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Abstract
Emotions are often assumed to manifest in subcortical limbic and brainstem structures.
While these areas are clearly important for representing affect (e.g., valence and
arousal), we propose that the default mode network (DMN) is additionally important
for constructing discrete emotional experiences (of anger, fear, disgust, etc.). Findings
from neuroimaging studies, invasive electrical stimulation studies, and lesion studies
support this proposal. Importantly, our framework builds on a constructionist theory
of emotion to explain how instances involving diverse physiological and behavioral
patterns can be conceptualized as belonging to the same emotion category. We argue
that this ability requires abstraction (from concrete features to broad mental categories),
which the DMN is well positioned to support, and we make novel predictions from our
proposed framework.