The Design of the Neuronal Correlate of Emotions (NCE)
A hedonic motivational system in the brain

Introduction

In 1884, William James, in an article titled What Is An Emotion, stated that the neuronal correlate of an emotion was an upset of the equilibrium state of the autonomic functions of the human body (James, 1884). The autonomic (involuntary) nervous system is viewed as the control system that operates the various “homeostatic” mechanisms of the major functional systems in the human body (Guyton, 1991). The neuronal correlates of emotions are therefore characterized by the various physiological upsets of the equilibrium of the cardiovascular system, the pulmonary system, the digestive system, the temperature control system, etc.
It is proposed that the neuronal correlate of an emotion differs from the NCC described by Rosen et al (Rosen, 2003a), only in that the NCC does not cause an upset of the equilibrium state of the human body, whereas the neuronal correlate of an emotion does.

The tactile and visual Consciousness Mechanisms (CM) described by Rosen et al (2003a, 2003b) have been shown to operate on the somatic motor system via Task Initiating Triggers (TT) operating on a Hierarchical Task Diagram (HTD). The HTD, the top level specification of a multi-tasking robotic system, operates as a motivational system for the robot. The priority levels of the TTs are designed into the HTD by the system designer and are totally independent of the autonomic nervous system. That is, some of the tactile and visual patterns recorded on the “self” nodal map module are identified and prioritized by the system designer as TTs, and the TSM operates as a search engine, searching for the highest priority TT during each frame period (Rosen et al, 2003c).

It is hypothesized that an autonomous motivational system, controlled by an autonomous Darwinian Hierarchical Task Diagram (DHTD), operates in the brain as the top-level specification of a biological control system. An autonomous biological Task Selector Module must a) identify and prioritize TT-recordings (observations) on the “self” nodal map module, associated with painful tactile observations or visual observation of environmental contingencies that endangers “self” survival. b) Those TTs must indeed upset the physiological equilibrium state of a homeostatic system. c) the degree of upset must be a measure of the priority level assigned to each TT. And d) the upset, detected by the “self” circuit, gives rise to an emotion that accompanies the TT-task listed in the DHTD. Therefore the Neuronal Correlate of Emotions is a circuit identical to the Neuronal Correlate of Consciousness, a NCC-RCS that records environmental observations on the “self” -circuit nodal map module. Those observations that are benign (do not upset homeostasis) give rise to the sensation of consciousness, whereas those that upset the homoeostasis of a functional systems, give rise to the sensation of emotion and TTs that initiate tasks on the DHTD.

Just as with the CM (Rosen et al, 2003a), in order to reverse engineer the Neuronal correlate of Emotions (NCE), and design a building path (Dennett, 1995) for a neuronal correlate of an emotional motivational system in the brain, it is important to understand the functional utility of the Emotional Mechanism (EM) and the NCE.
It is proposed that the functional utility of the EM is related to Darwin’s laws of natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Darwin’s laws give rise to a DHTD with survival at the peak of the hierarchy, and to a Darwinian search engine that searches for environmental contingencies by means of the CM. The functional utility of the EM is to form a subjective hedonic factor that motivates a motivational system in the brain to perform tasks listed on the DHTD. The Darwinian search engine detects the tasks, as TTs are associated with environmental contingencies. The environmental contingencies represent a threat to the survival of the “self” of the organism that is defined by the “self” circuit in the brain.

It is therefore assumed that the Emotional Mechanism is activated by environmental contingencies that are recorded on the “self” nodal map module; that these (environmental contingency) recordings generate a physical effect on the equilibrium state of the autonomic nervous system; that the physical effect then gives rise to a TT and a concurrent emotion (the Emotional Mechanism); and that the TT may then initiate a task that may be listed on a Darwinian Hierarchical Task diagram with survival at the peak of the hierarchy. Thus whereas observations of patterns on the self nodal map module, generate by means of the CM the subjective experience of sensing (feeling, seeing, hearing), observations that are identified as TTs. generate by means of the Emotional Mechanism, the subjective experience of an emotion (pain, fear, anger).
In the following sections a building path will be described for the design of the NCE and a hedonic motivational system in the brain. The functional utility of the Neuronal Correlate of Emotions will be based on Darwin’s laws of natural selection and the survival of the fittest.

The Basis for the Neuronal Correlate of Emotions

Darwin’s laws (Note 1) form the basis for determining the functional utility of the CM and the EM. Darwin uses the term “natural selection or the survival of the fittest” as the cellular correlate of Darwinian evolution (Darwin, 1859 Ch 4). He makes it very clear that these terms apply to behavior or actions (of plants and animals) in their lifetime, “in the great and complex battle of life”, and to structural genetic variations that “occur in the course of many successive generations.” The fundamental quotations from Darwin’s The Origin of Species are: “can we doubt that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and procreating their kind? This preservation of favorable individual differences and variations, and the destruction of those that are injurious, I have called Natural Selection or the Survival of the Fittest”. We paraphrase Darwin’s law by 2 theorems that are validated by Darwin’s publications (Darwin, 1859, 1871):

Theorem 1: Every living organism is genetically designed by nature to survive in its environmental niche.
Theorem 2: Every living creature is genetically designed with drives to perform those actions that enhance its survival and the survival of its specie. (Note 2, and 3)

The sensory NCC and the design of a volitional, obstacle avoiding multi-tasking robot (Rosen et al, 2003a,b, c) was constrained by the first theorem. The design of the Neuronal Correlate of Emotion, the development of an DHTD, a Darwinian search engine, and the development of an hedonic motivational system in the brain, a was constrained by both theorems.

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