Mixed emotions in the predictive brain

Abstract

Understanding complex or mixed emotions first requires an exploration of the human nervous system underlying emotions, and indeed all experience. We review current research in neuroscience, which describes the brain as a predictive, internal model of the world that flexibly combines features from past experience to construct emotions. We argue that “mixed emotions” result when these features of past experience correspond to multiple emotion categories. Integrating event perception and cognitive linguistic theories, we propose that “mixed emotions” are perceived as an episode of distinct, linked emotional events due to attentional shifts which update the predicted model of experience. These proposed mechanisms have profound implications for the study of emotion; we conclude by suggesting methodological improvements for future research.

The Distancing-Embracing model of the enjoyment of negative emotions in art reception

“…Rather, the antithetical ingredients of mixed emotions may not be fully parallel and have consistent weight during the entire time course of an emotional episode, but may oscillate, or vacillate, in a partly nonsynchronous way (Carrera & Oceja 2007;Larsen & Green 2013;Larsen & McGraw 2011;Oceja & Carrera 2009). The various time scales at which we process actions, perceptions, and predictions may facilitate the experience of "multiple emotions 'at the same time'" (Hoemann et al 2017), particularly in art contexts that favor a systematic integration of all parts of an aesthetic and emotional trajectory into a well-composed whole. In any event, the discussion triggered by our model points to open questions regarding the very concept of mixed emotions.…”

Constructing Experience: Event Models from Perception to Action

“…Barrett and colleagues have proposed a theory of emotional experience that sees affect as a component of a predictive internal model that has much in common with working models as described here [64, 65]. A key feature of this account is the role of interoception—registering of one’s internal states—in constructing this internal model.…”

Emotional distress, brain functioning, and biobehavioral processes in cancer patients: a neuroimaging review and future directions

“…65 These brain regions are proposed to constitute the functional and anatomical substrates of an allostaticinteroceptive system, that is, a system that continually anticipates the body's energy levels and demands, and prepares to meet those needs before they arise. 77 Considering the brain as a predictive internal model of the world, in which mental events are generated as predictions, not reactions, 92 the cortical regions that are the substrates of the allostatic-interoceptive system make visceromotor predictions through their connections to the Hy, the periaqueductal gray (PAG), and other brainstem nuclei (eg, PBN, Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (NTS)), which control the body's internal milieu to regulate the autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune systems. 65 Thus, this allostasis model assigns a central role to the brain, considered an organ for predictive regulation.…”

“…Considering the brain as a predictive internal model of the world, in which mental events are generated as predictions, not reactions, 92 the cortical regions that are the substrates of the allostatic-interoceptive system make visceromotor predictions through their connections to the Hy, the periaqueductal gray (PAG), and other brainstem nuclei (eg, PBN, Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (NTS)), which control the body’s internal milieu to regulate the autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune systems 65 …”