Chapter 15 - Emotion

Question 1

What are the two theories of emotion? Explain them

Answer 1

James-Lange Theory: we experience emotion in response to physiological changes in our body. Emotional experiences are cognitive réponses to information from the periphery

The Cannon-Bard Theory: emotional experience can occur independently of emotional experience

Question 2

What is the unconscious emotions experiment? What is the conclusion from it?

Answer 2

Angry face briefly flashes by but followed by emotionless face. Subjects report only seeing the emotionless face.

Conclusion: sensory input can have emotional effects on the brain without our being aware of the stimuli.

Question 3

What part of the brain do angry faces conditioned to unpleasant noises activate?

Answer 3

Amygdala

Question 4

What are the two components of the Papez circuit? What is each one responsible for?

Answer 4

Cingulate cortex (emotional experience)

Hypothalamus (governs behavioral expression of emotion)

Question 5

What is emotional coloring?

Answer 5

Neocortical inputs to and from the cingulate cortex adds emotional coloring to our experiences. It’s the effect emotion can have on our perceptions

Question 6

Which structures of the Limbic System contribute to emotional processes?

Answer 6

Orbital and medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala

Question 7

What does the hippocampus do?

Answer 7

Plays a critical role in episodic memory formation

Question 8

What is the basal ganglia loop for emotions? What does it do?

Answer 8

(Amygdala, hippocampus, orbitofrontal, anterior Cingulate, temporal cortex)—>Ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens—>ventral pallidum—>mediodorsal nucleus—>cortical targets

Initiation and selection of behaviors aimed at obtaining reward and avoiding punishment

Question 9

What does the dimensional emotion theory state?

Answer 9

Emotions arise from combinations of more fundamental elements or dimensions:

Emotional arousal: strength or intensity of emotion

Emotional valence: degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness

Question 10

What are the divisions of the amygdala?

Answer 10

Corticomedial nuclei, basolateral nuclei, central nucleus

Question 11

What emotions is the amygdala involved with?

Answer 11

Fear and aggression

Question 12

What are the afferents to the amygdala?

Answer 12

• all neocortex: most notably all sensory cortices project to basolateral nuclei
• Hippocampus
• cingulate gyri

Question 13

What are the effferentz from the amygdala?

Answer 13

• posterior hypothalamus

- cortex

Question 14

Besides for experiencing and understanding fear, what is the amygdala important for?

Answer 14

For learning about what is to be feared: fear conditioning

Question 15

What are the two types of agressions?

Answer 15

• Predatory agression (for food, no sympathetic activity in ANS)
• Affective agression (for show, high levels of sympathetic activity)