Chapter 12: Emotional Behaviours Flashcards
describe the influences of the autonomic nervous system on emotions
- sympathetic nervous system prepares for flight or fight
- emotions do not depend on feedback from muscle movements because people that are paralyzed still feel emotions
- paralysis does not impact ANS therefore it is possible that emotional feelings depend on feedback from autonomic responses
Panic Attack
-extreme sympathetic NS arousal
Emotions- smiles + frowns
- smiles and frowns slightly alter happiness
- smiles are not necessary for happiness
ex) Mobuis Syndrome- cannot move facial muscles
effects of damage or inactivation of cortical structures and of the right vs. left hemisphere on emotional responsiveness
- much of cerebral cortex reacts to emotional situations
- insular cortex/insula is strongly activated with disgust but not only disgust
- variability of locations for each emotion
Limbic System
-critical for emotion
Left Hemisphere
- behavioural activation system
- LH especially frontal and temporal lobe marked by low to moderate autonomic arousal and tendency to approach (could be happy or anger)
- people with increased activity in LH=happier, more outgoing in more fun loving
Right Hemisphere
- behavioural inhibition system
- R.H
- frontal temporal lobes increase attention and arousal
- inhibits action
- emotions fear and disgust
- people with activity in RH=socially withdrawn, less satisfied with life and prone to unpleasant emotions
Damage to right temporal cortex
trouble identifying other people’s emotional expression or say whether 2 people are expressing same or different emotion
Inactive RH
-people do not experience strong emotions or remember feeling them
LH damage
-better at expressing and detecting emotions
role of emotions in decision making and the brain areas that promote wise decision making
- fear alerts us to escape from danger
- anger directs us to attack an intruder
- disgust tells us to avoid something that may cause illness
- emotions are useful guide to make quick decisions
- people who are good at detecting their autonomic responses may have valid gut feelings about dangers they cannot consciously identify
- think of how an outcome will make us feel
the brain areas that promote wise decision making
- when making decisions about right and wrong we rarely work it out rationally we do what feels right
- contemplating ethical decisions activates prefrontal cortex, cingulate gyrus and amygdala
- damage to prefrontal cortex blunts people’s emotions (except for bursts of anger) and often make impulsive decisions without considering consequences
Damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex
-deficient in sense of guilt
Environmental Factors of Agressiveness
- people abused in childhood
- people who witnessed abuse with parents
- people who live in violent neighbourhood
- exposure to lead
Hereditary Factors of Agressiveness
- cannot find a single gene or set of genes that account for all variations of aggressive behaviour
- violence=enhanced people with genetic predisposition and troubled early environment
- MAOa seems to be linked with increased aggression but unclear why this is
Hormone Factors of Aggressiveness
- male aggressive behaviour relies on testosterone
- men=more violent than women
- depends on cortisol and serotonin as well
- aggression=high when high testosterone and low cortisol
- testosterone increases responses of amygdala to photos with angry faces
roles of brain abnormalities and serotonin turnover in aggressive behavior
- isolating mice increases aggression and decreases serotonin turnover
- do not see same result in female mice
- people with less active form of tryptophan hydroxylase (enzyme that converts tryptophan to serotonin) are more likely to report frequent anger and aggression
- high levels of serotonin inhibit variety of impulses and low levels remove inhibitions
Serotonin turnover
=amount of NT that neuron releases and replaces
