ABSTRACT
Up until now, we have discussed the AEF complex in primarily psychological terms, with respect to the way the mind (Oatley and Johnson-Laird) and the brain (Schumann, Frijda, Ross, etc.) reflect the activities we associate with that complex. In the interests of brevity, we have skirted one of the central tenets of theory surrounding AEF, the notion that the body is the vehicle of human emotions. That idea has been central to most AEF theories at least since James and Lange, based on the recognition that affect, emotions, and feelings are all sensed in the body, whether in increased heart and respiratory rate, dilation of the pupils, muscle tension, action readiness tendencies, etc. But, particularly in the wake of the Cognitive Revolution, these phenomena are often seen as peripheral when researchers try to get at the psychological heart of the AEF complex. Although James insisted that “emotions” were merely our awareness of such bodily sensations, his aim was clearly to explain the psychological phenomenon they produced. Subsequent theories tend to put the psychological factors back in the initial position in the sequence of events, and thus they continue the tendency to foreground those psychological factors—what we can’t see or feel—and background the body—what we can see or feel. This foregrounding tendency has been natural and appropriate. However, one must not lose sight of the vehicle through which an experience takes place, for it does much to shape that experience, and this is especially so with respect to the AEF complex.
