Amina Sariahmed

2-11-08

It is difficult to argue that there is one unified system of processing emotion in the brain and Ledoux asserts that such a system is unlikely to exist (1996, 106). However, I am inclined to disagree. Examining different emotions separately may be a good place to begin exploring the mechanisms that control such phenomena but I do believe that once individual emotions (if we can even define a singular emotion) are thoroughly understood I would hypothesize that we would find much in common between them. But this approach can be problematic because it is difficult to isolate one emotion from another. Emotional experiences are not discrete and singular occurrences that exist independently from one another. If we consider the spectrum of emotions, many emotions are interconnected and overlapping, so it seems impossible that fear for example can occur by means of a process entirely separate from that which may bring about happiness or anger. How can scientists effectively monitor various emotions when there is a lack of consensus on how to define them?