emotion

Question 1

emotion

Answer 1

sometimes referred to as an affect or affective experiences

has many components
- perception, expression, subjective feeling
- associated action, physiological changes, cognitive changes

many different regions of the brain contribute to emotional experience

Question 2

emotional survival value

Answer 2

mobilize resources to take protective action (fight or flight)

fully adaptive emotional behaviour requires both rapid, automatic responses and slower elaborated responses

Question 3

subcortical regions of emotion

Answer 3

implement automatic aspects of emotion

Question 4

cortical regions of emotion

Answer 4

are more involved in slower, elaborative or conscious assessments

Question 5

limbic system

Answer 5

hypothalamus, hippocampus, anterior thalamus and cingulate cortex

structures sit below the neocortex

include subcortical and cortical regions

refers to the organization of these structures in a ring around the medial part of the brain

emotion depend on the limbic system, but exactly which structures constitute this system is still debated

Question 6

fight or flight response

Answer 6

depends on the sympathetic branch of the automatic nervous system

important in bodily expressions of emotion, such as changes in heart rate, respiration and sweating

Question 6

hypothalamus

Answer 6

controls the hormonal systems of the body through its interactions with the pituitary gland

when stimulated it releases hormones into the bloodstream

Question 6

rest and digest response

Answer 6

the parasympathetic branch of the automatic nervous system is activated under resting conditions

Question 7

HPA

Answer 7

the brain controls the body’s stress response via connections with hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal glands

when stimulated by the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland secretes ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) into the bloodstream

ACTH stimulates the adrenal gland to produce the stress hormone cortisol

Question 8

the hypothalamus and stressors

Answer 8

governs the extent to which the fight-or-flight response is activated

controls the release of stress hormone via HPA axis

receives input from the amygdala - to determine if a threatening event is presents
- can modulate the fight-or-flight autonomic and stress responses

Question 9

the amygdala

Answer 9

important for early detection of emotional information
- rapid response of that information
- learning the emotional significance of information

Question 10

the amygdala complex

Answer 10

consists of several nuclei

basolateral nuclei project to the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and regions involved in reward and punishment
- allow the amygdala to influence learning and memory

central nucleus and corticomedial nuclei connect to the hypothalamus
- enable emotional modulation of these responses

Question 11

Kluver busy syndrome

Answer 11

large lesions in monkeys amygdala resulted in behaviour changes

monkeys should abnormal reactions to the environment - stopped being afraid of things they were in the part

in humans it is not as drastic but does interfere with emotional processing

Question 12

psychic blindness

Answer 12

disconnection between animals sensory properties of objects and their understanding of these objects properties

Question 13

fear conditioning

Answer 13

a form of classical conditioning (learning)

a neutral stimulus develops a negative emotional connotation through association with a negative stimuli

damage to the amygdala disrupts fear conditioning in studies of both animals and people with brain lesions

Question 14

amygdala damage in humans

Answer 14

lost ability to detect aversive emotional cues embedded in visual or auditory stimuli

inability to acquire fear conditioning

inability to learn fear through verbal instruction, observational learning

Question 15

connections with the amygdala

Answer 15

sensory information must be sent to the amygdala enable emotional learning

dual route model:
1. “low road” pathway that projects directly from the anterior thalamus to the amygdala
- acts as a “first alert” system

2. “High Road” pathway connects the sensory areas of the cortex to the amygdala
   - provides a more comprehensive context for processing emotional information
   - gives rise to a slower affective reaction that takes into account the complexity and details of the situation

bidirectional connections with the hippocampus

projections from amygdala to cortex
- enhance cortical processing of incoming sensory information based on emotional relevance
- may allow amygdala to enhance attention to emotionally relevant information

Question 16

nucleus accumbens

Answer 16

critical for supporting reward-related behaviour

for survival purposes: the brain must signal what situations and actions lead to awards (e.g., food, mates)

also called the ventral striatum because it is the ventral part of the basal ganglia (striatum)

receives dopamine projections from the midbrain ventral tegmental area

closely connected to motor regions that support reward-seeking actions

Question 17

nucleus accumbens subregions

Answer 17

contribute to different aspects of reward-related behaviour

the core is responsible for “wanting”, meaning the motivation to seek a desired goal

the shell is responsible for “liking” the sensation of consummatory pleasure upon achieving a desired goal

Question 18

activation of the nucleus accumbens

Answer 18

becomes activated when

a person receives an unexpected reward

when a person anticipates a predictable reward before actually receiving it

in response to a variety of different rewards, including items that are addictive

Question 19

cortical contributions to emotion

Answer 19

crucial for emotional functions such as:

integrating emotion, decision-making, and action

inferring the feelings of others

producing expressive emotional behaviour

representing bodily cues of emotion

regulating emotional responses

Question 20

interoception

Answer 20

the ability to perceive and represent the internal state of the body (e.g. perception that heart is beating fast)

appears to depends upon insular cortex (or insula)

Question 21

subdivisions of the insula

Answer 21

posterior portion is connected to primary and secondary motor cortex and somatosensory cortex
- represents primary sensory information (ie/ taste)

anterior portions is connect to the ACC
- integrates sensory representations with awareness

ventral anterior insula is connected to portion of the ACC that are relevant to emotional processing

Question 22

insula and digest

Answer 22

damage to the insula disrupts the experience of disgust and the ability to recognize facia expressions of disgust in others

activity in the anterior insula increases when a participant tastes bitter liquids, imagines disgusting scenariors or sees anoter person expressing disgust

some studies also associate the insula with feelings of guilt

insula may be evolved to support taste sensations, but expanded to support emotions of disgust and guilt

Question 23

why is the cingulate cortex necessary

Answer 23

action, cognition and emotion

evaluating the utility of actions that have emotional significance

integrating motivational aspects of behaviour

Question 24

cingulate cortex zones

Answer 24

a posterior section associated with motor functions

a middle section associated with cognitive control

a rostral/ventral section associated with emotion

Question 25

orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

Answer 25

integrates emotion and decision making

attributes value to emotion that understanding to guide adaptive behaviour

Question 26

orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) damage

Answer 26

disinhibited behaviours, socially inappropriate behaviours and irresponsibility

difficulty anticipating the consequences of actions and inability to learn from mistakes

poor performance on tasks in which past results must be considered in order to make appropriate choices in the present

inability to respond to changing patterns or reward and punishment

Question 27

approach-withdrawal model

Answer 27

assumes that the basic emotional dimensions are best described in terms of approach and withdrawal motivations

these are the most basic and rudimentary actions that organisms take in responding adaptively to the environment

hemispheric asymmetries in this model:
- left frontal region involved in approach behaviours
- right frontal region involved in withdrawal behaviors

Question 27

dimensional model

Answer 27

argues that the basic dimensions of emotion are valence (positive versus negative emotions) and arousal (low versus high emotional intensity)

Question 28

models of emotional experience

Answer 28

an important aspect of emotion is of course the subjective experience of it

internal emotional state (how we feel) is distinct from how we process information in the world that has emotional significance

there is not a one-to-one mapping between brain regions and emotional experiences. That is, there is no “happy” brain region nor a “sad” brain region

Question 29

distributed model of emotional experience

Answer 29

the idea that different emotions have “signatures” broadly distributed rather than tied to a single brain region or system

brain imaging studies of emotional experience generally indicate that different emotional states are associated with unique yet highly overlapping patterns of activation