CH 17: Biopsychology of Emotion, Stress & Health Flashcards
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(1) PHINEAS GAGE
- Phineas Gage:
- Accident led to thick iron rod through his face, skull, brain & out the other side
- Survived & recovered
- -> Changed personality & emotions
- -> Unreliable & undependable
- Damage to his brain affected both medial prefrontal lobes
- -> involved in planning, decision making & emotion
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(2) DARWIN’s THEORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF EMOTION
- Darwin’s theory of the evolution of emotion
- Argue that particular emotional responses (ie. human facial expressions) tend to accompany the same emotional states in all members of a sp
- Expressions of emotion evolve from behaviours that indicate what an animal is likely to do next
- If the signals provided by such behaviours benefit the animal that displays them, they’ll evolve in ways that embrace their communicative function, their original function may be lost
- Opposite messages are often singled by opposite movements & postures, an idea called the ‘principle of antithesis’
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(3) JAMES-LANGE & CANNON-BARD THEORIES
- James-Lange Theory:
= Emotion-inducing sensory stimuli are received & interpreted by the cortex
–> Triggers changes in the visceral organs via the autonomic NS & skeletal muscles via the somatic NS
–> Then autonomic & somatic responses triggered experience of emotion in brain
- aka autonomic activity & behaviour triggered by emotional events (ie. rapid heartbeat) produce feelings of emotion, not vice versa
- aka emotional experience depends on feedback from autonomic & somatic NS activity
Cannon-Bard Theory:
= Emotional stimuli have 2 independent excitatory effects
–> Excites both feeling of emotion in brain & expression of emotion in the autonomic & somatic NS
- aka opposite of James-Lange theory
- aka views emotional experience & emotional expression as parallel processes that have NO direct causal relation
- aka emotional experience is independent of feedback from autonomic & somatic NS
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(4) SHAM RAGE
Sham Rage:
= the exaggerated, poorly directed, aggressive responses of decorticate animals
- Decorticate = had cortex removed
- Elicited in cats whose cerebral hemispheres removed down to, but not including, the hypothalamus
- *Findings:
- HYPOTHALAMUS = critical for expression of aggressive responses
- CORTEX = functions to inhibit & direct these aggressive responses
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(5) LIMBIC SYSTEM & EMOTION
- Limbic System:
= Collection of interconnected nuclei & tracts that ring the thalamus
- Propose that emotional expression controlled by limbic system
- -> Emotional states are expressed through the action of the other structures of the circuit on the hypothalamus & that they’re experienced through their action on the cortex
Summarize the major events in the history of research on the biopsychology of emotion -
(6) KLUVER-BUCY SYNDROME
- Kluver-Bucy Syndrome:
= Syndrome of behavioural changes (ie. lack of fear & hyper-sexuality) that’s induced in primates by bilateral damage to the anterior temporal lobes
- Most of the symptoms resulted from damage to the AMYGDALA (structure playing major role in emotion)
Discuss the 1st finding on the relationship b/w the Autonomic NS & emotions.
Total specificity vs. total generality.
- The degree to which specific patterns of ANS activity are ass. w/ specific emotions
- James -Lange Theory = diff emotional stimuli induce diff patterns of ANS activity
–> Prod diff emo experiences
= Total SPECIFICTY
- Cannon-Bard theory = all emotional stimuli produce the same general pattern of sympathetic activation
–> Prepares the organize for action (ie. ^bp)
= Total GENERALITY
–> The specificity of ANS reactions lies somewhere b/w the extremes of total specificity & total generality
Discuss the 2nd finding on the relationship b/w the Autonomic NS & emotions.
- The effectiveness of ANS measures in polygraph (lie detection)
- Polygraph employs ANS indexes of emotion to infer the truthfulness of a person’s responses
- Compare the physiological responses of unknown questions to questions of answers they do know
- -> Detects ANS activity
- Assume lying ass. w/ ^sympathetic activation
- 80% success rate
Explain the concept of, ‘Universality of Facial Expression’.
- Ppl of diff cultures make similar facial expressions in similar situations
Explain the concept of, ‘Primary Facial Expressions’
- Facial expressions of the following 6 emotions are primary:
1. Surprise
2. Anger
3. Sadness
4. Disgust
5. Fear
6. Happiness - All other facial expressions of genuine emotion are composed of mixtures of the 6 primaries
Describe the FACIAL FEEDBACK HYPOTHESIS.
- Our facial expressions can influence the emotions we experience
Explain the concept of, ‘Voluntary Control of Facial Expression’.
Distinguish true facial expression from false ones via _________ &_________.
- Able to inhibit true facial expressions & to substitute false ones
- ie) smile during lie (negative)
- ie) smile to reassure worried friend (positive)
- Distinguish true expression from false ones via:
i) micro expressions = brief facial expression of real emotion that break through the false one
ii) subtle differences b/w genuine facial expressions & false ones
Describe 4 current perspectives of facial expressions.
- Ekman’s 6 primary facial expressions of emotion rarely occur in pure form
- Existence of the primary emotions have been recognized
- Body cues, not just facial expressions, play a major role in experience of emotions
- Evidence that Ekman’s 6 primary facial expressions may not be as universal as originally believed
Describe the work that led to the distinction b/w aggressive & defensive behaviours in mammals.
- Behavioural observation of interactions b/w cats & mice
- -> Some cats were efficient mouse killers
- -> Some cats reacted defensively
- -> Some cats played w/ mice
- Analysis of aggressive & defensive behaviours led to development of the Target-Site Concept
Describe the TARGET-SITE CONCEPT.
- Idea that the aggressive & defensive behaviours of an animal are designed to attach specific specific sites on the body of another animal while protecting sites on its own
Describe relation b/w testosterone levels & aggression in males.
- Lack strong evidence that testosterone involved in human aggression
- Aggression can cause ^testosterone
- Castration doesn’t eliminate aggression (just during breeding season, but not all the time)
- Testosterone injections don’t ^aggression
- More accurate to measure testosterone levels in brain, not blood levels
Describe FEAR CONDITIONING.
Fear Conditioning:
= Establishment of fear in response to a previously neutral stimulus (the conditional stimulus) by presenting it several times before the delivery of an aversive stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus)
- ie) rat hears tone (conditional stimulus) & then receives electric shock (unconditioned stimulus)
- -> after several exposures, rat responds to tone via defensive behaviours (ie. freezing) & sympathetic NS responses (ie. ^bp)
Describe the role of the AMYGDALA in fear conditioning.
- Lesions of the amygdala BLOCKS auditory fear conditioning
- Amygdala receives input from all sensory systems
- Amygdala is structure in which emotional significance of sensory signals is learned & retained
- Several pathways carry signals from the amygdala to brainstem structures that control various emotional responses.
Describe CONTEXTUAL FEAR CONDITIONING.
Contextual Fear Conditioning:
= Process by which benign contexts (situations) come to elicit fear through their ass. w/ fear-inducing stimuli
- ie) If encounter bear on particular forest trail, the trail itself would begin to elicit fear
Describe the role of the HIPPOCAMPUS in Contextual Fear Conditioning.
- HIPPOCAMPUS plays key role in memory for spatial location
- Bilateral hippocampal lesions BLOCK the subsequent development of a fear response to the context w/o blocking the development of a fear response to the explicit conditional stimulus
Describe the role of the LATERAL NUCLEUS of the AMYGDALA in fear conditioning – include the roles of the PREFRONTAL CORTEX & HIPPOCAMPUS.
- Plays major role in acquisition, storage & expression of conditioned fear
- The prefrontal cortex & the hippocampus project to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala:
> Prefrontal Cortex = acts on lateral nucleus of the amygdala to suppress conditioned fear
> Hippocampus = interacts w/ part of the amygdala to mediate learning about the context of fear-related events
Describe 3 current findings of cognitive neuroscience research on emotion.
- Brain activity ass. w/ each human emotion is diffuse - there isn’t one location or brain mechanism of emotion
- There’s always activity in motor & sensory cortices when a person experiences an emotion or empathizes w/ a person experiencing an emotion
- Similar patterns of brain activity tend to be recorded when a person experiences animation, imagines that emotion, or sees somebody experience that emotion
–> These findings influence how researchers think about the neural mechanism of emotion
Describe the role of the AMYGDALA in human emotion (3).
- Performance of any tasks w/ an emotional component, whether (+) or (-)
- Evaluating the emotional significance of situations
- FEAR
Describe the role of the MEDIAL PREFRONTAL LOBES in human emotion.
> Exert their cognitive control on emotions by interacting w/ the amygdala
- Evidence of activity here when emotional reactions are cognitively suppressed or re-evaluated
> Is large & complex
- Likely performs many functions
- Not all neurons in the area perform the same function
- -> Neurons directly involved in emotion processing appear to be sparse & widely distributed in the human medial prefrontal lobes
Describe the research on the lateralization of emotion - describe the 2 models involved.
- Evidence suggests that emotional functions are LATERALIZED = the (L) and (R) cerebral hemispheres are specified to perform different emotional functions
i) RIGHT HEMISPHERE MODEL of cerebral lateralization of emotion = the R hemisphere is specialized for all aspects of emotional processing (perception, expression, & experience of emotion)
ii) VALENCE MODEL = the R hemispheres is specialized for processing (-) emotion & the L hemisphere is specialized for processing (+) emotion
Describe the current perspective on the neural mechanisms of human emotion that has emerged from brain-imaging studies.
- Emotional situations produce widespread increases in cerebral activity, not just in the amygdalae & prefrontal cortex
- All brain areas activated by emotional stimuli are also activated during other psychological processes
- No brain structure has been invariably linked to a particular emotion
- The same emotional stimuli often activate different areas in different ppl
Describe the 2-system view of the STRESS RESPONSE.
- Stressors acting on neural circuits stimulate the release of ACTH from anterior pituitary
- -> Triggers release of GLUCOCORTICOIDS from adrenal cortex
- -> Glucocorticoids prod many of the components of stress response
- -> Level of circulating glucocorticoids = physiological measure of stress - Stressors activate the sympathetic NS
- -> ^epinephrine & norepinephrine related from adrenal medulla
see Figure 17.13 for good visual breakdown!!
Describe the short-term & long-term consequences of chronic stress responses.
Short term:
- Stress responses produce adaptive changes that help animal respond to stressor (ie. mobilization of E resources)
Long term:
- Stress responses produce changes that are maladaptive (ie. enlarged adrenal glands)
Define SUBORDINATION STRESS.
- When conspecific threat becomes an enduring feature of daily life
- ie) lab rats constantly housed w/ aggressive conspecifics
Define PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDERs.
- Mental disorders in which psychological factors play a causal role
Define GASTRIC ULCERs.
- Painful lesions in stomach & duodenum lining
- 1st medical disorder to be classified psychosomatic
Describe how our view of psychosomatic disorders has been refined by the results of research on gastric ulcers.
- Claim that the bacteria, H. pylori, is responsible for causing gastric ulcers, but the infection alone is insufficient to produce the disorder in most ppl
- Antibodies improved condition of patients w/ gastric ulcers, but so did psychological treatments
- -> they do it w/o reducing signs of H. pylori infection
- **STRESS = ^susceptibility of stomach wall damage from H. pylori
Describe PSYCHO-NEURO-IMMUNOLOGY.
- The study of interactions amount psychological factors, the NS, & the immune system
Describe the 4 components that make up our bodies’ defences against foreign pathogens.
- Behavioural immune sys
- Humans motivated to avoid contact w/ individuals displaying symptoms of illness - Surface barriers
- Keeps body from being overwhelmed
- ie) Skin, coughing, sneezing, tears, mucous, etc. - INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM
= 1st component of the immune sys to react
- Reacts to invasion of pathogens via inflammation (swelling)
–> triggers release of chemicals from damaged cells
see pg 467 for more details - ADAPTIVE IMMUNE SYSTEM
= Differs from innate immune sys via:
- is slower – its immune reaction to pathogens takes longer
- is specific – reacts against specific antigens
- has a memory – once it’s reacted against a particular pathogen, it reacts ^effectively against that same pathogen in the future
see pg 468-470 for more details
Describe the effects of early exposure to severe stress.
Early exposure to forms of severe stress:
- -> Display variety of brain & endocrine sys abnormalities
- -> Combined w/ inherited susceptibility, can ^likelihood of developing psychiatric disorder
- -> ^intensity of subsequent stress response
- ie) rat pups separated from mothers in infancy display elevated behavioural & hormonal responses to stress as adults
Describe the effects of stress on the HIPPOCAMPUS.
Stress shown to:
- Reduce dendritic branching in hippocampus
- Reduce adult neurogenesis in hippocampus
- Modify structure of some hippocampal synapses
- Disrupt performance of hippocampus-dependent tasks
Describe 2 findings that show how the effects of stress on hippocampus can be mediated by ^glucocorticoid levels.
- They can be INDUCED by CORTICOSTERONE = major glucocorticoid
- They can be BLOCKEd by ADRENALECTOMY = surgical removal of adrenal glands
- Hippocampus’ susceptibility to stress-induced effects may be due to the particularly dense pop of glucocorticoid receptors in the hippocampus
