ABSTRACT
We know that emotions influence our perception, cognition, and behavior, but defining what emotion is exactly is not an easy task. Simply put, emotion is a state of physiological arousal, and it can also involve the cognition related to this state of arousal (Schachter and Singer 1962)—what we commonly call a “feeling.” For example, a rapid heart rate accompanied by muscle tension and sweaty palms is a physiological state (an “emotion”) that can be linked to the feeling of being scared when we are in presence of a predator. We often talk about our emotions by primarily focusing on conscious experiences: “I’m happy at the thought of reuniting with my significant other after a long trip,” or “I’m angry because the game we have just released has tons of bugs and our audience is complaining,” or “I’m sad when I’m thinking about all the populations displaced as war is raging in many parts of the world.” However, emotion is generated at a physiological level by different systems that have evolved for different purposes (see LeDoux 1996).
