October 28, 2016

October 28, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

This is my third response to “The Power of the Word May Reside in the Power of Affect” (2007) by Jaak Panksepp. I write to praise Panksepp for his “affective neuroscience conception of basic brain emotional systems and their potential role in cognitive development.” It is a fact that “basic brain emotional systems” exist, but I am aware how often these systems distort rather than facilitate “cognitive development.”

When we talk either positive or negative “affective intensity of emotions” arise from the “lower subcortical reaches of the brain.” It makes a big difference if positive or negative emotions are laying the foundation for our cognitive development since our earlier so-called development always sets the stage for our later troubled relationships.

I take Panksepp’s remark very serious that “Adherents of classical conditioning models of emotion have rarely sought to understand the nature of their affective unconditional stimuli.” I am talking about the sound of the speaker’s voice and how this sound affects the listener.

Panksepp entire scientific career is built on the replicated finding that “the human cognitive apparatus rides upon the integrity of many primary-process, subcortical attentional, emotional and motivational processes.” What I call Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) is conscious and unconscious communication.

SVB and NVB are not determined by what we say, but by how we say it. “Children born with practically no cortico-cognitive apparatus still possess phenomenal consciousness and deeply emotional minds that are affectively rather than cognitively oriented.” Anyone can hear this.