Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain

The body is the organism minus the neural tissue. This is not a standard definition in the medical field, but it is crucial to adequately understand Damasio’s theory.

The neuropsychological condition that prevents individuals from diagnosing their own physical condition is anosognosia. For example, a patient with left-side paralysis is incapable of realizing that they no longer have control of the left half of their body.

Primary emotions are the near universal emotions that humans have at birth. They include happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust. They precondition humans to respond a certain way to certain types of stimuli without the need for reasoning.