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Cognition as the tip of the emotional iceberg: A neuro-evolutionary perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Peter A. Bos ,
Eddie Brummelman  and
David Terburg
Peter A. Bos
Affiliation:
Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. p.a.bos@uu.nld.terburg@uu.nlhttp://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/PABoshttp://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/Dterburg Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, J-Block, Cape Town, South Africa.
Eddie Brummelman
Affiliation:
Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands. e.brummelman@uva.nlhttp://www.uva.nl/over-de-uva/organisatie/medewerkers/content/b/r/e.brummelman/e.brummelman.html
David Terburg
Affiliation:
Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, 3584 CS Utrecht, The Netherlands. p.a.bos@uu.nld.terburg@uu.nlhttp://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/PABoshttp://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/Dterburg Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Observatory, J-Block, Cape Town, South Africa.
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Abstract

We emphasize the importance of a neuroevolutionary perspective in moving beyond the cognition-emotion dichotomy. Cognitive behavior depends on cortical structures firmly rooted in the emotional brain from which they have evolved. As such, there cannot be cognition without emotion. Endocrine regulation of amygdala connectivity, a neural “switch” between impulsivity and deliberation, further underscores the phylogenetic impossibility of a cognition-emotion dichotomy.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e72
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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