Emotion

Emotions are autonomic impulses that induce either negative or positive mental states. Most sentient species have emotions. According to Vulcan philosophy, emotions cannot be explained by logic.

Species in the Star Trek universe tend to display at least basic emotions.

The most commonly expressed or explored emotions include:

• Anger
• Anxiety
• Empathy
• Fear (Personified in The Clown)
• Hate (Personified in Armus)
• Honor
• Humor
• Jealousy
• Joy
• Love

Neurobiology

The neurobiological explanation of humanoid emotion is that it is a pleasant or unpleasant mental state organized in the limbic system of the sentient brain. Emotions are sentient elaborations of arousal patterns, in which neurochemicals step-up or step-down the humanoid brain's activity level. ^{(citation needed • edit)}

Primary (i.e., innate) emotions, such as fear, depend on limbic system circuitry, with the amygdala and anterior cingulate gyrus being key players. Secondary emotions (i.e., feelings attached to objects, events, and situations through learning) require additional input from the prefrontal and somatosensory cortices. ^{(citation needed • edit)}

Emotional expression

Two species that are well known for suppressing their emotions are the Borg, with an exception of the Queen, and the Vulcans, with exception of the V'tosh ka'tur.

Despite their suppression of emotions Vulcans still have them. Sarek suffered from Bendii Syndrome, an illness which makes Vulcans lose their emotional control. (TNG: "Sarek") Tuvok even laughed when his identity was erased to make him a laborer on the Quarren homeworld. (VOY: "Workforce") There are even Vulcans who choose not to follow the path of logic like the V'tosh ka'tur and Sybok. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) In addition, surprise, combined with strong emotion, made Spock (who was half-Human as well as half-Vulcan) lose control for a brief moment. (TOS: "Amok Time")

Since Vulcans have the capability to exert a level of conscious control over virtually all of their body functions, they can actually manipulate the neural pathways that regulate and receive the balances of neurochemicals involved in emotion. This enables them to inhibit their brain from forming the neural impulses that create conscious emotional mental states, thereby actually suppressing their innate emotions. The psycho-suppression system in the Vulcan brain that endows Vulcans with this ability is located in the mesiofrontal cortex. (VOY: "Meld") The Vulcan ritual, known as the kolinahr, is designed to purge all remaining emotions in a Vulcan. (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

Contrarily, Odo has observed that the Bajorans are even less successful than most humanoids in hiding their emotions. (DS9: "Crossfire")

Often, robots like the Pralor Automated Personnel Unit or other advanced artificial lifeforms like Androids or Exocomps can exhibit self awareness but don't have emotions. An exception is Data, who obtained an emotion chip from his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong which allowed him to experience Human emotions. (TNG: "Brothers") After receiving the chip, in 2371, he was initially unprepared for the unpredictable nature of emotions. However, that after having experienced 261 distinct emotional states, he felt he had learned how to control his feelings. (Star Trek: Generations) Although he was able to switch his emotions off he chose to remove the emotion chip in 2375. (Star Trek: Insurrection)

See also: Subroutines

Beings that feed on emotion

• Beta XII-A entity (Hate, Anger)
• Drella (Love)
• Onaya (Creativity)
• Redjac (Fear)

As these are all non-corporeal beings, it is conceivable that they are in some other way related.

Background

Researchers currently believe that emotions are the first form of intelligence. The associations between emotions and events enabled early man to repeat rewarding events and avoid baneful ones. Modern theory holds that emotions are vitally important in making decisions for similar reasons.

External Links

• Emotion at Wikipedia