<div dir="ltr">Dear Kate,<br>Thank you very much for the advice and links.<br>Our understanding is completely in sync with yours.<br>Here is an excerpt from the conclusion of an article that is in the process of initial development by me and Prof. Velina Slavova, who is a leading cognitive scientist studying emotions (<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Mw6-wboAAAAJ&hl=en__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SGQFDP2MxGWErf5NXh10LUIQMyE_MOC5lQLyD5AT8JDyqvQdZQ4Z3oQ8-wbaZHg-Zy-cKmSEm_ghUHfondo$">https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Mw6-wboAAAAJ&hl=en</a>). I also attach the scheme that is the basis of the article.<br>If you are intrigued by our approach and have the opportunity, I most politely invite you to join us and complete the article together.<br>With respect,<br>Krassimir<div>PS: This is my third post, so I'll be quiet until next week.<br><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">12. Conclusion</span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The journey

through this paper has traced a simple but profound insight: the mind is an <b>informational

architecture</b> in which affect and cognition are inseparable partners in the

creation of meaning. Affect provides <b>valence</b> — the evaluative force that

marks what matters. Cognition provides <b>form</b> — the structural organization

that turns information into knowledge. Meaning emerges not from either

dimension alone but from their dynamic interplay. This insight, though grounded

in contemporary neuroscience and cognitive science, resonates with

philosophical traditions across cultures and centuries.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">We began by

challenging the historical separation of emotion and cognition — a separation

rooted in the computational metaphors of early cognitive science (Fodor, 1983;

Newell & Simon, 1976) and reinforced by methodological habits that treated

feeling and thinking as distinct domains. Affective neuroscience overturned

this dichotomy by showing that emotional systems are evolutionarily ancient,

biologically fundamental, and essential for survival, learning, and decision‑making

(Panksepp, 1998; LeDoux, 1996). Cognitive science, especially in its predictive

processing form, revealed that cognition is not passive computation but active

inference — a continuous attempt to predict and make sense of the world (Clark,

2013; Friston, 2010).</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">These

developments converge on a single conclusion: <b>emotion and cognition are two

aspects of one informational process</b>.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">To

articulate this process, we introduced a refined conceptual sequence:<br></span><b style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">- Data</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> is raw sensory signal.<br></span><b style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">- Information</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> is a recognized signal — data +

     meaning.<br></span><b style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">- Knowledge</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> is integrated information —

     structured meaning.<br></span><b style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">- Memory</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> is stabilized knowledge —

     enduring structure.<br></span><b style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">- Meaning</span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> emerges when affective valence

     and cognitive form converge.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This

sequence clarifies how the mind transforms the flux of sensory input into a

coherent world. It also clarifies the role of affect: affect determines which

data becomes information and which information becomes knowledge. Without

affective evaluation, cognition would be directionless; without cognitive structure,

affect would be chaotic. Together, they form the basis of meaning.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The

informational architecture developed in this paper— represented in Figure 1

— captures this integration. It shows the mind as a layered ecology in which

valence and form interact continuously, shaping perception, memory, decision‑making,

and world‑disclosure. This architecture is not a metaphor but a conceptual

model grounded in empirical research and philosophical insight.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The

comparative philosophical analysis revealed that this integrated view is not

new. Phenomenology, Yogācāra Buddhism, Daoism, and Neo‑Confucianism all

emphasize the unity of affect and cognition in the constitution of experience

(Heidegger, 1962). These traditions enrich our understanding by showing that

meaning is relational, embodied, and situated — not a property of the mind

alone but of the organism‑in‑the‑world.<br>...</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";font-size:12pt">Ultimately,

the integrated model developed in this paper points toward a unified science

of meaning — one that bridges biological, cognitive, phenomenological, and

cultural levels of explanation. Such a science would not reduce meaning to

neural mechanisms or abstract representations. It would treat meaning as an

emergent property of an informational ecology — a dynamic interplay of valence

and form across the entire data–information–knowledge pipeline.</span><br></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">For non‑specialists,

the conclusion is simple:<br>

<b>We understand the world through the meeting of feeling and thinking.</b> <br>

Emotion tells us why something matters; cognition tells us what it is and how

it fits into our world. Meaning is born when these two dimensions come

together.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">This paper

has offered a framework for understanding that process — not as a metaphor, but

as a scientifically grounded, philosophically informed model of the mind. It

invites further exploration, deeper integration, and continued dialogue across

disciplines. The mind is not a machine and not a mystery; it is an

informational ecology in which valence and form co‑create the meaningful world

we inhabit.<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> <img src="cid:ii_mkeqcp2t0" alt="image.png" width="436" height="348"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><b style=""><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><font size="4">References<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,"sans-serif""><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Barrett, L.

F. (2017). <i>How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain</i>. Houghton

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