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Learning And Plasticity Final > Chapter 10 > Flashcards

Chapter 10 Flashcards

1
Q

Strong emotions lead to ____ of the events because we tend to think about and discuss them more often, therefore the memory is retrieved, rehearsed and strengthened.

A

Rehearsal. I.e. 9/11 evoked strong emotions, and people tend to remember what they were doing on the day pretty well

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2
Q

two groups of participants are shown a series of pictures, accompanied by a story which has the same beginning and end for both groups (unemotional beginning/end). The middle part of the story varied between the groups.

Group 1: emotional middle. Boy gets injured.
Group 2: unemotional middle. Boy merely observes hospital staff conducting a practice disaster drill.

What happened next?

A

Two weeks later they were tested. Group one remember middle details well, whilst group two didn’t know shit all. Both groups didn’t remember beginning and end that well.

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3
Q

Why do advertisements use sexual/exciting elements?

A

It has stronger encoding. More memorable.

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4
Q

Mood congruency of memory?

A

It is easier to retrieve memories that match our current mood or emotional state

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5
Q

Sad/happy music study?

A

Students listened to music, and reported whether it made them happy or sad
oStudents were then shown a list of words and asked to recall an autobiographical memory associated with each word
oStudents who felt happy after the music came up with positive memories
oStudents who felt sad after the music came up with negative memories
oFew students generated neutral memories, reinforcing that neutral memories are generally remembered less.

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6
Q

Depression?

A

You feel depressed, so you tend to recall negative memories. Leads to a cycle of negative emotions because depression = negative memories = more sadness

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7
Q

Why do moods influence recall?

A

Strong moods cause biological responses and subjective feelings
Biological responses/feelings can be incorporated into memory like a cue
More cues available at the time of recall = more successful retrieval

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8
Q

Flashbulb memories

A

Extreme emotions = extreme strong and durable memories
I.e. Personal events; death, birth, first kiss, accident
Some details can be inaccurate

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9
Q

Strong emotions affect ____ and ____ of episodic memories.

A

Storage, retrieval

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10
Q

How long does it take for flashbulb memories to form?

A

Deform very quickly. Just like flash photos. They preserve the incident in vivid detail which tends not to fade away

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11
Q

Some details of flashbulb memories can be inaccurate, how so?

A

Memory massage of you should IE confusing the source of your memory. Also, possible memories decay overtime. Since important events or rehearsed and discuss often , We unconsciously filling the gaps in memory with details that fit the context

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12
Q

Papez circuit

A

James Papez used studies of the brain lesions to identify anatomical structures needed for motion. Propose the loop in which the brain regions operated, called the Papez circuit. Although he was an important contributor, there is no specialized circuit. Different emotions activate several brain regions -the brain as a whole, not a specific loop

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13
Q

What is the central processing station for emotion

A

Amygdala

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14
Q

The amygdala is a collection of over _ sub regions

A

10

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15
Q

Lateral nucleus

A

Primary entry point for sensory information into amygdala from thalamus or cortex

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16
Q

Central nucleus

A

Receives input from other amygdala nuclei and projections out of amygdala to 1) ANS: control physiological responses i.e. Arousal, stress hormone release 2) motor centers: behavioral response i.e. Freezing

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17
Q

Basolateral nucleus

A

Receives input from lateral nucleus and projects to cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, Hippocampus to provide a pathway for amygdala to modulate memory storage and retrieval in those structures

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18
Q

Amygdala stimulation in humans produces what kind of emotion?

A

Mild positive or mild negative emotion

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19
Q

Amygdala is important for learning and expressing conditional ________.

A

Emotional responses

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20
Q

Central nucleus

A

Nucleus within the amygdala

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21
Q

Lesions of central nucleus do what?

A

Disrupt ability to learn and display new emotional responses

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22
Q

People with central nuclei lesions respond to what but not what?

A

Respond to US but not the CS alone

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23
Q

Skin conductance response SCR

A

A measurable change in electrical conductivity of human skin that occurs when people are aroused

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24
Q

What is the SCR caused by?

A

Output from central amygdala to the ANS

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25
Q

SCR can be disrupted by?

A

Damage to amygdala

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26
Q

What are the 2 pathways for emotional learning?

A

Direct pathway: thalamus to amygdala

  • fast and rough processing
  • Conveys less detail, provides an outline of situation
  • Helpful in life and death situation won the fight or flight response needs to be activated immediately

Indirect pathway: thalamus -> cortex -> amygdala

  • slow but accurate
  • provides accurate information with details, allowing us to terminate fear response if the stimulus isn’t actually threatening

I.e.
If you see a stranger walking towards you in a dark alley, the direct pathway will immediately activate the fear response (fast response)
A few milliseconds later the input will reach the visual cortex, which will process the input to declare it as non-threating- it’s not a stranger, but a friend. The cortex will signal the amygdala to turn off the fear response (slower, but accurate)

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27
Q

Rat almond scent study

A

Researchers implanted electrodes into the lateral amygdala of rats to monitor about 100 neurons. Ross presented with various orders such as almond and anise = low baseline neuronal response to each odor
Train rack by having one older, almond, paired with tail shock (US)
Rotts learned to freeze in anticipation of shock when they smelled almond, neurons began to respond strongly to almond odor.
Long term potentiation - almond odor and shock are paired, strengthening the synaptic connection between them

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28
Q

Long term potentiation

A

When 2 things are paired and there is a strengthening in synaptic connection between them

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29
Q

Greater activation of amygdala when presented with a stimulus as shown by PET scan leads to what?

A

Greater memory for details and recognition

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30
Q

The degree of amygdala activation can help determine what?

A

If something is stored as episodic or semantic memory

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31
Q

A greater activation of amygdala I both encoding and recognition makes what likely to happen?

A

The memory is likely to be stored as episodic.

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32
Q

In woman and men, the left and right sides of the amygdala are responsible for better memory. Which is which?

A

Women: left
Men: right

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33
Q

Autonomic nervous system? ANS

A

The collection of nerves and structures that control internal organs and glands

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34
Q

Outputs from central nucleus travel to ANS which signals adrenal gland to release ____

A

Epinephrine. Epinephrine and other stress hormones mediate fight or flight response

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35
Q

What is the problem with epinephrine? How is it solved?

A

Epinephrine cannot cross the blood brain barrier: remembering that controls the passage of substances from blood into the brain. Therefore, epinephrine activates brainstem nuclei which produced the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Norepinephrine travels from the brainstem nuclei to the basolateral nucleus. Outputs from basolateral nucleus travel to other brain regions i.e. Hippocampus and cortex

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36
Q

What does the level of norepinephrine predict?

A

How well the person will remember the experience.

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37
Q

Neurons of basolateral amygdala fire in ____ waves. What does this do?

A

Rhythmic, it’s facilitates a long-term potentiation between co active neurons, thus facilitating learning in the cortex and hippocampal region

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38
Q

What blocks norepinephrine?

A

Propranolol

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39
Q

Disruptions in norepinephrine transmission can impair ____

A

Memory

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40
Q

Stress hormones are helpful to memory to a certain extent. After that, they can be…

A

Detrimental to memory and can cause neuronal death in hippocampus

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41
Q

Consolidation period

A

When memories are vulnerable upon initial encoding

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42
Q

Reconsolidation

A

When memories are recalled, making them vulnerable again

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43
Q

Reactivation of old emotional memory allows more stress hormones to strengthen neural circuits in encoding that memory

A

True

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44
Q

Re Consolidation experiment

A

Control rats are shocked in dark chamber, hesitate 60 seconds before re entering the chamber. Experimental rats are given epinephrine after shock, hesitate for 200 seconds before re entering.

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45
Q

Child draws on wall and gets yelled at hours later. What can reconsolidation do?

A

Reocnsolidation and stress hormones allow the amygdala to re access the memory and modify it so that coloring the wall can be associated with punishment

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46
Q

hippocampal region influences emotional learning by providing for mission about the context where the ____ was encountered

A

Stimulus

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47
Q

During conditioning alright learns not only about conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus but also about….

A

Context

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48
Q

A patient with bilateral amygdala damage could not learn a conditioned ___

A

SCR

49
Q

Frontal lobes of cortex are involved in ______

A

Social behavior.

50
Q

Patients with frontal lobe damage have trouble recognizing negative ____ expressions in others

A

Facial

51
Q

Patients with frontal lobe damage can show ____ emotionality

A

Heightened. Meaning inappropriate social behavior like public masturbation.

52
Q

Lesions to medial prefrontal cortex?

A

Impair her ability to learn to make an emotional response under some conditions, but to withhold it under other conditions. Rats with these lesions continue responding to a conditioned stimulus (even when t begins to appear without the US) Long after normal rats have learned to ignore it

53
Q

Phobia

A

Excessive an irrational fear of an object, place or situation

54
Q

How do we differentiate fear from phobia?

A

If a fear reaction is justified, for example you are afraid of a snake because it can be deadly, then it is just a fear. But once if you’re starts to interfere with daily life, it is classified as a phobia

55
Q

Little Albert study by Watson

A

At first Albert played with the white rat. Then, once in paired the white rat with a loud noise that scared Albert. He began to cry at even the sight of the rat, whether the noise was there or not. This learning generalized to similar objects, Albert was now afraid of other white furry objects.

56
Q

Social transmission

A

Phobias may be conditioned through social transmission. For example being scared of flying after seeing a television report of a crash. Or a rat being scared of snakes because the neighbor rat is scared of snakes.

57
Q

Systematic disensitization therapy

A

Phobia treatment. Successive approximations of the conditioned stimulus are presented while the patient learns to relax. Eventually, the CS itself does not induce fear any longer.

Snake fear = rope -> rubber snake -> picture of snake -> real snake

58
Q

Posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD

A

Psychological syndrome dock and develop after a traumatic event for example combat rape or natural disaster

59
Q

PTSD symptoms?

A

Intrusive flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of reminders of the trauma, and heightened anxiety

60
Q

Why might PTSD occur from a classical conditioning stance?

A

Traumatic event may function as a US, and stimuli that occurred with it (sight sound smell) all become CS.

PTSD differs from phonias in that fear reactions are triggered by a wide variety of stimuli reminiscent of our original trauma, not just by one particular stimulus

61
Q

Extinction therapy?

A

PTSD treatment. Exposing patient to cues that trigger the anxiety, but doing so in the absence of danger. Done to encourage extinction of abnormally strong fear response

62
Q

Preventive therapy for PTSD?

A

Using drugs that interfere with epinephrine and thus reduce the body’s stress reactions.

For example, individuals who experienced trauma and then receive propranolol injections, may be less likely to develop PTSD then those who do not

63
Q

PTSD is the ____ not the ____

A

Exception, rule

64
Q

What happened to new yorkers living a few miles within the world trade center on 9/11?

A

2 months later, 10-20% showed fear symptoms.

6 months later, less than 2% did.

65
Q

What is a big pre-existing vulnerability factor for PTSD?

A

Hippocampal size. Small is more vulnerable.

66
Q

Gilbertson study (war veterans)

A

Found that veterans with PTSD typically had a smaller hippocampal volume then veterans who had not developed PTSD.

  1. Either it shrunk since the exposure to stress
  2. Born with it

Turns out it doesn’t shrink, and if it is small to begin with, you are predisposed to PTSD. He tested 2 pairs of twins, 1 with normal and one with smaller than normal hippocampus.

This is because connections from hippocampus to prefrontal cortex are important in extinguishing learning associations. Does with smaller Hippocampus may be less able to extinguish fear responses than other peers

67
Q

Emotion?

A

A cluster of three distinct but interrelated phenomenal:

physiological responses -> changes in heart rate, perspiration levels, respiration and other body functions

overt (observable) behaviors -> facial expression, vocal tone and posture

conscious feelings -> subjective experiences of sadness, happiness etc.

68
Q

Fear response

A

A cluster of physiological, motor, and conscious reactions that accompany the emotion of fear

69
Q

Paul Ekman suggested that there is a small set of universal emotions, hardwired in humans from birth. What are these emotions? What 2 emotions did researchers come up with later on?

A

Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise

Interest and shame.

70
Q

Human emotion is innate and ____

A

Universal

71
Q

Arousal

A

A collection of bodily responses (including increased body flow to muscles, increased respiration and depressed digestion and immune function) that prepare the body to face a threat, also known as the flight or fight response.

72
Q

What are the body changes that come with arousal mediated by?

A

Autonomic nervous system ANS

73
Q

Does the ANS operate with out without conscious control?

A

Without

74
Q

What is the step by step for stress hormones being released?

A

The brain since it’s a challenge or threat -> the ANS sends signal to the adrenal glands -> adrenal glands release stress hormones -> hormones that act throughout the body to turn fight or flight response on and off

75
Q

Stress

A

Any event or stimulus that causes bodily arousal and the release of stress hormones

76
Q

What are the two major stress hormones? What do they do?

A

Epinephrine -> also called adrenaline
Glucocorticoids -> the chief glucocorticoid in humans is cortisol

They mediate the flight or flight response

77
Q

3 theories of emotion?

A

James Lange theory of emotion
Cannon Bard theory of emotion
Two factor theory of emotion

78
Q

James Lange theory of emotion?

A

States that conscious feelings of emotion occur when the mind senses the physiological responses associated with fear or some kind of arousal. In simple words:

Emotional stimulus -> physiological bodily response (arousal) -> conscious emotional feelings

Similar to somatic theories of emotion (more modern)

79
Q

Prediction of somatic theories of emotion?

A

Researchers should be able to evoke a given emotion in a person just by inducing the corresponding bodily response.

E.g., “pull your eyebrows down and together; raise your upper eyelids and tighten your lower eyelids; narrow your lips and press them together.” → how do you feel when you make this expression and hold it for a few seconds?

80
Q

Cannon Bard theory of emotion?

A

Stimuli simultaneously evoke both emotions and arousal

Emotional stimulus -> conscious emotional feeling AND physiological bodily response (arousal)

81
Q

Two factor theory of emotion?

A

Schachter and Singer came up with a theory of emotion that incorporated aspects of both the James Lange and Cannon Bard theories:
A combination of cognitive appraisal and perception of biological changes together determine our experience of emotion.

  • Injected volunteers with epinephrine (to produce physiological arousal) and then put each volunteer in a room with a confederate instructed to act a certain way. The volunteers began to catch the moods of their companions (i.e., if the confederate acted joyful they did too, if they acted angry they began to get annoyed)
  • In other words epinephrine injections caused bodily arousal, which each volunteer’s brain interpreted according to the context in which that individual was placed
  • This suggest that the same ambiguous bodily responses can occur in different emotions, and the label we apply to the responses (e.g., “joy” or “anger”) depends on the situation we are in
82
Q

What did Darwin say about arousal?

A

Many species of animals react to arousing stimuli in similar ways. For example, when a gorilla encounters a frightening stimulus, it’s first reaction may include a sudden jump (startle), followed by alert immobility (freezing).

It may display piloerection, making its body hair stand up, causing the animal to look larger. This is similar to the physiological reactions humans may experience, including the goosebumps that Darwin suggests are remnants of our ancestors.

83
Q

Conditioned emotional responses

A

The freezing response is an innate response to a threatening situation.

Freezing behavior (UR) evoked by shock (US)

If the shock US is repeatedly preceded by a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) such as a tone or light → the animal will learn the CS-US association and then produced conditioned responses (CRs) to the CS
This CR is → conditioned emotional response

Conditioned emotional responses are very long lasting and hard to extinguish.

84
Q

Conditioned escape

A

Animals learn to make particular responses in order to escape from or terminate an aversive stimulus. Form of operant conditioning.

Conditioned escape learning can be very fast.

85
Q

Conditioned avoidance

A

Animals learn to make particular responses to avoid or prevent arrival of an aversive stimulus.

I.e. Clicking the lever that stops shocks as soon as you hear the tone that warns you for the shock

86
Q

Two factor theory of avoidance

A

Avoidance learning involved interaction between classical and operant conditioning.

  1. The first stage of avoidance learning is classical conditioning: as the tone is paired with the shock, it comes to function as a warning signal and becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that evokes a conditioned emotional response (fear CR) in anticipation of the upcoming shock (US)
  2. Then operant conditioning occurs: the avoidance response (lever pressing) is reinforced because it causes cessation of the warning signal and therefore a reduction in fear

Therefore, animals don’t learn to lever press in order to avoid the shock; rather, they learn to lever press in order to escape from the warning signal (specifically, the fear response)

87
Q

Cognitive expectancies

A

Modifications to the two factor theory: animals learn the expected outcomes of responding and of not respond and then make a decision to respond or not based on a comparison between the 2 expected outcomes

88
Q

Learned helpnessness

A

Exposure to an uncontrollable punisher teaches an expectation that responses are ineffectual which in turn reduces the motivation to attempt new avoidance responses.

Placed a dog in one chamber → avoidance chamber: the dog periodically received an electric shock
At first dogs also learned to jump over the wall as soon as the tone sounded, thus avoiding the shock altogether
Wondered what would happen if, before a dog was first put in avoidance chamber, the tone-stimulus had already been explicitly paired with a shock in a classical fear-conditioning paradigm:
CS (tone) → US (shock)
The first time the dog heard the tone in the avoidance chamber, they ran around for a few seconds – and then they lay down in the corner and whined
Even after repeated trials, the dogs never learned to jump over the wall and escape: removing the barrier wall, baiting the safe chamber with food, even climbing into the safe chamber themselves and calling the dogs to cross over
But still, the dogs continued to lie in the corner and endure the shock
Seligman concluded that → prior exposure to an inescapable shock (during classical conditioning phase) taught the animals that they were helpless to escape any shock – even in the operant-learning phase

89
Q

Piloerection

A

Goosebumps that cause hair to stand up

90
Q

Epinephrine

A

Stress hormone, also known as adrenaline, that helps to mediate the fight or flight response

91
Q

Glucocorticoids

A

Group of stress hormones (including cortisol which is the chief glucocorticoid) that help mediate fight or flight response

92
Q

Stress hormones

A

Hormone that is released in response to signals from the autonomic nervous system (which was signaled by the amygdala) and helps mediate the fight or flight response

93
Q

Circadian rhythm

A

Circadian Rhythms: systematic changes, expressed over the course of the 24-hour day, and which persist when the organism is held in constant environmental conditions

The outward expression of circadian rhythms is a reflection of an internal timing mechanism that is synchronized to the 24- hour day
In human beings, the most apparent expression of rythmicity is the daily cycle of sleep and wake

94
Q

What are the 2 types of circadian rhythms?

A

Morning type and evening type

95
Q

Sleep keeps frontal lobes properly refreshed and our tendency to sleep at one time or another is tied to our…?

A

Circadian rhythm

96
Q

As lack of sleep decreases, what else decreases?

A

Inhibitory control and executive functioning

97
Q

Sleep deprivation and restriction have a negative impact on ____

A

Emotion

98
Q

Evening type circadian rhythm is found to be associated with a greater tendency for ____ dysregulation

A

Emotional

99
Q

Burnout results from many factors including…?

A

Emotional fatigue and exhaustion

100
Q

Bellicoso’s fatigue experiment

A

Got 94 oncology nurses. Results: higher level of burnout were found among participants with evening type chronotype and among those with poor quality sleep ratings

Working at ones optimal time and obtaining good quality sleep contributes to reduced levels of burnout

101
Q

Coping

A

Any behavior that someone demonstrates to try and deal with a stressful situation

102
Q

Emotional fatigue

A

Going through soooo much then burning out

103
Q

What circadian type and what gender is more susceptible to nightmares?

A

Evening type women

104
Q

Amygdala location

A

Collection of brain nuclei lying at the anterior tip of each hippocampus

105
Q

Sleep deprivation seems to increase amygdala…?

A

Hypersensitivity to emotional stimuli

106
Q

Anxiety disorders

A

A cluster of psychiatric conditions that includes panic disorders, phobias, and OCD

107
Q

Is PTSD an anxiety disorder?

A

Not anymore

108
Q

Phobia medication would contain what?

A

Propranolol in order to block epinephrine

109
Q

PTSD can be caused by exposure to either:

A

Actual or threatened death
Actual or threatened serious injury
Actual or threatened sexual violation

110
Q

Chronotype

A

Broadly defined, refers to how one’s performance capability changes throughout the day

111
Q

Evening type is associated with what?

A

Greater lifetime PTSD symptoms
More disturbed sleep patterns
For nightmares

No time for brain to recharge and rest

112
Q

DSM5 symptom clusters for PTSD:

A
  1. Intrusion
  2. Avoidance
  3. Negative alterations in cognition and mood
  4. Alterations in arousal and reactivity
  5. People who feel depersonalization (one’s sense of self) and derealization (feeling one is in a dreamlike state where the environment is foggy and unreal)
113
Q

Previously someone who was given a ptsd diagnosis had to say they felt fearful or helpless. And now?

A

You don’t have to feel anything in the moment. It might take longer for you to feel emotions.

114
Q

What is the difference between an adult and child experiencing ptsd?

A

The child will generalize their memories and fears of a traumatic event to a wide range of stimuli

115
Q

What is the strongest sense tied to memory?

A

Smell

116
Q

If the traumatic event is the US, smell, sight and sounds can become the…

A

CS

117
Q

Difference between phobia and ptsd?

A

I’m phobias, a fear reaction is triggered by a particular stimulus
In ptsd, fear reactions can be triggered by a wide range of stimuli reminiscent of the original trauma (location, noise, smell)

118
Q

What happens to PTSD patients after a threatening situation?

A

In most people, with the passing of the threat, the brain detects high blood cortisol levels and signals the adrenal glands to stop stress hormone production, which usually brings the body back down to normal

In patients with PTSD, cortisol does not rise to the same level or at the same rate as in patients without PTSD, which means their fear response may persist for longer
In such cases, drugs like propranolol that interfere with epinephrine may reduce the body’s stress reactions

Learning And Plasticity Final (4 decks)

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