IV. Conference. The Power of Emotions in Sensory Perception of Food

Resumen

Measurement of emotions is a complex process and many theories concerning the subject are registered since the 3rd century B.C. The most famous philosophers discovered during this period are Plato and Aristotle. Sophisticated theories in the works of philosophers such as René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and David Hume were written during the 17th century A.C. James-Lange in 1884 argued in his article 'What is an Emotion?' that emotional experience is largely due to the experience of bodily changes. He claims that "we feel sad because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and neither we cry, strike, nor tremble because we are sorry, angry, or fearful, as the case may be." The theories found over the centuries are not mutually exclusive and many researchers incorporated multiple perspectives in their work.But, what is emotion anyway? In short words, emotion is an intense mental state that arises autonomically in the nervous system rather than through conscious effort. Emotion must not be considered as a synonymous of mood, feeling or temperament. Mood is longer lasting, often objectless and has low intensity background. Feelings are conscious experiences and temperament is part of the personality and it is stable over time and situations. Emotions can be either positive or negative. A strong emotion, positive or negative, helps to memorize the event more deeply and, in return, the emotional experience will be as well recalled more easily and accurately than an emotionally neutral event.