Fear-like response induced by intentional gap between neural and body-environment dynamics

Abstract

We consider how emotions emerge from interaction of brain and body of organism, and its surrounding environment. In particular, we describe design and implementation of a virtual "sea-anemone" in which the interplay of neural and body-environment dynamics leads to the emergence of locomotion, oscillations, and freezing - movement patterns that can be associated with particular emotional states. The neurons composing the neural architecture of our creature are modeled as Hindmarsh-Rose bursting neurons. Our results show that the coupling of neural and body-environment dynamics produces a persistent reflex-induced fear-like response following the collision with objects. In absence of sensory feedback, however, the creature locomotes and the fear-like state disappear. Based on our experimental results, we introduce a novel hypothesis to explain the emergence of primitive emotions. Fear is induced by a conflict between the neural "intention" to locomote and the body-environment-related tendency not to locomote. This study may shed light on the embodied basis of emotional behavior