Chapter 10: Emotion

Question 1

affective neuroscience

Answer 1

the study of the neurobiological basis of emotions

Question 2

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 2

a clinical condition that emerges following the experience of one or more traumatic, stressful events. Symptoms include heightened arousal, emotional numbness, avoidance of event reminders, and persistent reeexperiencing of the traumatic event(s)

Question 3

emotion

Answer 3

a set of physiological responses, action tendencies, and subjective feelings that adaptively engage humans and other animals to react to events of biological and/ or individual significance

Question 4

basic emotions

Answer 4

an emotion that is innate, pan-cultural, evolutionarily old, shared with other species, and expressed by a particular physiological pattern and facial configuration.

Question 5

complex emotions

Answer 5

an emotion that is learned, socially and culturally shaped, evolutionarily new, and typically expressed by a combination of the response patterns that characterize basic emotions.

Question 6

arousal

Answer 6

1. a global state of the brain (or the body) relfecting an overall level of responsiveness. Compare attention.
2. the degree of intensity of an emotion.

Question 7

valence

Answer 7

the degree of pleasantness of a stimulus

Question 8

vector models

Answer 8

a way to graphically represent the relationships among emotions by ordering them along two orthogonal axes of positive and negative valence.

Question 9

circumplex models

Answer 9

a way to graphically represent the relationships among emotions by ordering them along the circumference of a circle formed by intersecting two orthogonal axes of valence and arousal at the circle’s center.

Question 10

startle response

Answer 10

a behavioral reaction to a sudden, intense auditory or visual that is mediated by a subcortical reflex circuit.

Question 11

James-Lange feedback theory

Answer 11

a theory, developed by William James and Carl Lange in the 1880s, positing that emotions are determined by the pattern of feedback from the body periphery to the cerebral cortex.

Question 12

hypothalamus

Answer 12

a collection of small but critical nuclei in the diencephalon that lies just inferior to the thalamus; governs reproductive, homeostatic, and circadian functions.

Question 13

thalamus

Answer 13

a collection of nuclei that forms the major component of the diencephalon. Has many functions; a primary role is relay sensory information from the periphery to the cerebral cortex.

Question 14

sham rage

Answer 14

an emotional reaction elicited in cats by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus, characterized by hissing, growling, and attack behaviors directed randomly toward innocuous targets.

Question 15

Cannon-Bard theory

Answer 15

also called diencephalic theory. A theory of emotion, developed by Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard in the 1920s, emphasizing the role of the hypothalamus and related parallel processing routes for emotional expression and emotional experience.

Question 16

Klüver-Bucy syndrome

Answer 16

a rare behavioral syndrome following damage to the anterior temporal lobe that includes lack of appreciation from the motivational significance of objects in the environment, hyperorality, and altered sexual behavior; named after Heinrich Klüver and Paul Bucy.

Question 17

limbic system theory

Answer 17

the theory , developed by Paul MacLean in the 1940s, positing that structures of the limbic forebrain constitute a system that generates emotions.

Question 18

hippocampus

Answer 18

a specialized cortical structure located in the medial portion of the temporal lobe; in humans, concerned with declarative memory, among many other functions.

Question 19

right hemisphere hypothesis

Answer 19

a hypothesis positing that the right hemisphere in specialized for emotional function. Compare to valence hypothesis.

Question 20

prosody

Answer 20

the fluctuating pitch of speech, gives emotional and other information to speech

Question 21

valence hypothesis

Answer 21

a hypothesis postulating that positive emotions are preferentially processed in the left hemisphere and negative emotions are preferentially processed in the right hemisphere. Compare right-hemisphere hypothesis

Question 22

anhedonia

Answer 22

reduced experience of positive effect; often accompanies depression

Question 23

temperament

Answer 23

a disposition to react to emotional situations either positively or negatively.

Question 24

individual difference

Answer 24

variation in a cognitive function or other trait across people, often as can be related to a particular biological predictor

Question 25

vertical integration models

Answer 25

a model of emotion that integrates cortical, subcortical, and visceral processes.

Question 26

fear conditioning

Answer 26

a form of emotional learning in which fear responses are acquired to cues that predict that occurrences of an aversive stimulus. See also contextual fear conditioning, Compare fear extinction.

Question 27

amygdala

Answer 27

a collection of nuclei in the temporal lobe that forms part of the limbic system; its major functions concern automatic, emotional, and sexual behavior.

Question 28

skin conductance responses (SCRs)

Answer 28

a stimulus-induced increased in the electrical in the electrical conductance of the skin due to increased hydration.

Question 29

emotional perseveration

Answer 29

the continuation of an emotional response to a stimulus after the emotional significance of the stimulus has changed and the response is no longer appropriate.

Question 30

fear extinction

Answer 30

a form of emotional learning in which fear responses are reduced by repeated presentation of a feared stimulus without any unpleasant consequences. Compare fear conditioning.

Question 31

contextual fear conditioning

Answer 31

a form of emotional learning in which fear responses are acquired in response to environments that predict the presence of an aversive stimulus.

Question 32

Urbach- Wiethe syndrome

Answer 32

a rare, congenital dermatological disease that occasionally produces calcification in temporal lobe structures.

Question 33

mood regulation

Answer 33

the long-term balance between emotional and attentional processing, When these processes become skewed, mood disorders such as depression can occur.

Question 34

flashbulb memory

Answer 34

the concept that traumatic memories are vividly and accurately represented in the brain as though the event were recorded through the flash of a camera.

Question 35

memory modulation hypothesis

Answer 35

a hypothesis positing that the basolateral amygdala is important for modulating memory processing in other brain regions to enhance the retention of emotional events

Question 36

ephinephrine

Answer 36

a catecholaminergic neurotransmitter and hormone involved in many body functions, including the fight-or-flight response coordinated by the autonomic nervous system.

Question 37

norephinephrine

Answer 37

also called noradrenaline. a catecholamin-ergic neurotransmitter and hormone released across synapses in post-ganglionic neurons of the sympathetic nervous system, in the adrenal medulla, and in some parts of the central nervous system.

Question 38

cortisol

Answer 38

a steriod hormone released by the adrenal gland that is involved in the stress response. Called corticosterone in rodents.

Question 39

stress hormone

Answer 39

any of several hormones, including cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, that are secreted by the adrenal gland when stimulated by its sympathetic innervation.

Question 40

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis

Answer 40

the primary information-processing pathway for stress response; connects the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland.

Question 41

situation selection

Answer 41

a form of emotion regulation in which individuals select situations that minimize the likelihood of experiencing negative emotions.

Question 42

cognitive reappraisal

Answer 42

a form of emotion regulation in which individuals use cognitive resources to alter the meaning of a situation in order to reduce or change its emotional impact.