This article reviews the seminal work of Jaak Panksepp: Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions. It outlines the basis of his theory of Basic Emotional Command Systems as common to all mammals and goes on to specify some of the key fields that have grown out of his research.

The capacity to sustain attention was explored in a sample of anhedonic subjects according to the Chapman physical anhedonia scale. Sustained attention was determined by studying task-induced changes over the duration of the Eriksen response competition task [Percept. Psychophys. 16 (1974) 143]. Anhedonic subjects had longer reaction times (RTs), but missed no more targets than control subjects. Anhedonic subject RTs got longer with time-on-task (TOT) and displayed greater intra-subject variability. These results confirm those of a previous study indicating that anhedonic subjects may have developed a more conservative response strategy [Psychophysiology 37 (2000) 711] and suggest that this strategy may result in a more rapid decrease in energetical resources. Moreover, the greater intra-subject variability demonstrates the importance of assessing performance over time and its relationship to the variability of responses in the cognitive performance of anhedonic subjects.

The study examined the perception of facial expressions of different emotional intensities in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) subtypes. Results showed that the High Risk Assessment and Checking subtype was more sensitive in perceiving the emotions fear and happiness. This suggests that altered affective processing may underlie the clinical manifestation of OCD.

International relations (IR) has witnessed an emerging interest in neuroscience, particularly for its relevance to a now widespread scholarship on emotions. Contributing to this scholarship, this paper draws on the subfields of affective neuroscience and neuropsychology, which remain largely unexplored in IR. Firstly, the paper draws on affective neuroscience in illuminating affect's defining role in consciousness and omnipresence in social behavior, challenging the continuing elision of emotions in mainstream approaches. Secondly, it applies theories of depth neuropsychology, which suggest a neural predisposition originating in the brain's higher cortical regions to attenuate emotional arousal and limit affective consciousness. This predisposition works to preserve individuals’ self-coherence, countering implicit assumptions about rationality and motivation within IR theory. Thirdly, it outlines three key implications for IR theory. It argues that affective neuroscience and neuropsychology offer a route toward deep theorizing of ontologies and motivations. It also leads to a reassessment of the social regulation of emotions, particularly as observed in institutions, including the state. It also suggests a productive engagement with constructivist and poststructuralist approaches by addressing the agency of the body in social relations. The paper concludes by sketching the potential for a therapeutically-attuned approach to IR.

This article gives a short overview on the life and achievements of Jaak Panksepp. Jaak Panksepp dedicated his life to the study of mammalian emotions. By means of electrical stimulation of the brain and psychopharmacological challenges he carved out seven primary emotional systems being highly conserved across different species of mammals including homo sapiens. The primary emotional systems are called SEEKING, CARE, LUST, PLAY (positive emotions), and FEAR, RAGE, SADNESS (negative emotions). While his early career was characterized by the direct study of these primary emotions in mammals, in his late career he invested more and more time in applying his knowledge to different fields of psychology including personality neuroscience and psychiatry.