scholarly journals Simulating emotions: An active inference model of emotional state inference and emotion concept learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Smith ◽  
Thomas Parr ◽  
Karl J. Friston
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Environmental Stability ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
State Inference ◽  
Emotion Concepts

AbstractThe ability to conceptualize and understand one’s own affective states and responses – or “emotional awareness” (EA) – is reduced in multiple psychiatric populations; it is also positively correlated with a range of adaptive cognitive and emotional traits. While a growing body of work has investigated the neurocognitive basis of EA, the neurocomputational processes underlying this ability have received limited attention. Here, we present a formal Active Inference (AI) model of emotion conceptualization that can simulate the neurocomputational (Bayesian) processes associated with learning about emotion concepts and inferring the emotions one is feeling in a given moment. We validate the model and inherent constructs by showing (i) it can successfully acquire a repertoire of emotion concepts in its “childhood”, as well as (ii) acquire new emotion concepts in synthetic “adulthood,” and (iii) that these learning processes depend on early experiences, environmental stability, and habitual patterns of selective attention. These results offer a proof of principle that cognitive-emotional processes can be modeled formally, and highlight the potential for both theoretical and empirical extensions of this line of research on emotion and emotional disorders.

scholarly journals Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying emotional awareness: insights afforded by deep active inference and their potential clinical relevance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Smith ◽  
Richard D. Lane ◽  
Thomas Parr ◽  
Karl J. Friston
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Inference Model ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Individual Variations ◽  
Reflective Capacity ◽  
Computational Processes ◽  
Capacity Characteristic

AbstractEmotional awareness (EA) is recognized as clinically relevant to the vulnerability to, and maintenance of, psychiatric disorders. However, the neurocomputational processes that underwrite individual variations remain unclear. In this paper, we describe a deep (active) inference model that reproduces the cognitive-emotional processes and self-report behaviors associated with EA. We then present simulations to illustrate (seven) distinct mechanisms that (either alone or in combination) can produce phenomena – such as somatic misattribution, coarse-grained emotion conceptualization, and constrained reflective capacity – characteristic of low EA. Our simulations suggest that the clinical phenotype of impoverished EA can be reproduced by dissociable computational processes. The possibility that different processes are at work in different individuals suggests that they may benefit from distinct clinical interventions. As active inference makes particular predictions about the underlying neurobiology of such aberrant inference, we also discuss how this type of modelling could be used to design neuroimaging tasks to test predictions and identify which processes operate in different individuals – and provide a principled basis for personalized precision medicine.

Basic Principles Underlying Treatment and Outline of the Treatment Procedures

2017 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
David H. Barlow ◽  
Todd J. Farchione ◽  
Shannon Sauer-Zavala ◽  
Heather Murray Latin ◽  
Kristen K. Ellard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Transdiagnostic Treatment ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Unified Protocol ◽  
Core Skills ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Treatment Procedures ◽  
Action Tendencies

Chapter 2 of Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders: Therapist Guide notes that the Unified Protocol (UP) is based on traditional cognitive-behavioral principles, but the particular emphasis on the way individuals experience and respond to their emotions is unique in that it brings emotional processes to the forefront, making them available to fundamental psychological mechanisms of change. Core skills of the UP are introduced. These include mindful emotion awareness, which involves the practice of nonjudgmental, present-focused attention toward emotional experiences; challenging automatic thoughts related to external threats and internal threats and increasing cognitive flexibility; identifying and modifying problematic action tendencies, or emotional behaviors; increasing awareness and tolerance of physical sensations through interoceptive exposures; and engagement in emotion exercises. The chapter concludes with a description of the treatment modules.

E Skill: Experience My Emotions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Ehrenreich-May ◽  
Sarah M. Kennedy ◽  
Jamie A. Sherman ◽  
Emily L. Bilek ◽  
David H. Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Transdiagnostic Treatment ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Five Senses

Chapter 8 of the Unified Protocols for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children: Workbook (UP-C) focuses on emotional awareness by teaching a new Emotion Detective skill to experience feelings while learning three present-moment awareness steps— learning to pay attention to what is going on in the present moment without thinking about the past or the future, experiencing feelings without avoiding them or doing something to make them go away, and beginning to approach or face things or situations the child has been avoiding in the past because they make the child feel scared, sad, angry, or worried. Child clients practice these present-moment awareness steps using their five senses, and they also learn about and practice non-judgmental awareness.

The construction of emotional experience requires the integration of implicit and explicit emotional processes

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 159-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Quirin ◽  
Richard D. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Implicit And Explicit

AbstractAlthough we agree that a constructivist approach to emotional experience makes sense, we propose that implicit (visceromotor and somatomotor) emotional processes are dissociable from explicit (attention and reflection) emotional processes, and that the conscious experience of emotion requires an integration of the two. Assessments of implicit emotion and emotional awareness can be helpful in the neuroscientific investigation of emotion.

Emotions in a Body Plethysmograph

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 170-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas von Leupoldt ◽  
Bernhard Dahme
Keyword(s):  
Mood Induction ◽  
Airway Resistance ◽  
Substantial Effect ◽  
Laboratory Method ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Thoracic Gas Volume ◽  
Airway Obstructions ◽  
Body Plethysmograph

Abstract: The role of strong emotions in eliciting asthmatic exacerbations has been discussed in psychosomatic theory for decades. This relationship has mostly been studied in asthmatic individuals, while healthy control groups have received limited attention. Measuring procedures have partially been held responsible for conflicting results. We tested a new laboratory method on 20 healthy volunteers to examine the influence of emotions on airway obstructions. Short affective states were induced by presenting a negative (sadness), a positive (amusement), and a neutral movie clip lasting about 2 min with participants being seated in the glass box of a whole body plethysmograph - the gold standard for measuring airway resistance (Raw). Raw, specific airway resistance (sRaw), and thoracic gas volume (TGV) were measured in a baseline condition and immediately after each video presentation; in addition, sRaw was measured before and during each clip presentation. Based on subjects' ratings, the relevant affective states were successfully induced, while no specific state was provoked by the neutral movie. Airway obstructions, expressed as increases of sRaw, were observed during both the negative and positive clip but also in the neutral condition. No substantial effect of mood induction on Raw and TGV was obtained. The findings show a nonspecific effect of watching affective film clips on airway obstruction as measured by whole body plethysmography. Recommendations for a modified experimental protocol are given for future studies using this technique as a promising method.

scholarly journals Affective preclinical modeling of psychiatric disorders: taking imbalanced primal emotional feelings of animals seriously in our search for novel antidepressants

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-379 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Emotional Disorders ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Direct Stimulation ◽  
Animal Modeling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Preclinical Animal Models

Preclinical animal models of psychiatric disorders are of critical importance for advances in development of new psychiatric medicine. Regrettably, behavior-only models have yielded no novel targeted treatments during the past half-century of vigorous deployment. This may reflect the general neglect of experiential aspects of animal emotions, since affective mental states of animals supposedly cannot be empirically monitored. This supposition is wrong—to the extent that the rewarding and punishing aspects of emotion circuit arousals reflect positive and negative affective states. During the past decade, the use of such affective neuroscience-based animal modeling has yielded three novel antidepressants (i) via the alleviation of psychic pain with low doses of buprenorphine; (ii) via the amplification of enthusiasm by direct stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle); and (iii) via the facilitation of the capacity for social joy with play facilitators such as rapastinel (GLYX13). All have progressed to successful human testing. For optimal progress, it may be useful for preclinical investigators to focus on the evolved affective foundations of psychiatrically relevant brain emotional disorders for optimal animal modeling.

scholarly journals Affective States Influence Sport Performance in Swimming

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Samełko ◽  
Monika Guszkowska ◽  
Anna Gala-Kwiatkowska
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Substantial Effect ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Sports Activity

Abstract Introduction. Sports activity involves experiencing affective states, which have a substantial effect on actions taken by the athlete. The results of previous studies on the relationship between emotional states and sport performance outcomes are ambiguous. The aim of the study was to establish the relationships between affective states (both emotional states and moods) and performance in swimming. Material and methods. The study examined 9 female swimmers and 22 male swimmers competing at the national level aged from 15 to 23 years (M = 18.1; SD = 2.397). Affective states were evaluated by means of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) completed once a day before the competition and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) completed before each race. The subject’s life record was divided by the time obtained in each race and expressed as a percentage. Results. Immediately before the races where the best results were obtained, the swimmers experienced the strongest positive emotions and the lowest level of negative emotions. The lowest level of positive states was recorded before the races with the worst performance. The lower the level of negative moods (fatigue, depression, anger, and tension) and the higher the level of positive moods (vigour and kindness) were, the better the results obtained by swimmers were. One exception was confusion, which unexpectedly correlated positively with the swimmers’ results. Preliminary analyses showed no indication of statistically significant differences between the women and men surveyed. Conclusions. The results of the study suggest that affective states influence performance outcomes in swimming. This influence may vary according to the valence and content as well as duration of affective states (emotional states vs. mood). On the basis of the results obtained, guidelines for coaches and their athletes can be formulated. A properly prepared trainer can choose training tasks in such a way as to optimise the intensity and content of the emotions experienced by athletes. Emotions seem to be important not only with regard to athletes’ well-being, but also as indirect and direct predictors of the results they achieve. Expression of emotion and emotional awareness in persons connected with sport should be included in training work.

Emotional awareness and other emotional processes: implications for the assessment and treatment of chronic pain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A Lumley ◽  
Shoshana Krohner ◽  
Liyah M Marshall ◽  
Torran C Kitts ◽  
Howard Schubiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Emotional Awareness ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Emotional Process ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Pain Care

Emotional awareness (EA) is a key emotional process that is related to the presence and severity of chronic pain (CP). In this report, we describe primary and secondary emotions, discuss the distinction between emotional states and emotional regulation/processing, and summarize theory and research highlighting the significance of EA for CP. We describe ways to assess EA and diagnose centrally-mediated CP, for which emotional processes appear most relevant. We review several psychological interventions designed to enhance EA as well as several broader emotional processing treatments developed to address trauma and psychosocial conflicts underlying many patients’ pain. We conclude by offering our perspective on how future integration of emotional processing into pain care could promote recovery from CP.

The Influence of Justice Perceptions and Affective States on Project Managers’ Responses to Client Opportunism

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-293
Author(s):  
Smita Chaudhry ◽  
Bharatendu Nath Srivastava ◽  
Chetan Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
Information Technology Industry ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Interpersonal Justice ◽  
Technology Industry ◽  
Justice Perceptions ◽  
Negative Affective States

The contribution of psychological factors in project relationships has received limited attention. Taking the standpoint of vendor project managers, we examine their justice perceptions, affect, and consequent behavior in response to client opportunism. Data collected from 182 respondents from the information technology industry reveal that vendor project managers perceive reduced distributive and interpersonal justice, and experience lower positive and higher negative affective states, resulting in more venting and disengagement and less constructive discussion and passive acceptance. Findings suggest that psychological factors can bring about detrimental behavior in client–vendor relationships. This has long-term implications for project relationships where client opportunism occurs.

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