Exercise 3: Why Cannon's Experiments Count as Real Evidence Against James-Lange — Possible Solution ========================================================================================================== The James-Lange theory makes a real, specific, testable claim: the physical, bodily reaction (governed by nerve signals to and from the internal organs, the viscera) is what CAUSES the emotional feeling - meaning the emotion should genuinely depend on that bodily signal actually reaching the brain in the first place. If you could completely remove that bodily signal, the theory predicts the emotional experience itself should also disappear or be severely disrupted. Cannon's real experiments directly tested exactly this prediction by severing the nerve connections between an animal's internal organs and its nervous system - removing the very physiological signal James- Lange claims is necessary for emotion to occur at all. If the theory were correct, this should have eliminated or badly disrupted the animal's own emotional expression, since the proposed causal mechanism itself had been physically removed. Instead, Cannon found that animals continued to display real emotional expression even with those nerve connections severed - a direct, real experimental result running contrary to what the James-Lange theory specifically predicted should happen. This is genuine evidence, not simply an unrelated observation, because it directly tests the theory's own core causal claim under exactly the conditions where that claim's prediction and reality could be compared - and the prediction failed. ANSWER: Cannon's experiments count as real evidence because they directly tested James-Lange's own specific causal claim - that physiological signals from the body's organs are what generate emotion - by physically removing that signal (severing the relevant nerve connections). Since animals continued expressing emotion even without that signal reaching the brain, the result directly contradicts what the theory predicted should happen, making it a genuine test of the theory's own core claim rather than an unrelated finding. WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER ------------------------------ This identifies the specific causal prediction the James-Lange theory makes and explains precisely how Cannon's experimental design tested - and contradicted - that exact prediction.