In the chapter entitled "Once more, with feelings" Ledoux wraps up his arguments and leaves us with some interesting food for thought.
When he discusses amygdala triggered arousal he brings up dream sleep. He notes that "during sleep the cortex is in the unaroused state"(1996, 285). This makes seems rather intuitive but perhaps this is because "the brain does it so effortlessly" (1996, 284). But this also seems apparent if we consider the experiences of having very frightening nightmares or very pleasant dreams. In each case the arousal causes our body to react to these emotions we face during dream sleep. I wonder if it is the intensity of the emotional content of a dream or a nightmare that can sometimes wake us out of deep sleep and feel quite unsettled, whether that be a pleasurable or distressing kind of arousal.
Another interesting assertion Ledoux makes is that "Arousal helps lock you into the emotional state you are in" (1996, 289). He explains that "this can be very useful (you don't want to get distracted when you are in danger) but can also be an annoyance (once the fear system is turned on, it's hard to turn it off-- this is the nature of anxiety" (1996, 289) This is another point that might seem obvious but I wonder if this state is something that causes us to procrastinate and allows us to continue to do so. I suppose I can only speak of my own conscious experiences and perhaps some of you can relate, but really I could just be imagining it all as a result of "the problem of other minds" (1996, 300). I'm glad Ledoux brings this up because it's another great point to ponder.
We can also talk about Ledoux's exploration of the question regarding animal consciousness. (1996, 300). This is a very important issue in relation to experimentation on animal subjects and whether or not they 'suffer' as a result of some kinds of experimentation.
The last thing I would like to discuss is the following statement Ledoux makes: "...feelings will be different in a brain that can classify the world linguistically and categorize experiences in words than in a brain than cannot" (1996, 302). I'm not sure I agree with this statement;will fear in a chimp be different than fear in a human just because I can say "I'm scared" but the chimp can't? What do you guys think?
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Yes, Amina, I've also been questioning LeDoux's idea that language classifies experience and therefore allows different feelings. It brings us back to Michael Lewis' idea that cognitive development enables certain emotions. Rather than chimps I've been thinking about a 4 year old student I have with language processing delays. I watch him fail to negotiate complicated social interactions and wonder if he really has a grasp of what he is feeling. To what extent is he able to understand and regulate his emotions and social relations although he cannot organize those experiences through language?
Even after all our discussion on the topic, this question of language and emotion is still troubling me as well. I wonder if language plays a not insignificant role in “attentional control” and especially “cognitive change.” If language does anything it externalizes—both physically and temporally—felt experience, at least on the phenomenological level. In this sense it represents a kind of distancing mechanism whereby the subject can perchance manipulate said experience. Taken further, the feeling becomes a part of social intercourse, either through discussion or inherently through language. Then again I have no idea.
It's kind of like when we were talking about how certain words are a magnet for certain emotions. For example, several of us commented in class on how we found ourselves gravitating toward feeling Amae in recent situations because it defined a feeling that we don't have in our language. It seemed that by learning that new word, we found it easier to feel that emotion. So were we really feeling that way? Or just simplifying many feelings into one lump emotion that we could define? And this brings up the question again of whether language is helpful or limiting in the emotional world.
Amina brings up an interesting point about procrastination that I hadn't considered. I found myself having a hard time focusing while doing this week's reading (which may have been due to this crazy time of year or the fact that I tried to get work done on the lawn and we all know that never works), and after reading the LeDoux chapter I had many questions. I was wondering if my cortex was super unaroused because I was drowsy and couldn't focus on anything, or if my cortex was aroused but my focus and attention was being directed at the wrong things, like everything going on around me besides my reading. No, but really, I also was wondering what the differences are in arousal between an emotion like happiness and an emotion like fear. LeDoux says that not being to "turn off" fear can lead to anxiety, so what about not being able to "turn off" happiness? Is it equally as distracting?
I think the question of language and whether or not it justifies or even changes emotional response is one that perhaps is never resolved. What is the extent to which affirmation and categorization of emotion affect the way emotion is perceived? Language serves to define and make sense of emotion for individual awareness and also for cultural unity, but how much does that definition change or determine our understanding of it? Fear is clearly one example of an emotionally learned, conditioned response that is not always brought into awareness or consciousness. Animals possess the capacity for fear, but this does not mean their capacity is any less valid or different than ours because we are able to classify it linguistically. If anything, language enhances awareness but has the potential to limit our conception of emotion.
When LeDoux says not being able to turn off fear can lead to anxiety I think he is referring to the fact that we need to be in it (in fear), because if fear could just be turned off than the moment would lose it's significance and we might not take the moment as seriously then we need to, causing more harm than good. I think Amina’s comment about anxiety and procrastination is key, but can’t anxiety and procrastination just be solved by doing what it is that needs to be done? (I shouldn’t be talking, but it does help to just sit down and do work!)
Kaila, I think it’s interesting that you bring up happiness, because that ties into consciousness and whether or not we are in control of our emotions, and even the type of language we use to communicate. It trips me up when someone says, ‘you’re so happy!’ or ‘why are you so happy?’ I become self-conscious, aren’t I always happy? Maybe this has to do with what Dolan says about humans having a lack of emotional equilibrium. Nothing is balanced so is it better to go on emotional binges? Bouts of happiness followed by bouts of sadness, and yet when those emotions follow one another in close proximity –ups and downs- people are known to be schizophrenic.
When you ask if language is efficient in the emotional world, it is helpful, but abusing language or meaning is worse than not speaking at all. When we had defined Amae in class before, I was able to think about it in the sense that it’s based on situation, based on a series of emotions. But then isn’t everything? Can happiness be called happiness if it didn’t happen after being sad? What is the in between emotion called? Maybe I'm just confused.
I think that having linguistic ability summed up in being able or unable to say "I feel scared" is missing something essential. What seems essential to the cognitive feeling of emotions is not forming words represented by either phones or characters, but something more general. From what I understand, chimps, if not capable of "language" are certainly capable of communication and seem to have the capacity for symbol and abstraction that make up the essence of feeling emotions. That said, it certainly does seem that the experience of emotion with rumination and reflection is different from the experience of emotion without them.
if you feel, you can talk, song and something more. I think it s all about feelings like football match besiktas against galatasaray :) thanks to everyone for useful advises.
Sami
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