Emotions: The Voice of the Unconscious

Abstract : In the paper the idea is presented that emotions are the result of a high dimensional optimization process happening in the unconscious mapped onto the low dimensional conscious. Instead of framing emotions as a separate subcomponent of our cognitive architecture, we argue for emotions as the main characteristic of the communication between the unconscious and the conscious. We see emotions as the conscious experiences of affect based on complex internal states. Based on this holistic view we recommend a different design and architecture for entertainment robots and other entertainment products with 'emotional' behavior. Intuition is the powerful information processing function of the unconscious while emotion is the result of this process communicated to the conscious. Emotions are the perception of the mapping from the high dimensional problem solving space of the unconscious to the low dimensional space of the conscious.