Some traits of feelings — their subjective nature, the fact that they are private, hidden from view, and often difficult to analyse — were projected onto emotions, so that they too were deemed subjective, private, hidden and elusive. Not surprisingly, neuroscientists were disinclined to give their best efforts to a problem that did not seem to be amenable to proper hypothesizing and measurement. Somewhat alarmingly, this conflation of the two concepts persists, as does the idea that the neurobiology of feelings is out of reach. A clarification is in order.

The main target of the emotional responses is the body — the internal milieu, the viscera and the musculoskeletal system — but there are also targets within the brain itself, for example, monoaminergic nuclei in the brainstem tegmentum. The result of the body-targeting responses is the creation of an emotional state — involving adjustments in homeostatic balance — as well as the enactment of specific behaviours, such as freezing or fight-or-flight, and the production of particular facial expressions. The result of the brain-targeting responses is an alteration in the mode of brain operation during the emotional body adjustments, the consequence of which is, for example, a change in the attention accorded to stimuli.

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