PIPA's and Essential Human Behavior
Frequently in one’s mental life, a newly-noticed item pairs with an item already in mind --- for example the second word in a rhyme --- and the pairing evokes a small positive affect. For the affect to occur, the brain must contain circuitry connecting the cognitive with the affective that is activated when the second item overlaps the first. On some occasions the positive affects evoked are easily noticed but more commonly they are subdued --- but they make up for smallness by abundance. For example, when one enters a familiar room, recognition events, (perception matching memory) are innumerable, the affects merge, and a continuous effect, the “comfort of the familiar” is sensed. Many other episodes of mild satisfaction are produced in a similar way. The overall picture is of one’s daily affairs running on a day-long substrate of innumerable pairings. The pairings make a healthy person more upbeat than an anhedonic person, they contribute to each person’s personality traits, and the pleasure involved is the basic ingredient underlying higher-level motivations. A general benefit will be gained if people become more aware of this pervasive affect.