 The theory lost favor in the 20th century, but has regained popularity more recently due largely to theorists such as John Cacioppo, António Damásio, Joseph E. LeDoux and Robert Zajonc who are able to appeal to neurological evidence.In his 1884 article William James argued that feelings and emotions were "secondary" to physiological phenomena.In his theory, James proposed that the perception of what he called an "exciting fact" directly led to a physiological response, known as "emotion."