Emotion Flashcards
Emotions
Subjective mental states; positive or negative reactions
Elkman’s Primary emotions: universality of facial expression
people of different cultures make their similar facial expressions in similar situations
2)New Guinea tribe members recognized western facial expressions and vice versa
6 primary emotions
fear, anger, happiness, surprise, sadness, and disgust
Emotion Expression
hard to fake; involuntary and autonomic
Which hemisphere plays a more significant role for expression of emotions
the right
How do we communicate emotions
postural changes, facial expressions, nonverbal sounds, and verbally
Facial expressions are thought to be
innate; studies of blind children support this
What are the components of emotional responses
behavioral, autonomic, hormonal
Emotion response: behavioral
muscle movements that are appropriate to the situations that elicit them
Ex: dog adopting posture and growling to defend against intruder
Emotion response: autonomic
Facilitates behaviors and provides quick mobilization of energy for movement
ex: increased activity of sympathetic nervous system to get heart rate increased
Emotion response: hormonal
reinforces autonomic response
Hormones vs NT’s
both are chemical messengers; hormones are secreted by glands and work on long distances through the bloodstream (slow and long lasting)
NT’s act locally through synaptic transmission (fast)
Folk psychology theory of emotions
The feeling triggers an autonomic reaction (Stimulus, perception, emotion experienced, pattern of autonomic arousal)
James Lange theory of emotions
The autonomic reaction triggers a feeling (stimulus, perception, pattern of autonomic arousal, emotional response)
Cannon-bard theory of emotions
The feeling and autonomic reaction happens at the same time
Role of the limbic system in the expression of emotion
The amygdala deals with emotional expression
Lateral nucleus of amygdala
Involved in producing a conditional response (pavlovian conditioning); recieves sensory information
Central Nucleus of amygdala
produces fear-related behaviors, receives information from lateral nucleus
basal nucleus of amygdala
receives information from central and lateral nuclei; projects information to prefrontal cortex
What role does the limbic system play in the inhibition of emotion?
ventromedial prefrontal cortex matures much later in life during early adulthood. Plays an important role in making people see the negative consequences of their behavior.
What part of the brain play an important role in emotion recognition?
The amygdala (lesions will impair the ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion) and the prefrontal cortex (Aids in recognition of emotions through meanings of words and tones of voice)
affective blindsight
a disorder of emotion recognition; the ability to discriminate among different emotional stimuli in spite of the absence of conscious perception
Patient SM
No amygdala since early childhood = no fear shown to fear/threat inducing situations
volitional facial paresis
disorder of emotion expression; difficulty in moving the facial muscles voluntarily
emotional facial paresis
Disorder of emotion expression; lack of movement of facial muscles in response to emotions
fear
adaptive emotional response coordinated by the nuclei of the amygdala. Some stimuli automatically activate the central nucleus of the amygdala and produce fear responses while some responses can be learned
fear extinction
elimination of conditioned fear responses associated with a trauma
aggression
physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. Many behaviors related to reproduction and self defense
threat behaviors
postures/gestures that warn adversaries
defensive behaviors
threat behaviors or an actual attack against an animal threatening it
submissive behaviors
behaviors that indicate that an animal accepts defeat, can prevent attack
predation
attacking of another member of a species for food
serotonin and aggression
serotonergic synapses inhibit aggression; agonists may decrease irritability and aggressiveness
hormonal control of aggressive behaviors
androgens are the hormones related to reproduction and mating-related behaviors that facilitate aggression (Ex: testosterone)
impulse control
impulsive violence is a consequence of faulty emotional regulation; most important brain part is the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Phineas Gage
vermont railroad worker that survived a severe brain injury that damages the vmPFC; caused socially inapropritate and high risk taking behavior
how does brain development impact impulse control?
the amygdala matures early in development, but the PFC matures much later in life
