10. Neurobiology of Emotions Flashcards
Emotion is a response of the whole organism, what are the 3 components that it involves?
Physiological arousal
Expressive behaviours
Conscious experience
At what level does physiological arousal occur?
Anatomical level & hormonal level
At what level do expressive behaviours occur?
At behavioural level
At what level does the conscious experience occur?
At cognitive level
What is the evolutionary advantage of emotions?
Darwin believed emotions evolved from behaviours that would indicate what an animal would do next in a given situation and these would be advantageous to the animal
Why are negative emotions useful?
As motivation for moving away from what one doesn’t want
What are positive emotions useful for?
Motivation for moving towards what one does want
Describe James-Lange’s theory
They contradicted the common-sense view that emotion causes the physiological response and instead theorised that the physiological response is what then causing the emotion being expressed
Describe Cannon-Bard’s theory
That the physiological response and emotional response trigger simultaneously
Why are neither James-Lange or Cannon-Bard’s theory correct?
Because emotions can be induced by stimuli that cannot elicit a peripheral, visceral response (e.g. patients suffering from a spinal cord transection)
&
Visceral responses can often induce an emotional state in the absence of any obvious stimuli (e.g. a racing heartbeat can produce feelings of fear)
Describe Schater-Singer’s theory
The two-factor theory of emotions - to experience emotion one must: be physically aroused and cognitively label the arousal (e.g. I am afraid)
What are the two dimensions of emotion?
Valance & Arousal
Describe a positive valence, high arousal state?
Joy
Describe a low arousal, negative valence state?
Sadness
Which system controls our arousal?
The autonomic nervous system (ANS)
What is the ANS?
Part of the NS responsible for control of bodily functions not consciously directed (e.g. breathing, heartbeat and digestive processes)
Describe the role of Epinephrine
A hormone that increases heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels in times of emergence
Emotions can be expressed by what?
The face, the body and the intonation of the voice
Describe Ekamn and Friesen’s work
They analysed hundreds of films and photos of people experiencing emotions and concluded that they are 6 primary facial expressions
Particular brain regions are involved in emotion, but often the same areas seem to be involved in many different emotions, through what experimentation do we know this?
Through the electrical stimulation of the septum in rodents
How do we know that emotional behaviours must be organised at a subcortical level, with the cerebral cortex normally providing inhibition of emotional responsiveness?.
As a result of decorticate cats/dogs responding with unusual aggression to the slightest provocation
Describe the features of the Papez Circuit (Papez, 1937)
It is the subcortical circuit of emotion
Emotional system on the medial wall of the brain, linking the cortex to the hypothalamus
Describe the limbic system
Neo cortex => Cingulate cortex => hippocampus => hypothalamus => anterior nuclei of thalamus
At which levels of the limbic system do emotional colouring, emotional experience, and emotional expression occur?
Emotional colouring = Neocortex
Emotional experience = Cingulate cortex
Hypothalamus = Emotiona expression
Outline the evidence for which the limbic system exists
Temporal lobe lesion in primates induced Kluver-Bucy Syndrome which meant they had no fear or aggression, deeper regions of the temporal lobe (including sites within the limbic system) were implicated
What is the amygdala responsible for?
Fear
Of you have a lesion in the Amygdala, there is no processing of what?
Fear
The amygdala appears to be very involved in the ___ of fear as opposed to the ____
Perception was opposed to the expression
Describe the role of the left hemisphere in terms of emotions
It is less involved in the perception of emotion, lesions in the LH can lead to depressive symptoms
Describe the role of the right hemisphere in terms of emotions
RH is more involved in perception of emotion, specifically facial expression and prosody, lesions in the RH can lead to euphoric symptoms
What is prosody?
The melody of speech that conveys sincerity, sarcasm etc.
Describe Bartles & Zeki’s (2000) findings in terms of love compared with friendship
Love compared with friendship involved increased activity in the insult and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and sub cortically in the caudate and putamen (bilaterally)
