A sensorimotor control framework for understanding emotional communication and regulation

Justin H G Williams; Charlotte F Huggins; Barbra Zupan; Megan Willis; Tamsyn E Van Rheenen; Wataru Sato; Romina Palermo; Catherine Ortner; Martin Krippl; Mariska Kret; Joanne M Dickson; Chiang-Shan R Li; Leroy Lowe

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.014

A sensorimotor control framework for understanding emotional communication and regulation

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 May:112:503-518. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.014. Epub 2020 Feb 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Justin.williams@abdn.ac.uk.
² University of Aberdeen, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, AB25 2ZD, Scotland, United Kingdom.
³ Central Queensland University, School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Bruce Highway, Rockhampton, QLD 4702, Australia.
⁴ Australian Catholic University, School of Psychology, ARC Centre for Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia.
⁵ University of Melbourne, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, 161 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia.
⁶ Kyoto University, Kokoro Research Centre, 46 Yoshidashimoadachicho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan.
⁷ University of Western Australia, School of Psychological Science, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
⁸ Thompson Rivers University, Department of Psychology, 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8, Canada.
⁹ Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Psychology, Universitätsplatz 2, Magdeburg, 39106, Germany.
¹⁰ Leiden University, Cognitive Psychology, Pieter de la Court, Waassenaarseweg 52, Leiden, 2333 AK, the Netherlands.
¹¹ Edith Cowan University, Psychology Department, School of Arts and Humanities, 270 Joondalup Dr, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia.
¹² Yale University, Connecticut Mental Health Centre, S112, 34 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06519-1109, USA.
¹³ Neuroqualia, Room 229A, Forrester Hall, 36 Arthur Street, Truro, Nova Scotia, B2N 1X5, Canada.

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.

Keywords: Action; Cognitive appraisal; Embodied cognition; Emotion; Emotion regulation; Facial expression; Feeling; Linguistics; Mirror neurons; Planning; Sensorimotor; motor.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / physiology*
Communication*
Consciousness / physiology*
Emotional Regulation / physiology
Emotions / physiology*
Executive Function / physiology*
Goals*
Humans
Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
Thinking / physiology*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding