The Cannon-Bard Thalamic Theory of Emotions: A Brief Genealogy and Reappraisal

In this contribution, I examine several key publications on the physiology of emotions from the 1860s to the 1930s. I focus on physiologists who studied the emotions prior to and following William James's 1884 Mind article, by critically reflecting on the conceptual and practical origins and constituents of the Cannon-Bard thalamic theory of emotions. I offer a historical corrective to several major assumptions in our histories of the scientific study of emotions.