Emotions play a critical role for us not only on a daily basis, but with our ability to survive as a species. We use emotions to communicate, express, perceive needs and intentions of others and maintain our own internal stability.
The critical emotional centers of the brain include the amygdala that sits just anterior to the hippocampus and the more general limbic stystem. Our frontal lobe system or executive system helps to modulate our emotions and to initiate appropriate action regarding our internal emotional state.
Sometimes our more primitive brain which sits near the brain stem can fire emotions such as rage which need to be modulated or problems can arise. These type of emotions are more reflex, and implemented without thought or consideration for consequence. Fortunately, we have evolved to a point where our frontal lobes maintain control most of the time.
Emotions are varied and include happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety, frustration, euphoria and dysphoria, tension, melancholy, and extremes of some of these. Mood is defined by what a person says about how they feel and affect is what a persons face expresses. Most of the time the mood is consistent with the affect, but in some neurological conditions mood may actually be the opposite of affect, such as a person crying without feeling sad.
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