most prominent proponents
of each view, Lazarus and Zajonc, arguing for the primacy and precedence
of cognition over affect (Lazarus, 1984), and vice versa (Zajonc, 1982;
1984).
Please
send us your comments. 
...Navigate
The Emotion Site