Cited by 167Psychosomatic Disorders and Their TreatmentsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 239 of the 241 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 2 are not checked yet; 110 of the 200 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

A new science of emotion: implications for functional neurological disorder

Open access

Abstract

Functional neurological disorder reflects impairments in brain networks leading to distressing motor, sensory and/or cognitive symptoms that demonstrate positive clinical signs on examination incongruent with other conditions. A central issue in historical and contemporary formulations of functional neurological disorder has been the mechanistic and aetiological role of emotions. However, the debate has mostly omitted fundamental questions about the nature of emotions in the first place. In this perspective article, we first outline a set of relevant working principles of the brain (e.g. allostasis, predictive processing, interoception and affect), followed by a focused review of the theory of constructed emotion to introduce a new understanding of what emotions are. Building on this theoretical framework, we formulate how altered emotion category construction can be an integral component of the pathophysiology of functional neurological disorder and related functional somatic symptoms. In doing so, we address several themes for the functional neurological disorder field including: (i) how energy regulation and the process of emotion category construction relate to symptom generation, including revisiting alexithymia, 'panic attack without panic', dissociation, insecure attachment and the influential role of life experiences; (ii) re-interpret select neurobiological research findings in functional neurological disorder cohorts through the lens of the theory of constructed emotion to illustrate its potential mechanistic relevance; and (iii) discuss therapeutic implications. While we continue to support that functional neurological disorder is mechanistically and aetiologically heterogenous, consideration of how the theory of constructed emotion relates to the generation and maintenance of functional neurological and functional somatic symptoms offers an integrated viewpoint that cuts across neurology, psychiatry, psychology and cognitive-affective neuroscience.

Verified 2026-10-11 · 2 references not checked yet

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/brain/awac204

Cites

239 of 241 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

32 Partly supported · 29 Own interpretation · 19 No full text of the sources · 14 No basis given · 7 Supported · 6 Supported so far · 1 Mixed support · 1 Couldn’t confirm · 1 Sources not found · 1 Not checked yet · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 73 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 19
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 23
38 of 38
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The ongoing debate about emotions in functional neurological disorder has largely omitted the question of what emotions are in the first place.

    “Critical in this context, however, is that this ongoing debate has largely omitted the question of what emotions are in the first place.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Functional neurological disorder is mechanistically and aetiologically heterogenous.

    “While we continue to support that functional neurological disorder is mechanistically and aetiologically heterogenous, consideration of how the theory of constructed emotion relates to the generation and maintenance of functional neurological and functional somatic symptoms offers an integrated viewpoint that cuts across neurology, psychiatry, psychology and cognitive-affective neuroscience.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The respective roles of the proposed mechanisms across individuals with functional neurological disorder may vary.

    “Their respective roles across individuals with FND may also vary.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The brain's modelling of the condition of the body is mostly not accessible to awareness.

    “This inconsistency may relate in part to the notion that the brain's modelling of the condition of the body is mostly not accessible to awareness.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The human brain is most neuroplastic earlier in life.

    “Relatedly, the human brain is most neuroplastic earlier in life, suggesting that the qualities of certain acquired concepts may be carried forward and less malleable to modification later in life.”
5 of 5

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 12

  1. Briquet, 1859, Traite clinique et terapeutique de l'hystérie
  2. Charcot, 1887, Leçons du mardi á la Salpêtrière: policliniques, 1887–1888
  3. Breuer, 1895, Studien über Hysterie
  4. Sollier, 1897, Genèse et Nature de L´hystérie: Recherches Cliniques et Expérimentales de Psycho-Physiologie
  5. Oppenheim, 1900, Diseases of the nervous system: A textbook for student and practitioner of medicine
  6. Babinski, 1918, Hysteria or Pithiatism trans. By Rolleston J
  7. Seth, 2015, Open mind
  8. Paquola, 2021, The unique cytoarchitecture and wiring of the human default mode network, bioRxiv
  9. Barsalou, 2010, The mind in context, 334
  10. Spivey, 2007, The continuity of the brain
  11. Mesquita, 2022, Between us: How cultures create emotions
  12. Noe, 2004, Action in perception, 277

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 167

Metadata

Authors
Jungilligens, J., Paredes-Echeverri, S., Popkirov, S., Barrett, L. F., & Perez, D. L.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Universitätsklinikum Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum (DE)
  • Northeastern University (US)
Corresponding author
Jungilligens, Johannes
Venue
Brain
Published
2022-06-02
Volume
145
Issue
8
Pages
2648-2663
ISSN
  • 0006-8950 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-2156
OpenAlex
W4281736248
Cited by
164
References
237
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 6
FWCI
5.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Brain (publishedVersion, public-domain)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • NIMH (K23MH111983)
  • Ruhr University Bochum Research School
  • NIH
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
conversion disorder, theory of constructed emotion, functional somatic symptoms, allostasis, predictive processing, interoception, affect, energy regulation, alexithymia, dissociation, insecure attachment, life experience, symptom generation, therapeutic implications
MeSH terms
Medically Unexplained Symptoms, Affective Symptoms, Brain, Conversion Disorder, Emotions, Humans

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-11, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-11 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Cited sources are checked with a language model’s help (gpt-6-sol).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review