5: Social & Emotional Brain 1 Flashcards
define: emotion
a state associated with stimuli that are rewarding (i.e. that one works to obtain - pleasure) or punishing (i.e. that one works to avoid -pain)
what is Capgras syndrome?
a person believes that their loved ones have been replaced by identical looking imposters or body-doubles
what are the differences in skin conductivity for people with capgras syndrome?
Most people produce a greater skin conductance response to personally familiar faces, but patients with Capgras delusion do not
what functionally has happened to people with caprgas syndrome?
Consciously recognise the person but lack emotional response to them – familiar faces lose their learned emotional value
what are the 5 areas of the brain associated with emotion?
Amygdala
Insula
Orbitofrontal cortex
Anterior cingulate
Ventral striatum
where is the amygdala in the brain?
tip of left and right temporal lobes
what is the role of the hippocampus in emotion?
important in storing memories, especially their emotional content & declarative memory
if an animal has an amygdala lesion & you try and condition fear in them what happens?
Animal do not learn the conditioned response
if an animal has a conditioned fear and then receives an amygdala lesion, what happens?
Animal forgets the conditioned response = objects lose their learned emotional value
what kind of fear is the amygdala responsible for?
learnt not innate
how does amygdala activation correlate with skin conductance?
Amygdala activation correlated with high skin conductance response when learning a fear
what is the relationship between the amygdala and the hippocampus in relation to lesions and fear response?
double dissociation
what happens to patients with amygdala damage in relation to SCR & fear association?
No conditioned skin conductance response
Can recall association (they learn the association and verbally describe it)
what happens to patients with hippocampus damage in relation to SCR & fear association?
Skin conductance response present
Cannot recall association
how does amygdala damage affect emotion recognition?
Bilateral amygdala damage impairs fear expression recognition in faces (Adolphs et
al., 1994) - but people can recognised other emotions
what is the conscious route to the amygdala?
thalamus to visual cortex (visual pathway) to amygdala (conscious)
what is the subconscious route to the amygdala?
thalamus to the amygdala
do subliminal fear stimuli affect the body & if so how?
yes - higher SCR