The emotional feeling as a combination of two qualia: A neurophilosophical-based emotion theory

It is argued that the emotional feeling comprises the following two emotional qualia. (1) A nucleus feeling or primary emotional quale, which is the phenomenological counterpart of the end product of appraisal by the central nervous system. (2) The experience of being urged to emotion-related reflection or secondary emotional quale, which is the phenomenological counterpart of the brain’s decision to inhibit pre-programmed emotional behaviour, and to initiate emotion-related reflections. Different brain modules regulate these two qualia, and thus each can be experienced independently of the other. The primary emotional quale is related to activation of the amygdala, it is emotion specific, and neutral with respect to affect. The secondary emotional quale is related to activation of the orbito-prefrontal cortex (O-PFC), and includes affective aspects. It is argued that emotional behaviour is regulated by the following three neural mechanisms, two of which two are directly related to the two qualia. (1) An evolutionary ancient system (amygdala-system), which comprises the amygdalae and subcortical nuclei, and which activates pre-programmed emotional behaviour. (2) An evolutionary recent system (PFC-system), comprising the prefrontal cortex, which inhibits pre-programmed emotional behaviour, activates emotional reflection, generates and evaluates behavioural alternatives. In contrast to the preprogrammed behaviour, the behavioural alternatives are more likely to serve longterm goals. (3) A default mechanism, which gives rise to default (i.e., ‘‘just do something’’) behaviour. The first two systems are mutually competitive, while the third mechanism takes over if either the competition between the first two mechanisms, or the decision process of the PFC-system, takes too long. This default mechanism involves the function of the medial-prefrontal cortex (M-PFC)

Measurement of matter–antimatter differences in beauty baryon decays

Differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter have been observed in K and B meson decays, but not yet in any baryon decay. Such differences are associated with the non-invariance of fundamental interactions under the combined charge-conjugation and parity transformations, known as CP violation. Here, using data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, we search for CP-violating asymmetries in the decay angle distributions of Lambda(0)(b) baryons decaying to p pi(-) pi(+) pi(-) and p pi(-) K+K- final states. These four-body hadronic decays are a promising place to search for sources of CP violation both within and beyond the standard model of particle physics. We find evidence for CP violation in Lambda(0)(b) to p pi(-) pi(+) pi(-) decays with a statistical significance corresponding to 3.3 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. This represents the first evidence for CP violation in the baryon sector

Determination of the quark coupling strength vertical bar V-ub vertical bar using baryonic decays

In the Standard Model of particle physics, the strength of the couplings of the b quark to the u and c quarks, vertical bar V-ub vertical bar and vertical bar V-ub vertical bar, are governed by the coupling of the quarks to the Higgs boson. Using data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, the probability for the Lambda(0)(b) baryon to decay into the p mu(-)(nu) over bar (mu) final state relative to the Lambda(+)(c)mu(-)(nu) over bar (mu) final state is measured. Combined with theoretical calculations of the strong interaction and a previously measured value of vertical bar V-ub vertical bar, the first vertical bar V-ub vertical bar measurement to use a baryonic decay is performed. This measurement is consistent with previous determinations of vertical bar V-ub vertical bar using B meson decays to specific final states and confirms the existing incompatibility with those using an inclusive sample of final states