Table 1.

Some proposed distinctions among affective phenomena that have been studied under the rubric of ‘affect’ within affective science and affective neuroscience.

English term	Typical duration	Common elicitor	Function
Emotions	Seconds to minutes	Specific object or situation	To bias actions
Moods	Hours, days, weeks	General internal and external environment/milieu	To bias cognition
Feelings	Variable, but probably relatively short-term	Activation of internal milieu (e.g. interoceptive system)	To bring to conscious awareness
Emotion concept	Variable, but probably very long-term	General environment and semantic system	To inform rational discussion and decision-making