COMPLEX FUNCTIONS Flashcards
What were Charles Darwin’s contributions to emotions, arousal, and motivated behaviour?
noted similarities in facial expressions between animals
- idea that many expressions of emotions in humans (ie. baring teeth) are vestigial action patterns
- set of basic emotions (including anger, fear, surprise, sadness) are evolutionarily ancient and conserved across species and cultures
What do facial expressions reveal?
specific emotional states
Mouse facial expressions reflect emotional state. Describe the experiment.
- mice were head-fixed on a rotating ball and given different taste stimuli or subjected to tail shocks
- their facial expressions were monitored by video, and then analyzed with machine learning
Is language unique to humans? Name a non-human animal that people claim uses “language.”
- parrots – Alex the parrot = Avian Learning EXperiment
- whales – discrete set of sounds/calls
- primates
- unicorns
- prairie dogs
What are the two sides of the brain connected by?
corpus callosum (tract that runs between two hemispheres of the brain)
How do birds learn their songs?
by comparing their own song to a stored template of a tutor song, and then adjusting when mismatch is detected
Do adults continue to use a template song?
yes – adult birds continue to compare their song to the template, and make adjustments in response to mismatch
What does prior experience do for memory?
provides a framework for memory
What can shape memory capabilities?
internal state (ie. motivation)
Why is memory not very accurate most of the time?
because you are inferring things based on assumptions and previous constructions in the brain
RECALL VISION: when you see things, you are not perceiving them on a blank state – it is interpreted within frameworks in the brain that have developed to interpret visual information
What are the two types of human memory?
- declarative memory
- non-declarative memory
What is declarative memory?
memory available to consciousness (aware that you know)
- daily episodes
- words and their meanings
- history
What is non-declarative memory?
memory generally not available to consciousness
- motor skills
- associations
- priming cues
- puzzle-solving skills
What are the three types of temporal memory?
- intermediate memory
- short-term memory
- long-term memory
What is immediate memory?
fractions of a second to seconds
ie. existing in the world, remembering what someone just said
What is short-term memory?
seconds to minutes
ie. remembering two-factor authentication codes
What is long-term memory?
days to years
What is forgetting? Why is it important?
passive degradation of memories
important process for limiting amount of info that you can sort in your brain – problematic if you remember everything
Describe the memory encoding of the three types of temporal memory.
each memory type is encoded separately in different brain areas – BUT memory can transfer between types
What is working memory?
similar to immediate memory – committing for short time to complete tasks
What is anterograde amnesia?
remember things that occurred a long time ago prior to surgery, but unable to form new long-term memories
Describe the Morris water maze experiment.
test for declarative (spatial) memories in rodents
- conducted in room with ample visual cues, pool with platform hidden underneath
- mice will remember where platform is based on visual cues
What is the hippocampus necessary for?
formation of new declarative (spatial) memories
Animals that can fly exhibit what kind of place fields? What does this tell us?
exhibit 3D place fields – the need for a cognitive ‘map’ extends to other lifestyles
What do Kenyan cells (KC) do?
encode odours
What is the mushroom body?
where memories of odours are formed – analog to piriform cortex
What is a conditioned stimulus?
emotionally neutral stimulus that can be paired with something that has value (ie. tone/sound)
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
stimulus that has intrinsic value (ie. aversive, fear-inducing shock)
Do humans and mice have similar areas associated with specific emotional states?
optogenetic activation of areas known to be associated with specific emotional states in humans produced the expected facial expression in mice
What are the three components of emotions?
- behaviour
- feeling
- physiology
What are the two early theories of emotion? What differed between them?
- Lange
- Cannon-bard
debated emotion processing sequence
What is the Lange theory of emotion?
stimulus –> autonomic response –> conscious feeling
ie. I feel afraid because I tremble
What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?
(more correct)
stimulus –> subcortical brain activity –> conscious feeling and autonomic response
ie. dog makes me tremble and feel afraid
What are the two pathways of emotional motor control?
- voluntary control of facial movements
- emotional control of facial movements
What is voluntary facial paresis?
- when asked to show teeth, one side of face has paralysis
- when shown something funny, can smile normally (no paralysis)
What is emotional facial paresis?
- when asked to show teeth, can smile normally
- when shown something funny, one side of face has paralysis
How does the frontal cortex (FC) contribute to emotions?
(most notably prefrontal and cingulate)
cognitive function, attention, and “top-down” control of emotions
How does the ventral hippocampus (HP) contribute to emotions?
cognitive function, memory
How does the hypothalamus (Hyp) contribute to emotions?
autonomic nervous system control – sleep, hunger, etc.
How does the nucleus accumbens (Nac) contribute to emotions?
reward and aversion
How does the amygdala (Amy) contribute to emotions?
important for response to emotional stimuli
How does the ventral tegmental area (VTA) contribute to emotions?
sends dopaminergic projections to other areas, and mediates reward
What is the appraisal model for the number of existing emotions?
involves many descriptive elements (dimensions)
- is it expected, safe
- is there a change in knowledge based on what is happening
What is the valence/arousal model for the number of existing emotions?
two parameters determine all emotional states – positive or negative
- how strong the feeling is
What is the AMPA/NMDA ratio?
measure of input synaptic strength
What is vocalization/speech?
movement of vocal structures (such as larynx, pharynx, and lungs) to produce audible noises used for communication
What is communication?
conveyance of information from one being to another
What is language?
ability to assemble arbitrary symbols (including audible sounds) into a structure that conveys complex meaning (with essentially infinite possibilities)
What are song motor nuclei?
motor nuclei that produce song – areas of brain that produce motor signals that control larynx and production of song
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is productivity?
potential for unique word combinations and sentence meanings is infinite
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is displacement?
it can communicate ideas or events not present in the current environment/situation
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is arbitrariness?
words/symbols used to denote objects are not intrinsically related to what they represent
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is discreteness?
elements (words) each have their own distinct meaning
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is duality?
sounds (letters) that compose words can be combined in different ways to convey different ideas (ie. meat and team)
Fundamental Characteristics of Language
What is cultural transmission?
language is acquired through culture
Birdsong is produced by two connected circuits. What are they?
- motor pathway
- anterior forebrain pathway
What does the motor pathway for birdsong project to? What does it receive input from?
- project to lower motor pools that control vocal structures
- receive input from HVc
Where does language processing occur?
implicated in a wide range of areas in the brain
What are conspecifics?
unrelated individuals from the same species
