Predicting emotion

Tali Sharot, UCL, London

In:- Neuroscience of Preference and Choice – Eds:- Dolan, R. & Sharot, T.

The author examines the extent to which choices of behaviour emerge from the emotional system. It is stressed that this does not necessarily refer to immediate emotions but also to anticipated emotions. The process of how emotions are anticipated is therefore argued to be important for the process of choice. The faculty of imagination is seen as being adaptive in this respect. It allows different future scenarios to be viewed, and the emotions generated by these can be used to choose between different courses of action. [Read more] ...