Page 60 - Coespu Magazine 2018-2

are fitted to survive in hostile condition. To
Survive, to Evade, to Resist, to Escape is
important to be technically and physically
prepared, but even more important to be
psychological trained. For us is normal to go
to the gym and make our workout to increase
our muscular performance, but we have to
know that we can, or better, we must to train
our mental performance. So if I want to
prepare a specific circuit or session in a gym, I
have to know (a little bit) the biomechanics,
equally if I want to coach our mind we need
some information about our brain and mind
cognitive and emotional systems.
For this reason let me introduce a very
important theory about the emotional
functioning of our brain and mind.
The mammalian brain is clearly an organ
where evolutionary layering remains evident
at both the anatomical and chemical levels,
and striking cross-species homologous exist in
the more ancient primary-process neural
regions. On the other hand, higher brain
functions, which are much harder to study in
preclinical models, are more distinct across
species. Such neuroevolutionary facts allow us
to envision primary emotional processes in humans that are homologous across mammals, permitting
animal models to effectively explain how primordial emotional feelings—ancestral states of
consciousness— emerge from human brain activities. In addition, advances in understanding
subcortical emotional brain organization, especially its evolutionary roots, can illuminate certain higher
tertiary-process, it happens in the brain and that have specific correlate in mind functions (Brain Mind),
permitted by massive encephalization in primates. Said that, it is important to make a clarification in
emotional nomenclature and in the respective level of control.
Basic emotional networks can be defined by six criteria:
1) They generate characteristic behavioral-instinctual action patterns
2) They are initially activated by a limited set of unconditional stimuli
3) The resulting arousals outlast precipitating circumstances
4) Emotional arousals gate/regulate various sensory inputs into the brain
5) They control learning and help program higher brain cognitive activities
6) With maturation, higher brain mechanisms come to regulate emotional arousals.
While the level of emotional control are:
• Primary-process emotional feelings within mammalian brains—namely the experienced aspects
of the unconditioned emotional brain systems (ie, “instinctual” integrative BrainMind systems)
• Secondary emotional processes that arise from simple emotional learning, such as classical and
operant conditioning that has been well studied in animal models, especially FEAR conditioning.
• Tertiary-process emotions are the intrapsychic ruminations and thoughts about one’s lot in life.
Such higherorder affective-cognitions that promote “intentions-to act” and are elaborated by medial-
frontal regions, which can be well studied in humans (Table I).

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