Anticipating sensitizes the body

Anton Lethin

pp. 279-300

in: Phenomenology and the cognitive sciences 7 (2), 2008.

Abstract

With emotional motivation the organism prepares the body to obtain a goal. There is an anticipatory sensitization of the sensory systems in the body and the brain. Presynaptic facilitation of the sensory afference in the spinal cord is probably involved. In a second stage the higher centers develop an action image/plan to realize the goal, modifying the initial preparations in the body. The subject experiences the changes in the body as a feeling. Three empirical studies supporting this description are summarized. This description of how feelings develop from emotion circuits is discussed from a phenomenological viewpoint.