emotion Flashcards
emotion
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
emotional survival value
mobilize resources to take protective action (fight or flight)
fully adaptive emotional behaviour requires both rapid, automatic responses and slower elaborated responses
subcortical regions of emotion
implement automatic aspects of emotion
cortical regions of emotion
are more involved in slower, elaborative or conscious assessments
limbic system
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
fight or flight response
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
hypothalamus
controls the hormonal systems of the body through its interactions with the pituitary gland
when stimulated it releases hormones into the bloodstream
rest and digest response
the parasympathetic branch of the automatic nervous system is activated under resting conditions
HPA
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
the hypothalamus and stressors
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
the amygdala
important for early detection of emotional information
- rapid response of that information
- learning the emotional significance of information
the amygdala complex
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
Kluver busy syndrome
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
psychic blindness
disconnection between animals sensory properties of objects and their understanding of these objects properties
fear conditioning
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
amygdala damage in humans
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
connections with the amygdala
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
- “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
nucleus accumbens
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
nucleus accumbens subregions
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
activation of the nucleus accumbens
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
cortical contributions to emotion
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
interoception
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)
subdivisions of the insula
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
insula and digest
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
why is the cingulate cortex necessary
action, cognition and emotion
evaluating the utility of actions that have emotional significance
integrating motivational aspects of behaviour
cingulate cortex zones
a posterior section associated with motor functions
a middle section associated with cognitive control
a rostral/ventral section associated with emotion
orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
integrates emotion and decision making
attributes value to emotion that understanding to guide adaptive behaviour
orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) damage
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
approach-withdrawal model
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
dimensional model
argues that the basic dimensions of emotion are valence (positive versus negative emotions) and arousal (low versus high emotional intensity)
models of emotional experience
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
distributed model of emotional experience
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
