Chapter 18: Emotion

Question 1

What are the components of emotional states?

Answer 1

Emotional experience, emotional expression- somatic motor responses, emotional expression- autonomic motor response

Question 2

What is emotional experience?

Answer 2

Subjective feelings
conscious sensation

Question 3

What is emotional expression?

Answer 3

Somatic motor responses
change in body language and facial expression
Autonomic motor response
heart pounds
sweating

Question 4

What are the three components of theories of emotion generation?

Answer 4

A feeling (subjective response)
A behavioral response (somatic motor system)
A physiological reaction to a stimulus (autonomic nervous system)

Question 5

What is James-Lange’s Theory of Emotion?

Answer 5

We experience emotion in response to physiological changes in our body.
We see the bear.
Conscious perception of stimulus.
Physiological response: sweating, adrenaline is released
Behavioral response: they run
Cognition- autonomically and nonconsciously interpret their physiological response
Subjective emotional feeling: I’m scared

Question 6

What is the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion?

Answer 6

Emotional experience can occur independently of emotional expression
Cannon and Bard see the bear.
Projects to thalamus
Thalamus projects to cortex and hypothalamus
Cortex produces emotional feeling
Hypothalamus activates sympathetic nervous system.
Leads to physiological response: racing heart and preparation for fight or flight.
Leads to behavioral response: they run

Question 7

What are unconscious emotions?

Answer 7

Sensory input can have emotional effects on the brain without being aware of the stimuli

Question 8

What is the masking experiment?

Answer 8

Angry face briefly flashed
Quickly followed by an expressionless face
Subjects report seeing only the expressionless face
But if you add an unpleasant sound while an angry face is shown there is sweating
Then when you just shown the masking stimulus it will stimulate sweating in person

Question 9

What neural systems are involved in emotion processing?

Answer 9

Sensory system- when triggered by an external stimulus
Memory system- when triggered by an internal stimulus (episodic memory)
Autonomic nervous system- physiological components of emotion that produce physical feelings (shiver) Ex. HPA axis

Question 10

What is the Papez Circuit?

Answer 10

It is the emotion system

Question 11

What is the process of the papez circuit?

Answer 11

Start in the hippocampus
To hypothalamus (mammillary bodies) through fornix
To anterior nuclei of thalamus
To cingulate cortex
To neocortex

Question 12

What is the cingulate cortex for in Papez Circuit?

Answer 12

Emotional experience

Question 13

What is the hypothalamus for in Papez Circuit?

Answer 13

Emotional expression

Question 14

What is the neocortex for in Papez Circuit?

Answer 14

Emotional coloring- the effect emotion can have on our perceptions

Question 15

What are the different categories for emotions?

Answer 15

Basic emotions
Complex emotions
Dimensional theories of emotion

Question 16

What are basic emotions?

Answer 16

Innate, universal and short-lasting
Shaped by evolution,
Directly linked to facial expressions that are observable, automatic manifestations that correspond to a person’s inner feelings

Question 17

What are complex emotions?

Answer 17

Shaped by learning and culture
Longer lasting
Ex. Parental love, jealousy

Question 18

What are dimensions of emotion?

Answer 18

by valence (negative, neutral, positive)
by arousal (low, medium, high)

Question 19

What is emotional valence?

Answer 19

The degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness

Question 20

What is emotional arousal?

Answer 20

Strength or intensity of emotion

Question 21

What is Kluver-Bucy Syndrome?

Answer 21

Bilateral temporal lobectomy
Decreases in fear and aggression
Decrease in vocalizations and facial expression associated with fear
Normal expression and normal experience for fear and aggression severely decreases with temporal lobectomy

Question 22

What is amygdala?

Answer 22

Involved in fear and aggression

Question 23

What are the afferents to the amygdala?

Answer 23

All neocortex
Hippocampus
Cingulate gyri

Question 24

What are the efferents from the amygdala?

Answer 24

Posterior Hypothalamus
PAG- innate vocalizations
Cortex

Question 25

What case study of S.M. show?

Answer 25

The amygdala must play a critical role in the identification of facial expressions of fear
S.M. fails to experience the emotion of fear
S.M. appears to have no deficit in any emotion other than fear
S.M.’s inability to feel fear seems to have contributed to her inability to avoid dangerous situations. She doesn’t seem to be able to learn from past frightening experiences

Question 26

What is fear conditioning?

Answer 26

During conditioning, showed two tones to the rat. One tone was given with footshock leading increased heart rate.
Then during testing one tone would not show any reaction and the tone that was conditioned with footshock led to an increase in heart beat like in conditioning

Question 27

What are the different types of aggression?

Answer 27

Predatory and affective aggression

Question 28

What is predatory aggression?

Answer 28

Attacks made against a member of a different species to obtain food

Question 29

What is affective aggression?

Answer 29

For show rather than to kill for food
Animals makes vocalizations and has a threatening or defensive posture

Question 30

What happens when you stimulate amygdala?

Answer 30

Induces aggression

Question 31

What happens when you lesion amygdala?

Answer 31

Reduce aggression

Question 32

What was learned from the case study of Phineas Gage?

Answer 32

Phineas Gage got an iron rod through his left frontal lobe and exit the top of his head
Had emotional outbursts
Damaging certain cortical areas can cause profound changes in emotional expression with little change in perception or intelligence
Ventral medial frontal cortex provides one source of cognitive control over emotional responses