CHAPTER LXIII 



Emotional behavior 



JOSEPH V. BRADY 



Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C., and 

 I 'niversity of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 



CHAPTER CONTENTS 



Some Psychological Considerations 

 Some Historical and Methodological Considerations 

 Neurophysiological Developments and Brain-Behavior 

 Relationships 



Midbrain Reticular Inlluences 



Diencephalic Participation 



The Limbic System 



Neocortical Function 

 Some Recent Developments 



the subject matter which provides the title for the 

 present chapter has long occupied the attention of 

 biological scientists concerned with the general 

 problems of behavior and the related events of an 

 organism's physiology. Our understanding of the 

 relationships between organismic-environmental inter- 

 actions referred to as 'emotional' and the 'structure- 

 function' properties of the nervous system, in particu- 

 lar, has evolved slowly and somewhat haltingly, 

 however, amidst a host of psychological and phys- 

 iological complexities. Introspective emphasis upon 

 the phenomenological or "feeling' aspect of the 'emo- 

 tion' problem has occupied a prominent place in the 

 development of many highly speculative theories. 

 Such basic scientific descriptions of this subject 

 matter as we do have at present and are likely to 

 attain in the future, however, would seem to depend 

 upon the experimental analysis of expressive or 

 behavioral phenomena, objectively and operationally 

 defined. Similarly, although the measurement of more 

 peripheral bodily changes related to such affective 

 processes has been extensively described, the direct 

 analysis of neurological mechanisms associated with 



emotional behavior has only recently begun to take 

 firm anatomical and physiological form. 



In approaching the general topic of emotional 

 behavior within the framework of this Handbook, 

 emphasis will most appropriately focus upon related 

 neurophysiological events Some brief consideration 

 will first be given to the psychological or behavioral 

 aspects of the problem, however, as they relate 

 specifically to the defining properties of the or- 

 ganism's interaction with the environment and the 

 participating events of the nervous system. Against 

 this background, we can then proceed to consider 

 some of the methodological approaches which have 

 characterized the half century or more of biological 

 research in this problem and the contributions made 

 toward the elucidation of central organization in 

 emotional behavior. With this perspective, more re- 

 cent developments in the anatomical, physiological 

 and behavioral analysis of affective processes can be 

 considered with a view to elaborating observed rela- 

 tionships and assessing the present status and future 

 outlook for this problem. Certainly, we shall not 

 hesitate to pause along this charted course to spend 

 some time with an interesting finding or a new 

 development, but the general direction and scope of 

 our coverage will adhere reasonably well to this 

 broad outline. 



SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 



In probably no other domain of psychological 

 science has so little empirical data provided the oc- 

 casion for so much theoretical speculation as in the 

 general area of the 'emotions.' For the most part, the 



i5*9 



