The circumplex model of affect: An integrative approach to affective neuroscience, cognitive development, and psychopathology

Abstract

The circumplex model of affect proposes that all affective states arise from cognitive interpretations of core neural sensations that are the product of two independent neurophysiological systems. This model stands in contrast to theories of basic emotions, which posit that a discrete and independent neural system subserves every emotion. We propose that basic emotion theories no longer explain adequately the vast number of empirical observations from studies in affective neuroscience, and we suggest that a conceptual shift is needed in the empirical approaches taken to the study of emotion and affective psychopathologies. The circumplex model of affect is more consistent with many recent findings from behavioral, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and developmental studies of affect. Moreover, the model offers new theoretical and empirical approaches to studying the development of affective disorders as well as the genetic and cognitive underpinnings of affective processing within the central nervous system.The reigning experimental paradigm in affective neuroscience research posits that emotions can be divided into discrete and independent categories and that specific neural structures and pathways subserve each of these emotional categories. This theory of basic emotions has yielded significant advances in the understanding of affect and yet, in the fields of clinical psychology and psychiatry, it has left unsettled many important questions. The theory of basic emotions, for example, has not explained the near ubiquitous comorbid illnesses among mood disorders, nor has it resolved confusion over the neurophysiological underpinnings of affective disorders. Moreover, basic emotion theory is largely incompatible with recent findings in behavioral genetics and temperament research. Given these empirical and heuristic limitations of the theory of basic emotions, we propose that a shift is needed in the conceptual approaches taken to the study of emotion. We propose that clinicians and researchers move away from a strictly basic emotion model of affective states, where each emotion is thought to emerge from independent neural systems, to more dimensional models of emotions, in which all affective states are understood to arise from common, overlapping neurophysiological systems.Although poorly represented in psychiatry, dimensional models have a long history in psychology (Larsen & Diener, 1992;Russell, 2003;Schlosberg, 1952;Watson, Wiese, Vaidya, & Tellegen, 1999). One particular dimensional approach, termed the circumplex model of affect, proposes that all affective states arise from two fundamental neurophysiological systems, one related to valence (a pleasure-displeasure continuum) and the other to arousal, (Russell, 1980). Each emotion can be understood as a linear combination of these two dimensions, or as varying degrees of both valence and arousal (see Figure 1). Joy, for example, is conceptualized as an emotional state that is the product of strong activation in the neural systems associated wi...

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