Big Quiz 4 Flashcards
projection neurons
neurons from a particular brain region that communicate with neurons from others (important for interregnal communication)
brain regions related to emotional processes
prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, oribitofrontal cortex temporal lobe, insula, amygdala (areas located in the gyre of the cortex or deep within the brain)
amygdaloid complex
basolateral amygdala: receives and sends neural messages
central nucleus: information received from the BLA and uses projector neurons
how do these circuits of communication influence fear response?
basolateral amygdala
sub-region of the amygdala that sends and receives neural messages
central nucleus
sub-region of amygdala that communicate with other brain regions via projector neurons; communication with the lateral hypothalamus triggers parasympathetic activity
central nucleus communication
- later hypothalamus: sympathetic activation
- periaquaductal gray area: activates freezing behaviors (shock)
- periventricular nucleus: the release of CRH (ACTH -> cortisol); downstream effects on hormonal processes
Pavlovian Conditioning
How can this technique be used to induce fear?
- unconditioned stimuli: stimulus that incites unlearned autonomic responses
- pair neutral stimuli with unconditioned stimuli
- association creates conditioned response to previously neutral stimuli (conditioned stimuli) independent of unconditioned stimuli
Threat Processing in the Amygdala
neural pathways of Pavlovian conditioning; convergence of two different neural pathways in the amygdala that communicate information about the UCS and the CS through the amygdala
unconditioned neural pathway
exposure to UCS sends neural signal to the spinal cord-> thalamus (high functioning regions) -> BLA (where the convergence occurs)
conditioned neural pathway
exposure to neural (conditioned) stimuli is picked up by the medial geniculate nucleus in the thalamus -> auditory cortex->neocortex -> BLA oh shit! ->Ce-> various areas of the brain and body triggering reactions in quick succession strengthening associations (is the amygdala required for fear conditioning)
Prather et al.
is fear a learned response or an autonomic experience?
- administered injected chemicals into the amygdalas of three infant monkeys that resulted in specific neuronal cell death
- they were placed back with their mothers and were naturalistically observed for 8 months , then observed fear conditioning behavior is the lab
- did the monkeys with these lesions reach over a snake for food? Monkeys with lesions (relative to controls) showed the same low levels of hesitancy to go for food in the absence or presence of the snake
Prather et al. second condition
the three monkeys were paired with unfamiliar companions and responded fearfully to their presence; more fear grimaces and screams that controls (intact amygdala)
results: fear BEHAVIOR was still intact but fear learning was compromised (unable to learn from dyadic interactions; can’t learn social cues communicating potential threat)
Patient SM
calcified amygdala
experiment 1: watched horror clips and experienced less fear than the control group; experienced similar levels of other emotional responses (sadness, anger, happiness, disgust)
experiment 2: visual and auditory cues were paired with a blow horn. Patient SM was aware that the negative stimuli was coming after the cue, but did not experience any physiological fear responses in anticipation of the horn
experiment 3: controls and patient SM inhaled a mixture of o2 and c02 to induce a suffocating feeling; more c02 to o2 ratio. Patient SM and the controls had panic attacks and felt afraid DURING. Her skin conductance was higher! In anticipation of another trial SM had no conductance but the controls did
Other Comparisons
hippocampal (learning + memory) damage - physiological response but cannot explain the association between the cue and the horn, which elicited the response
hippocampal + amygdala - no physiological response, no association
regional projections + outcomes
autonomic responses - physiological changes
behavioral responses - action tendency
hormonal responses - subjective feelings
Janak & Tye et al.
the amygdalas of mice contain:
aversive (defensive) neuronal circuits - neurons projected to the Ce from the BLA trigger response suppression, and negative affect-like
appetitive - neurons projected to the NAc trigger approach and reward seeking behaviors; seeking pleasures
amygdala meta analysis
the amygdala was activated across a range of emotions; higher activation in response to disgust!
nucleus accumbens (NAcc)
parts: core, shell
NOT specific to award anticipation ; increase and decrease liking expressions
different regions are also involved in aversive and appetitive behavior
Samanez et al.
cues indicated how much money was gained or lost, there was a small delay, then a target that had to be responded to quickly to either win or lose the amount indicated by the cue.
Results: NAcc activity increases with the amount of the reward. When younger and older adults were compared their NAcc activation was similar (risk taking and thrill seeking behaviors don’t depend on age
Berridge et al.
is there a neural basis for facial expressions relative to reward?
implanted electrodes directly into the NAcc of rats, and found that when they stimulated “hedonistic [red]hot spots” liking expressions were elicited. When they stimulated “hedonic cold spots” liking behaviors were suppressed. When given sweets and stimulating these areas at the same time, the rats liking expressions were suppressed
Pt 2: placed rats in different contexts (chill/stressful)and stimulated the same groups of neurons and found that they changed (red to green). The neurons CHANGED what behavior they produced depending on what context they were in!
Orbitofrontal cortex
OFC; multiple components including Broadmanns areas and the orbital proisocortex
reversal learning
learned associations lead to behavioral changes when the association is no longer present; lizards don’t demonstrate this (not moving to the blue dot to check for the reward) changing how we respond
Lucantonio et al.
OFC damage disrupts reversal learning across multiple species; rats quickly learned associations but reversal takes significantly longer when there is an OFC lesion, the pattern is similar in monkeys and humans compared to controls with intact OFC
Fox et al.
measured freezing behaviors before and after applying OFC lesions; in response to threat those with lesions showed less freezing/fear behaviors relative to controls
Vuilleumier & Driver
the neural activity of monkeys was recorded while they responded to different visual stimuli; the highest points are when viewing faces, mainly the expressive ones; the same results for humans from fMRI. These processes function independently of the amygdala (independent function of the visual cortex)
visual cortex in emotional processing
preferential activation for emotional content, increased activation in visual regions in response to emotional faces
parietal cortex in emotional processing
also shoes preference for emotional content
Mereen et al.
within 80 milliseconds (faster than the visual cortex)the parietal lobe shows early processing of emotional identification in response to fearful neutral postures
Joseph LeDoux
“emotion is no more a brain region than it is a memory or a perception”
- emotions contain many components; action tendencies, physiological patterns of response & cognitive appraisal
- thus, all of the different regions that facilitate these components are involved in emotional processing
MVPA
assesses patterns of activation versus focusing on individual regions; like AUs, (can these patterns of neural action be assessed to determine what someone is looking at, or feeling? Can we predict them just by looking at brain activity?
Chang et al.
participants focused on a fixation point while in an MRI. They showed them emotional photos and rated their experiences using a likert scale (1-5, negative to positive). The data from the MRI was separated from self reports in an attempt to piece together to predict the self ratings that the participants provided.
Results: if participants reported emotional ratings between 3-5, the computer was 91% accurate at using their patterns of brain activation to predict their emotional ratings
Saarimäki et al.
participants were asked to either watch short emotional film clips or imagine an emotional situation after reading an emotional word while fMRI information was being recorded.
Results: based on activation patterns observed in the MRI the researchers predicted that the computer could use patterns of brain activation to predict how people felt when watching clips or recalling emotional memories.
How well do self-reports of emotional experiences line up with emotional behaviors and how well do the fMRI patterns predict self-reports?
Correlation matrixes: self-reports line up with behaviors much stronger than they did with discrete emotional activation patterns
Just ask!
Richard Davidson
each component of the emotional response differs in:
- threshold (how much stimuli is needed for activation?)
- magnitude (peak levels vary between individuals)
- time needed for peak activity given a specific instance of an emotional experience: takes time for subjective experience of fear to kick in (experiencing the most fear during the scariest scene)
- recovery: return to baseline activity, varies and changes
- regulation: can affect all other aspects
Emotional regulation
broad constellation of processes that either amplify, reduce (attenuate) or maintain the strength of emotional reaction; Davidson/How we choose to respond influences how the components of emotion play out
uses of emotional regulation
- increase, decrease or maintain emotional responses
How do we elicit emotion?
directed facial attention, photos, film + audio clips, emotional memories, interpersonal interaction, performance + judgement, bodily stress
directed facial attention task
- reasonable ecological validity, generalize to real-life settings
- standardized; well controlled and consistent across participant groups
- weakness; participants know what you’re looking for (use of cover stories), elicit emotions vary and aren’t intense
static images
the use of photos to elicit emotional reactions (IAPS); images are rated on valence and arousal
strengths: IAPS images are easy to implement and are accredited assessment tools, well standardized, low cognitive and language demands
weaknesses: induces a limited range of emotions, human expressions can be exaggerated, emotions elicited lack intensity
film clips
more salient; strengths: high ecological validity, easy to implement, elicits intense emotions
weaknesses: high cognitive demands, not accounting for individual tastes (not everyone will be disgusted by the same images), can’t elicit all emotions (jealousy?)
personal memories
strengths: personally relevant and engaging (high ecological validity)
weaknesses: lacks standardization (a lot of variability in individual emotional experiences), high memory demand
interpersonal interactions
interacting with another or multiple individuals (or computerized confederate) conversation, physical touch
strengths: high ecological validity, naturalistic in social contexts
weaknesses: interactions are difficult to standardize across participants (emotional responses are by both members of the interaction; dyad (what energy are at the researchers bringing into the room and how can that effect results?
performance/judgement
performing can be exhilarating or anxiety inducing
being judged can induce anxiety or/and pride (TSST)
strengths: ecologically valid and engaging, induces anxiety and embarrassment but not all emotions. Difficult to set up consistent control conditions, participant discomfort
bodily stress
administering sensations to illicit emotional responses; pain, shock, aroma exposure, startle, c02 inhilation
strengths: ecological validity, intense responses
cons: participant discomfort, only a few trials (lowered reactivity over time), method is confounded with emotion type (can’t induce disgust with shock)
anticipation period
measurable build up to the actual event
modulation
pairing long, mood inducing stimuli with those with a sudden onset; different experiences of fear hearing a loud sound in a haunted house vs hearing that while chilling at home/hand holding can reduce the intensity of painful stimuli
measures of emotion
self-report: subjective measures
emotional expressive behavior (face, voice, body)
peripheral physiology (physiological changes)
overt behavior - action tendency (maybe)
emotional language - cognition/appraisal (maybe)
neural activity
types of self-reports
questionnaires - multi-dimensional assessment
EMA assessment - apps; info about emotional experience in natural contexts/can be annoying but there’s games
narrative methods
daily reconstructs
types of self-report responses
free responses - essay
discrete assessment - “are you feeling x?”
dimensional assessment - “how are you feeling x on a scale of x?”
multi-dimensional responses (multiple scales)
continuous dimensional assessment - assessment of the temporal dynamics of emotion (moving a dial to indicate changes in emotional experience)
narrative methods
keep an emotional diary or write an essay; good source of rich contextual data, difficult to score and compare responses
two step daily reconstructions
describe your day (episodes), questionnaires for each episode [qualitative + quantitive data]
strengths: good compromise, takes hella time, dependent on follow up questions, participants get bored
emotional language
frequency and proportion of words used and sentiment analysis, vocalizations
emotion expressive behavior
FACS coding, long time to train researchers on system facial EMG (measures facial muscle contractions); could change emotional expression as electrodes are connected
SPAFF
whole-body expressions; “FACS lite”, focuses on the overall expression versus the individual units
peripheral physiology
blood pressure, skin conductance, heart rate (variability); valve openings, time for pulse to travel (rate/strength), speed of breath and respiration volume
overt behavior
economic ultimatum game; the choices we make relative to goal attainment
emotion related actions (fleeing, yelling, freezing)
emotion influenced actions (neutral face, attention to scary stimulus) must animal studies rely on OVER BEHAVIORS
