Brain Mechanisms of Human Emotion

Question 1

Name 3 three points that have advanced our understanding of the brain mechanisms of emotion through cognitive neuroscience

Answer 1

• Brain activity –> not a center for each emotion.
• Always activity in motor and sensory cortices when: experiencing or empathizing emotion
• Similar brain activity patterns when person experiences, imagines or sees somebody experience emotion.

Question 2

Embodiment of emotions

Answer 2

The re-experiencing of related patterns of motor, autonomic, and sensory neural activity during emotional experiences

Question 3

Urbach-wiethe disease

Answer 3

A genetic disorder that often results in calcification (hardening by conversion to calcium carbonate, the main component of bone) of the amygdala and surrounding anterior medial temporal-lobe structures in both hemispheres. Patients difficulty in the recognition of fearful facial expressions, but sometimes other complex visual stimuli also difficult.

Question 4

suppression paradigms

Answer 4

In studies of medial prefrontal lobe activity participants are directed to inhibit(remmen) their emotional reactions to un-pleasant films or pictures.

Question 5

reappraisal paradigms

Answer 5

In studies of medial prefrontal lobe activity participants are instructed to reinterpret a picture to change their emotional reaction to it.

Question 6

Kawasaki and colleagues

Answer 6

Used micro-electrodes to record from 267 neurons in the anterior cingulate cortices. Showed 4 patients photographs with emotional content. Of these 267 neurons, 56 responded most strongly and consistently to negative emotional content. This confirms previous research linking the medial prefrontal lobes with negative emotional reactions, but it also shows that not all neurons in the area perform the same function—neurons directly involved in emotional processing appear to be sparse and widely distributed in the human medial prefrontal lobes.

Question 7

lateralized emotional functions

Answer 7

the left and right cerebral hemispheres are specialized to perform different emotional functions

Question 8

Name the 2 prominent theories of the cerebral lateralization of emotion

Answer 8

• The right-hemisphere model of the cerebral lateralization of emotion holds that the right hemisphere is specialized for all aspects of emotional processing: perception, expression, and experience of emotion.
• The valence model proposes that the right hemisphere is specialized for processing negative emotion and the left hemisphere is specialized for processing positive emotion.

Question 9

Wager and colleagues (2003) about lateralization of emotion

Answer 9

• Current theories of lateralization of emotion too general from a neuroanatomical perspective.
• Overall comparisons between left and right hemispheres revealed no interhemispheric differences in either the amount or valence(de kwaliteit of gevoelskleur van een emotie of beleving) of the emotions being processed.
• However when conducted on structure-by-structure basis —> substantial evidence of lateralization of emotional processing. Some emotional processing lateralized to left hemisphere others to the right.
• So the right-hemisphere model/valence model of the lateralization of emotion not supported by evidence.
• Another approach to studying the lateralization of emotions –> observing the asymmetry of facial expressions. Each facial expression begins on the left side of the face and, when fully expressed, is more pronounced there—which implies right-hemisphere dominance for facial expressions. Remarkably, the same asymmetry of facial expressions has been documented in monkeys.

Question 10

Brain-imaging –> amygdalae and medial prefrontal cortex play major roles in the perception and experience of human emotion. Name 4 important points:

Answer 10

• Emotional situations produce widespread increases in cerebral activity, not just in the amygdalae and pre-frontal cortex.
• All brain areas activated by emotional stimuli are also activated during other psychological processes.
• No brain structure has been linked to a particular emotion.
• The same emotional stimuli often activate different areas in different people.

Question 11

Name the 5 specific functions of the medial prefrontal lobes according to theories

Answer 11

• monitor the difference between outcome and expectancy
• encode stimulus value over time(betekenis/waarde van een stimulus begrijpen)
• predict the likelihood of error
• mediate the conscious awareness of emotional stimuli
• mediate social decision making