Hierarchical Model of Inner Meaning: A Three-Layer Semantic Network Framework Integrating Emotion, Values, and Worldviews

This study proposes the Hierarchical Model of Inner Meaning, a unified theoretical framework that explains emotions, values, and worldviews—traditionally treated as separate domains—as manifestations of a single hierarchical structure within the brain’s semantic network. The model reorganizes the semantic network into three layers—surface (concepts and experiences), value (values and cultural schemas), and worldview (narratives and global belief structures)—and demonstrates that these layers correspond respectively to higher-order emotions, value systems, and worldviews. First, emotions are redefined as dynamic integrations of basic affective responses with semantic appraisal in the surface layer, modulated by top-down influences from the value and worldview layers, thereby generating diverse higher-order emotions. Second, values are positioned as a weighting model implemented primarily in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), functioning as a neural high-level prior that imposes evaluative biases on incoming information. Third, worldviews are defined as narrative-based generative models centered in the frontopolar cortex (FPC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), integrating causal, moral, social, and historical beliefs into the highest-level internal model. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that hierarchical interactions from the surface → value → worldview layers shape the formation of emotion, judgment, meaning-making, and decision-making, while intense emotional experiences can update values and worldviews through bottom-up processes. This theory provides a cross-disciplinary framework spanning psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, and offers a foundational model for future research on values and worldviews.