Scholars have argued for centuries that affective states involve interoception, or representations of the state of the body. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of how signals from the body are transduced, transmitted, compressed, and integrated by the brains of humans to produce affective states. We suggest that to understand how the body contributes to affect, we first need to understand information flow through the nervous system’s interoceptive pathways. We outline such a model and discuss how unique anatomical and physiological aspects of interoceptive pathways may give rise to the qualities of affective experiences in general and valence and arousal in particular. We conclude by considering implications and future directions for research on interoception, affect, emotions, and human mental experiences.

中文翻译：

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内感受和情感的神经生物学

几个世纪以来，学者们一直认为情感状态涉及内感受，或身体状态的表征。然而，我们对人类大脑如何转换、传输、压缩和整合来自身体的信号以产生情感状态缺乏机械性的理解。我们建议，要了解身体如何影响影响，我们首先需要了解通过神经系统内感受通路的信息流。我们概述了这样一个模型，并讨论了内感受通路的独特的解剖学和生理学方面如何可能产生一般情感体验的质量，特别是效价和唤醒的质量。最后，我们考虑了内感受、情感、情绪和人类心理体验研究的影响和未来方向。