Emotion

Question 1

How does emotion differ from a simple reflex?

Answer 1

Emotion involves many interacting systems and structures, while a reflex is typically a single synapse activated by stretch receptors.

Question 2

What is the amygdala’s role in emotion?

Answer 2

The amygdala is important in the control of emotion, particularly in regulating fear and other emotional responses.

Question 3

How is plasticity relevant to emotion?

Answer 3

Plasticity involves changes in synaptic strength, which are crucial for processes that allow emotion to be expressed

Question 4

What is long-term potentiation (LTP), and how does it relate to emotion?

Answer 4

LTP is an NMDA-dependent process that changes synaptic gain, thought to be part of the processes that allow the generation and expression of emotion.

Question 5

How can drugs impact emotional systems in the brain?

Answer 5

Drugs can affect systems that control emotion, leading to positive consequences for dysfunctions within emotional responses.

Question 6

What is the role of the hypothalamus in emotion?

Answer 6

The hypothalamus acts as a relay center, integrating sensory information and distributing it to control complex behaviors and physiological responses.

Question 7

How do the somatic and autonomic nervous systems contribute to emotional responses?

Answer 7

The somatic nervous system controls behavioral responses and facial expressions, while the autonomic nervous system regulates physiological functions like heart rate and blood vessel dilation.

Question 8

Describe the historical experiments on cats that helped understand emotion.

Answer 8

Transections of the forebrain and hypothalamus in cats showed that the diencephalon, including the hypothalamus, is crucial for expressing emotional responses like rage.

Question 9

What did lesion experiments reveal about the amygdala?

Answer 9

Lesioning the amygdala alone produced the same lack of fear response as lesioning the entire temporal lobe, highlighting the amygdala’s crucial role in fear and emotion

Question 10

What is the significance of the temporal lobes in emotion?

Answer 10

Lesioning the temporal lobes in rhesus monkeys showed that these areas are important for normal emotional responses, as lesioned monkeys exhibited abnormal behavior and lacked fear responses.

Question 11

What is the importance of connectivity and circuits in the amygdala?

Answer 11

The amygdala is highly connected with other brain regions, integrating and executing emotional responses through these connections.

Question 12

How does fear conditioning work in the amygdala?

Answer 12

Fear conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus (like a tone) with an aversive stimulus (like a shock), leading to a learned fear response through changes in synaptic strength in the amygdala.

Question 13

What is long-term potentiation (LTP), and how is it involved in fear conditioning?

Answer 13

LTP is a process that strengthens synapses, and it underlies the association between the neutral and aversive stimuli in fear conditioning, leading to a learned fear response.

Question 14

How does the NMDA receptor antagonist affect fear conditioning?

Answer 14

Blocking NMDA receptors in the amygdala prevents the learning of the fear response, showing the importance of LTP in emotional learning.

Question 15

What did the case of patient SM reveal about the amygdala?

Answer 15

M, who had calcium phosphate deposition in the amygdala, lacked a fear response, demonstrating the amygdala’s essential role in recognizing and expressing fear.

Question 16

How do higher brain centers contribute to the subjective nature of emotion?

Answer 16

Higher brain centers process real-time information from the environment and internal states, leading to dynamic and flexible emotional responses.

Question 17

How do the amygdala and hippocampus interact in emotion?

Answer 17

The amygdala controls fear responses, while the hippocampus uses context and environment to influence how emotions are felt and expressed.

Question 18

What role do internal feelings play in emotion?

Answer 18

Internal feelings, such as physical well-being or malaise, interact with sensory information and higher brain functions to shape emotional responses.

Question 19

How does fMRI help study the brain’s response to emotions like love?

Answer 19

fMRI shows which brain regions are activated or downregulated in response to emotional stimuli, such as seeing a loved one, revealing the brain’s involvement in complex emotions.

Question 20

What is the role of GABA receptors in emotion regulation?

Answer 20

GABA receptors mediate inhibition in the brain, and their modulation by drugs like benzodiazepines can reduce inappropriate emotional responses such as anxiety.

Question 21

How do benzodiazepines work to modulate emotional responses?

Answer 21

Benzodiazepines are positive allosteric modulators that enhance the effect of GABA on its receptor, leading to increased inhibition and reduced activity in structures like the amygdala, which helps control anxiety.

Question 22

What is the relationship between inhibitory tone and anxiety in the amygdala?

Answer 22

Increasing the inhibitory tone in the amygdala with benzodiazepines can reduce the overactivity associated with anxiety, helping to manage inappropriate fear responses.

Question 23

How do different pathways contribute to voluntary and emotional responses?

Answer 23

Voluntary responses are controlled by the corticospinal tract, while emotional responses involve pathways from the limbic system. Both converge on motor neurons and the autonomic nervous system to produce coordinated behaviors.

Question 24

How does the brain integrate information to produce an emotional response?

Answer 24

The brain integrates sensory inputs, contextual information, and internal states through interconnected structures like the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, resulting in a coherent emotional response.

Question 25

What are some examples of physiological and behavioral responses to emotions?

Answer 25

Physiological responses include changes in heart rate and blood pressure, while behavioral responses involve facial expressions, body language, and actions like running away or smiling.

Question 26

How do early experiments with transections help understand emotion?

Answer 26

Early experiments showed that lesions in specific brain regions, like the hypothalamus and forebrain, influence emotional responses, highlighting the importance of these areas in emotion regulation.

Question 27

How do volitional and emotional cues differ in triggering emotional responses?

Answer 27

Volitional cues are intentional and conscious, while emotional cues can be reflexive and triggered by subconscious or external stimuli. Both pathways converge in the brain to produce a unified emotional response.

Question 28

What are the effects of lesions in pathways involved in voluntary versus emotional responses?

Answer 28

Lesions in voluntary response pathways prevent voluntary facial expressions like smiling on command, while lesions in emotional pathways prevent emotional expressions in response to stimuli.

Question 29

How do higher centers and intermediate pathways interact in emotion regulation?

Answer 29

Higher centers like the prefrontal cortex process complex information and send it to intermediate pathways like the reticular system, which then influence motor neurons and autonomic responses to produce emotional behavior.

Question 30

What is the significance of benzodiazepines in the treatment of anxiety?

Answer 30

Benzodiazepines enhance GABA receptor function, increasing inhibition in the amygdala and reducing anxiety by modulating the fear response.

Question 31

How do benzodiazepines function as positive allosteric modulators?

Answer 31

They bind to GABA receptors and increase the duration of chloride channel opening when GABA is also bound, leading to greater inhibition.

Question 32

How do benzodiazepines affect the amygdala to control fear responses?

Answer 32

By enhancing GABAergic inhibition in the amygdala, benzodiazepines reduce overactivity that contributes to fear and anxiety, helping to regulate inappropriate fear responses.

Question 33

What is the effect of selective disruption of the amygdala in patient SM?

Answer 33

SM had an inability to recognize and express fear but maintained other emotional responses, showing the amygdala’s specific role in fear.

Question 34

How does the prefrontal cortex influence emotional regulation?

Answer 34

The prefrontal cortex is involved in higher-order processing of emotions and integrates information to modulate responses.

Question 35

What did fMRI studies reveal about brain activity in response to love?

Answer 35

fMRI studies showed downregulation of activity in the amygdala, cortex, frontal lobe, and cingulate regions, and upregulation in the caudate and ventral tegmental area during feelings of love.