SM = Emotions?
Somatic Markers = my emotions ?
Somatic markers are not primary emotions, but secondary emotions that are filtered through your beliefs, judgments, fears, and opinions. These markers connect to a possible future outcome, based on memories of past experiences.
Thus they influence thoughts, sensations, and behavior in a covert manner. A negative somatic marker projected onto a possible future outcome, functions as an alarm bell. A more positive marker will function as an incentive.
This elaborate system of neural circuits is programmed to function as \’pain avoider\’ and \’pleasure seeker\’. It is based on data from your working memory and the attention you paid to the sensations these circuits sent to your body, such as an itch or pain signal.
The brain can thus be viewed as a center which collects and collates feedback on bodily states, and instructs nerve cell circuits to fire when balance needs to be restored.
This clarifies the role and nature of emotions, and allows them to be studied with standard brain scanning devices.
