The cross-mammalian neurophenomenology of primal emotional affects: From animal feelings to human therapeutics.

Understanding the neural basis of emotional feelings in animals, rather than just their behavior, may accelerate development of new psychiatric treatments. By studying rewarding and punishing effects of deep brain stimulation in subcortical emotional networks—including systems labeled SEEKING, RAGE, FEAR, LUST, CARE, PANIC, and PLAY—researchers have identified distinct emotion action patterns. This preclinical affective neuroscience approach has led to three potential antidepressant strategies: deep brain stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle in humans, reducing psychological pain from excessive PANIC arousal, and enhancing social joy through studies of social play in rats. The argument is that taking animal emotional feelings seriously as treatment targets could improve psychiatric intervention development.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The neural correlates of human emotions are easy to harvest. In contrast, the neural constitution of emotional feelings in humans has resisted systematic scientific analysis. This review summarizes how preclinical affective neuroscience initiatives are making progress in decoding the neural nature of such feelings in animal brains. This has been achieved by studying the rewarding and punishing effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of subcortical emotional networks (labeled SEEING, RAGE, FEAR, LUST, CARE, PANIC, and PLAY systems) that evoke distinct emotion action patterns, as well as rewarding and punishing effects in animals. The implications of this knowledge for development of new psychiatric interventions, especially depression, are discussed. Three new antidepressive therapeutics arising from this work are briefly noted: 1) DBS of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) in humans, 2) reduction of psychological pain that may arise from excessive PANIC arousal, and 3) facilitation of social joy through the study of social play in rats The overall argument is that we may more readily develop new psychiatric interventions through preclinical models if we take animal emotional feelings seriously, as opposed to just behavioral changes, as targets for development of new treatments.