**4. Information**

Rather than describing the whole emotional process, the James-Lange theory focuses on the emotional experience, namely, what the individual perceives of emotion [11].

In particular, *emotional experiences* consist of mental representations that can relate to different aspects of emotions. First, the individual can perceive, even if only partially, **arousal** [46]. The central nervous system processes the information it retrieves from the body's activity. For example, reactions, such as wrinkles, blushing, and tearing are all signals, that potentially influence the perception of emotions [47]. Indeed, autonomic feedback (e.g., from sweating and respiration) is another essential feature of the emotional experience [48]. The second aspect is about the **relational content** (e.g., mental representations of dominance and submission). Third, the **situational content** is an integral part of the emotional experience. For example, people often link psychological situations to their emotions.

The elements of the emotional experience concern the *appraisal*, at least in part [46]. In brief, it consists of the cognitive assessments (e.g., of valence) accompanying emotions (e.g., positive or negative) [48]. According to the cognitive approach, the appraisal is necessary to elicit emotions, and it can also occur quickly and involuntarily [49].

The neurophysiological basis of emotional experience may rely on two distinct networks. A first circuit seems to allow value-based representation. The essential brain regions of this network are the basolateral amygdala (BLA), the anterior insula, and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In particular, the BLA provides an initial assessment of a stimulus. The anterior insula instead allows the representation of interoceptive inputs. Finally, the OFC makes processing more flexible by including information regarding the context. BLA and OFC are interconnected with each other, as well as have connections with the cortical regions responsible for sensory representations. The second circuit of emotional experience seems to be a sort of affective working memory that holds and processes emotive information for short periods. Its neurophysiological basis lies in the amygdaloid complex and the reciprocal connections between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the anterior cingulate cortex [46].
