Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2000 - Volume 23, Issue 02  


Short Communication

Adaptive accounts of physiology and emotion

Alasdair I. Houston a1 and John M. McNamara a2
a1 School of Biological Sciences, Centre for Behavioural Biology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1VG, United Kingdom a.i.houston@bristol.ac.uk
a2 School of Mathematics, Centre for Behavioural Biology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1VG, United Kingdom john.mcnamara@bristol.ac.uk

Abstract

Rolls discusses various adaptive explanations of physiological processes and the emotions. We give a critical analysis of some of these from the perspective of behavioural ecology. While agreeing with the approach adopted by Rolls, we identify topics that could have been better presented by making use of the existing literature.