Canli et. al Flashcards
Background
People are more likely to recall emotional experiences compared to non-emotional ones
amygdala appears to play a critical rolein such an enhancement of emotional damage
Past studied using PET and MRI scans have shown correlations between?
the amygdala activation and the presentation and recall of emotional stimuli
What is a structural scan
it takes detailed pictures of the brain
what is a functional scan
shows activity levels in different areas of the brain
what is the amygdala? (4)
psychology being investigated
almond shaped
set of neurons
located in the brain’s medial temporal lobe
plays a key role in the processing of emotions
What is the fMRI
psycholgoy being investigated
it is a neuroimaging procedure using MRI technology that measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow
How does the fMRI work?
3 key notes
non-invasive brain scanning technique
uses radio waves, coupled with a strong magnetic field, to get a detailed view of the brain
The fMRI sends a magnetic field through a person’s head. This causes the nuclei in hydrogen particles to spin a particular way and the scanner pics this up. Because hydrogen concentrations vary in different parts of the brain, a detailed picture is made.
Method
Lab experiment and correlational study
Design
Independant measures design
Sample (3)
10 women
all righthanded
volunteer
why were there only women include in the study
because they report emotional experiences more and show more psychological reactivity with valence judgements
Aims
2
- to investigate whether the amygdala is sensitive to varying degrees of individual emotional experiences
- To test the role of the amygdala and the memory that is associated with intense emotion
IV
intensity ratings of each stimulus
DV
self report percentages of forgotten, familiar or remembered
Correlations between the amygdala activation and the presentation and recall of emotional stimuli were because of what three reasons
- Some individuals are more responsive to emotional experiences than others (amygdala activation= personality)
- Some individuals may have already been in a state that enhanced responsiveness during scanning
- Amygdala activation= individual emotional experience
Summary of procedure (5)
- ppts saw neutral and negative scene
- they then indicated how they experienced the emotional intensity of each scene
- a separate fMRI scan was recorded for each experience
- three weeks later, ppts memories were assessed
- each amygdala response could be related to the pts report of emotional intensity
neutral emotions are?
○ those that do not cause activation of the sympathetic nervous system
○ e.g. person walking on street, birds flying
Negative intense emotions are?
○ those that will activate the sympathetic nervous system
○ e.g. Someone fighting
Apparatus
- fMRI scanner
- 96 pictures from the International Affective Picture System each with ratings on valence and arousal
How was readings on the MRI calculated (2)
- ppts were measured first at baseline then at activation
- baseline tasks are an objective measure of testing the intervention of a procedure
What did participants do after seeing the fixation cross (4)
- they had to indicate their emotional arousal
- by pressing a button
- they had to choose one of four buttons
- 0 being not emotionally intense at all and 3 being extremely emotionally intense
Describe the recognition test (4)
- included old 96 scenes and new 48 scenes
- new scenes had been matched with valence and arousal
- asked if they had seen picture before,
remember= certain
know= less confident
no= don’t remember
where were the photographs from
international affective picture system
How long was each picture presented for
2.88 seconds
what was the time difference between pictures
12.96 seconds
How were the scenes viewed
through a mirror directed at a back-projected screen
How was head movement minimised
- by using a bite bar that was formed with each subject’s dental impression
- motion artifact was examined and corrected automatically
Why would they look at the fixation cross
to make sure that they are looking at the same spot
how many new foils were there
48
What was the correlational map for
to show correlation between brain activation and subject arousal ratings and memory scores
correlation
conc 1
amygdala activation is significantly correlated with higher ratings of individually experienced emotional intensity
sensitive to
conc 2
amygdala is sensitive to individually experienced emotional intensity of visual scenes
How is there application to everyday life
the findings of the study may be useful for advertising agencies.
If emotionally intense information is more likely to be recognised or recalled then ads may be designed to contain intense imagery
Controls (3)
- order of pictures were randomised
- each pic presented for 2.88s
0 12.96 secs between the pics
Result 1- self report
0- 29%
1- 22%
2- 24%
3- 25%
therefore, difference in recall was not caused by the number of scenes in each category
Result 2- activation
amygdala activation was significantly bilaterally correlated with ratings of emotional arousal
Result 3- memory recall
Memory recall was better for pictures rated ‘3’ compared to others. 42% of scenes rated ‘3’ were remembered
Result 4- left amygdala
left amygdala was found to correlate with the emotional intensity of the memory
Result 5- about not amygdala
other brain locations in the frontal and temporal regions also correlated with emotional experiences and subsequent memory
Arousal
how active the SNS is when exposed to a stimuli
Valence
attractiveness or aversiveness of an event or situation
Reliable? Yes (2)
Uses scientific equipment such as the fMRI scan
has standardised procedures such as 2.88s to look at scene
Generalisable?
Has an all female sample.
This means that it can’t be generalised to men
As the ways in which males and females process emotional information may be different and therefore conclusions about brain regions may only apply to females
Correlational approach, good?
analyses used in correlational mapping which only shows relationship between the valence of pictures and brain activation. Therefore, cause and effect may not be established as extraneous variables are not considered
Ethics- protection
participants were exposed to emotionally charged imagery which may have stressed some of them
No happy imagery was used to alleviate any negative mental state that they may have developed.
Why would study be difficult for children (2)
- children might need to stay still
- may be scared of machine
Nature points (4)
- the study is about brain function which is a biological mechanism
- amygdala is part of brain hence is biological
- blood-oxygen levels were measured, which is biological in nature
- females were used due to them being more likely to show emotional reactions which is a biological difference to men
Explain why the study is from the biological approach
- study was investigating role of amygdala in memories. Biological approach is interested in role of the brain in our behaviour
Weakness of using brain scans (2)
- people may act differently compared to when having the scan so emotional intensity in real life-situation may have been different
- people may feel stressed when doing the scan affecting their rating of emotional intensity reducing validity
