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.
Referenced emotions
- Anger
- Empathy
- Fear (Personified in The Clown)
- Hate (Personified in Armus)
- Honor
- Humor
- Jealousy
- Joy
- Love
Species that suppress emotion
- Borg (The Queen is an exception)
- Vulcan (The V'tosh ka'tur are an exception)
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, Part I"). There are even Vulcans who choose not to follow the path of logic like Sybok. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)
Beings that feed on emotion
- As these are all non-corporeal beings, it is conceivable that they are in some other way related.
Artificial emotions
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") Although he was able to switch his emotions off he chose to remove the emotion chip in 2375. (Star Trek: Insurrection)
- See also: Subroutines
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.
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)
Vulcan emotional suppression
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")
Background
Researchers presently 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.