200 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”example, the amygdala, which usually is related to fear, is activated in
some pleasurable instances, and the nucleus accumbens does not always
act as a pleasure center either.^44
9.11 When Emotion Goes Awry
Emotion loses its adaptive value if it goes to the extremes. At one end
is the psychiatric condition called mania in which a person finds himself
fully charged with unfocused energy. He may go several days without
sleep and is compelled to do things aimlessly. He can be in sustained
elation and may squander thousands of dollars in a spree, or take risks
that he will later regret. At the other end is the severely depressed per-
son who feels totally dejected and sees the world closing in on him. He
may have either insomnia or excessive sleepiness or an alternation of
both. He may refuse to take food and may indulge in drugs. Suicide is a
common outcome. A third type of patient may display no emotion at all,
as in schizophrenia. For him the outside world is totally uninteresting —
neither desirable nor despicable. He displays a flat affect and everything
is distant and cool. The genetic and biochemical derangements in these
conditions are beyond the scope of this chapter.
In the rare affective disorder called Capgras syndrome, the patients
recognize their family members, but are unable to attach any feeling to
them. They know who their relatives are, but treat them as strangers
in emotional terms. One patient even thought that her husband was an
imposter, another person wearing the same facial features. The condi-
tion can be hereditary, but can also be seen following brain damage in
the border between the temporal and parietal lobes.
9.12 Art as Extracorporeal Expression of Emotion
I have discussed emotional expression in terms of sympathetic discharge
and its bodily manifestations. While this is true with all animals, humans
in addition can express their emotion through objects that, if properly
perceived, are capable of evoking similar feelings in others. I am talking