Pr. David Sander, Ph.D
Vice-Dean, University of Geneva, Swizerland.
David Sander is a professor at the University of Geneva, where he holds the Chair in the Psychology of Emotion. He studied mathematics and psychology at the University René Descartes in Paris, France, and earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences from the University Louis Lumière in Lyon, France. At the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, he leads the Laboratory for the Study of Emotion Elicitation and Expression. In 2012, he was appointed Director of the Centre Interfacultaire en Sciences Affectives (CISA) and the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Affective Sciences, located at Campus Biotech. He led the CISA until 2024, when he assumed the role of Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. David Sander’s research focuses on the brain and cognitive mechanisms involved in emotion elicitation and how these processes influence attention, memory, and decision-making. He has published over 150 articles and edited six books on these topics. In recognition of his contributions, he was awarded the National Latsis Prize in 2013.
Abstract
Emotions are complex and fascinating affective processes that have been studied since antiquity as psychological, physiological, and social phenomena. In recent decades, new methodological tools and theoretical approaches to emotions have fueled the emergence of affective sciences and the rise of affectivism. At the core of this advancement is the domain of affective neuroscience, which has significantly deepened our understanding of the nature and functions of emotion. This progress is closely tied to the challenge of conceptualizing and measuring emotions. In this IFSCC presentation, I will introduce a general model of emotion and explore the neuroscience of emotion, including recent debates and future perspectives. I will propose a multi-componential definition of emotion: a particular event is first appraised by the individual based on their current concerns, values, and goals (or, more broadly, their motivational processes). This appraisal can then elicit an emotional response across multiple components, including autonomic physiology, action tendencies, expression, and subjective feelings. These processes, in turn, modulate cognitive functions such as attention, memory, learning, and decision-making. The interactions among these mechanisms involve complex neural networks—ranging from small to large scale—that constitute the emotional brain.