Feelings of Emotion and the Self

Abstract: The self is a critical component of consciousness. The neural correlates of self have proven elusive, but it is reasonable to suggest that, in its simplest form, the self process requires a composite representation of the ongoing state of the organism as reflected in subcortical and cortical somatic maps within the central nervous system. The basis for these maps is a wealth of signals originating in different sectors of the body‐proper. Some of these signals portray the actual state of the body as modified by emotions in response to interactions with the environment; but other signals are the result of internal simulations controlled from other regions of the central nervous system.