Cannon–Bard theory

The main concepts of the Cannon–Bard theory are that emotional expression results from the function of hypothalamic structures, and emotional feeling results from stimulations of the dorsal thalamus. The physiological changes and subjective feeling of an emotion in response to a stimulus are separate and independent; arousal does not have to occur before the emotion. Thus, the thalamic region is attributed a major role in this theory of emotion. The theory is therefore also referred to as the thalamic theory of emotion.

Walter Bradford Cannon (1871–1945) was a physiologist at Harvard University, who is perhaps best known for his classic treatise on homeostasis. Philip Bard (1898–1977) was a doctoral student of Cannon's, and together they developed a model of emotion called the Cannon–Bard Theory. Cannon was an experimenter who relied on studies of animal physiology. Through these studies, Cannon and Bard highlighted the role of the brain in generating physiological responses and feelings; a role that is important in their explanation of emotion experience and production.

A dominant theory of emotion of Cannon's time was the James–Lange theory of emotion, and Cannon recognized that to test this theory, an examination of emotional expression with no visceral afferent feedback was required. This was necessary because the link between visceral changes and the feedback required to stimulate cerebral manifestations of an emotion would no longer be present. To do so, Cannon experimented with severing afferent nerves of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system in cats. Cannon compiled his experimental results in 1915, then refined and expanded them, and finally proposed his model of emotion as a challenge and alternative to the James–Lange theory of emotion.

The James–Lange theory relies on the backflow of impulses from the periphery to account for unique emotional experiences; impulses that William James assumed to come from all parts of the organism, including the muscles, skin, and the viscera. The viscera were attributed a major role by James. The viscera are composed of smooth muscle and glands. Cannon identified and outlined five issues with the James–Lange theory's notion of the vasomotor center as the explanation of emotional experience.

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