Cognitive processes and emotional brain systems

Aims. In this review we analyse the role of learning and memory processes in normal and pathological emotional phenomena from an integrating perspective that combines the behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological levels. We examine the most recent trends in research into the emotional systems of the brain, which provide important keys to understanding the nature of emotional phenomena. Development First, we discuss the existing evidence about the nonconscious generation of affective responses, which come mainly from studies into Pavlovian fear conditioning. We then go on to analyse the relevance of the distinction between implicit and explicit memory in order to get a better understanding of the relations between cognition and emotion. The role played by the amygdala in the automatic evaluation of danger is considered a basic model for eliciting emotional responses. Finally, we describe how the interaction of the brain systems that the implicit and explicit aspects of emotional memory depend on provides an explanation for several characteristics of pathological anxiety, and we examine the positive or negative influences emotional activation can have on the consolidation of memory.