Who Needs Emotions? The Brain Meets the Robot

274 robots
species considered to be the most intelligent tend to exist in complex and
dynamic social groups, where members have to communicate, cooperate,
or compete with others.
Two conceptually distinct and complementary information-processing
systems, cognition and emotion, evolved under such social and environmental
pressures to promote the health and optimal functioning of the creature
(Damasio, 1994; Izard & Ackerman, 2000). As argued in Chapter 7 (Ortony
et al.), the cognitive system is responsible for interpreting and making sense
of the world, whereas the emotive system is responsible for evaluating and
judging events to assess their overall value with respect to the creature (e.g.,
positive or negative, desirable or undesirable).
Emotion theorists agree that the cognitive and emotive systems are interrelated.
One view privileges the cognitive system where the cognitive
processes of appraisal and attribution recruit emotions. Others see emotion
and cognition as being reciprocally interrelated, recognizing that each emotion
often recruits and organizes cognitive processes and behavioral tendencies
in a specific manner to the adaptive advantage of the creature (Izard,
1993). For instance, according to Izard (1993), a unique function of sadness
is its ability to slow the cognitive and motor systems. Termine and Izard
(1988) found that mothers’ display of sorrow through facial and vocal expression
during face-to-face interactions with their 9-month-old infants significantly
decreased their babies’ exploratory play. In adults, the slowing of
cognitive processes may enable a more careful and deliberate scrutiny of self
and circumstances, allowing the individual to gain a new perspective to help
improve performance in the future (Tomkins, 1963).
Numerous scientific studies continue to reveal the reciprocally interrelated
roles that cognition and emotion play in intelligent decision making,
planning, learning, attention, communication, social interaction, memory, and
more (Isen, 2000). Emotion plays an important role in signaling salience, to
guide attention toward what is important and away from distractions, thereby
helping to effectively prioritize concerns (Picard, 1997). Isen (2000) has studied
the numerous beneficial effects that mild positive affect has on a variety of
decision-making processes for medical diagnosis tasks, for example, facilitating
memory retrieval (Isen, Shalker, Clark, & Karp, 1978); promoting creativity
and flexibility in problem solving (Estrada, Isen, & Young, 1994); and improving
efficiency, organization, and thoroughness in decision making (Isen, Rosenzweig,
& Young, 1991). As argued by Isen (1999), negative affect allows us to
think in a highly focused way when under negative, high-stress situations.
Conversely, positive affect allows us to think more creatively and to make
broader associations when in a relaxed, positive state.
Furthermore, scientists are finding that whereas too much emotion can
hinder intelligent thought and behavior, too little emotion is even more