Affective Neuroscience

Jaak Panksepp maps the brain systems that organize the basic emotional tendencies of all mammals, against the argument of some investigators that emotions, animal emotions in particular, lie outside scientific study. Working from basic emotion theory while also addressing constructionist approaches, he gives a conceptual framework for studying the emotional systems of the brain and a summary of the neural sources of feeling in humans and animals. Chapters deal with sleep and arousal, fear and pleasure, anger and rage, and sexuality, along with subtler emotions tied to maternal care, play and social loss. The synthesis draws on neuroanatomy, neurochemistry and neurophysiology, and also considers human consciousness and what the findings mean for psychiatry.

Jordan B. Peterson included it on his book list.