Emotions as Alterations

What really is an emotion?

 Dr. Antonio Damasio, author of Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, was the winner of the 2010 Honda Prize for most important international awards for scientific achievement. A renowned neuroscientist, he heads the USC Brain and Creativity Institute. Damasio has explained the difference like this. An emotion consists of a very well-orchestrated set of physical changes that arise in the brain and body, the general purpose of which is to make life more survivable by managing a danger or an opportunity or something in between. It is a process set in one’s genome and it’s going to be similar across even other species. You may smile and a dog may wag its tail, but in essence, each represents a program in the brain and body that is represent a similar process. Emotions are designed to get your attention and give you information, which gives you an opportunity to decide what, if any, behavior you choose to exhibit in response.