(11) Neurobiology of emotions Flashcards
What is Physiological arousal?
Anatomical level, Hormonal level (changes in levels)
What is Expressive behaviours?
Behavioural level (facial expression)
What is Conscious experience?
Cognitive level
Darwin believed emotions evolved from behaviours…
that indicated what an animal would do next in a given situation; that when these behaviours were advantageous to the animal
How does our body respond in fight or flight?
Changes in breathing, higher consumption of oxygen, sweating, heart rate
What is James-Lange’s theory?
Experience of emotion is awareness of physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli
What is Cannon-Bard’s theory?
Emotion-arousing stimuli simultaneously trigger:
-physiological responses, subjective experience of emotion
emotions can be induced by stimuli that cannot elicit a peripheral, visceral response, for example…
(patients suffering from a spinal cord transection)
visceral responses can often induce an emotional state in the absence of any obvious eliciting stimuli, for example…
(a racing heartbeat and respiration can produce a feeling of fear)
Schachter-Singer’s theory
-To experience emotion one must:
- Be physically aroused
- Cognitively label the arousal
Some emotional reactions may occur without…
conscious thinking
Emotions involve bodily responses…
- Some of these responses are very noticeable (butterflies in our stomach when fear arises),
- but others are more difficult to discern (neurons activated in the brain)
Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) controls our
arousal
What is the ANS?
part of the nervous system responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed: breathing, heartbeat, and digestive processes.
What is Epinephrine?
a hormone that increases heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels in times of emergency.
What similarities are there is physiological responses?
Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love are very similar, excitement and fear involve a similar physiological arousal
What differences are there is physiological responses?
Different brain responses to different emotions
What is a Polygraph?
-Machine used in attempts to detect lies measures physiological responses
What does a polygraph measure?
- perspiration
- cardiovascular changes
- breathing changes
particular brain regions are involved in emotion, but often…
the same areas seem to be involved in many different emotions
Emotional behaviours must be organized at…
SUBCORTICAL, with the cerebral cortex normally providing inhibition of emotional responsiveness
What is a Papez circuit?
Emotional system on the medial wall of the brain linking cortex with hypothalamus
What is Kluver-Bucy Syndrome?
No fear or aggression after surgery
Why does Kluver-Bucy Syndrome occur?
Because lesions restricted to the cerebral cortex did not produce these results, deeper regions of the temporal lobe (including sites within the limbic system) were implicated
The amygdala appears to be very involved in the perception of…
fear (as opposed to the expression)
What is the left hemisphere involved in?
LH is less involved in perception of emotion
- LH lesion Depressive symptoms
- Presentation of emotional stimuli on the LEFT visual field Faster reaction times and accurate identification
What is the right hemisphere involved in?
- RH is more involved in perception of emotion, specifically facial expression and prosody (melody of speech that conveys sincerity, sarcasm, etc.)
- RH lesion Euphoria symptoms
