Emotion Flashcards
what did Jaak Panksepp say about emotion?
Jaak Panksepp argues that emotions emerge from hardwired neurobiological systems
what did Lisa Feldman Barrett say about emotion?
Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that emotions are socially constructed
what do most affective neuroscientists say about emotions?
Most affective neuroscientists agree that emotions comprise of a set of subjective, physiological and behavioural responses that are functional states - stereotyped behaviours that are made up of different components
These sets of responses arise depending on a given situation and appraisal e.g. interpretation
explain Mauss and Robinson’s model (2009)
situation is appraised and then you have a set of emotions responses
explain the kinds of emotional responses mentioned in Mauss and Robinson’s model
emotional experiences vary across and within individuals
- subjective experience
- peripheral/ autonomic nervous system
- central nervous system
- behaviour
what are the main areas of the brain involved in emotion?
the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)
where is the amygdala located?
in the limbic system in the forebrain
bilateral - found on both hemispheres
what is the structure of the amygdala?
almond shaped bundle of nuclei
what animals have an amygdala?
reptiles, mammals, birds etc
what is the function of the amygdala?
activates in response to emotional material
responds to salience - important information
what did Hariri et al. (2002) find?
found bilateral amygdala activation to emotional faces and pictures (IAPS)
what did Henry et al. (2007) find?
found greater bilateral amygdala activation to unpredictable vs predictable sounds as unpredictable sounds seem more important so it switches on
where is the vmPFC located?
behind the eyes in the frontal lobe
what animals have a vmPFC?
only mammals e.g. humans, rats etc
what is the function of the vmPFC?
regulates emotions
activated when you want to change something
tells amygdala that a once emotion-enduring situation is not safe
how is the vmPFC affected in people with PTSD disorders?
in PTSD disorders, this area of the brain is compromised as it is overworked by trying to regulate the amygdala
what did Yang et al. (2020) find?
Recent meta-analysis observed vmPFC activation during active emotion regulation
what did Etkin et al. (2011) find?
Recent meta-analysis found vmPFC activation patterns when updating threat to safety associations
how is the amygdala and vmPFC connected structurally?
connected structurally via the uncinate fasciculus
what areas are affected when the amygdala and vmPFC are compromised?
lesions
neurotransmitters
developmental windows and ageing
explain how the case of Phineas Gage shows that his amygdala and vmPFC were compromised
Phineas Gage had problems with regulating emotions and everyday life functioning due to emotional outbursts and poor social functioning
explain Motzkin et al. (2015)
Patients with vmPFC damage and controls were given emotional images to look at (either aversive or neutral)
Patients with vmPFC damage showed hyperactive amygdala activation to aversive images as vmPFC is not there to regulate the amygdala
how do neurotransmitters effect emotion?
neurotransmitters like serotonin regulate mood
what did Frankle et al. (2005) find?
low levels of serotonin in the vmPFC seen in impulsive aggressive individuals
what did Higley et al. (1996) find?
low levels of serotonin related to risk taking in male monkeys
the more serotonin they had in the cerebral spinal fluid, the more likely they are to survive as they do not take as many risks
explain the development of the amygdala and vmPFC
the amygdala matures quicker than the vmPFC
what did Gogtay et al. (2004) suggest?
as the amygdala matures quicker than the vmPFC this could explain why adolescents take more risks than adults
what did Westive et al. (2010) find?
the structural connectivity of the white matter between the amygdala and the vmPFC changes with age
explain the development of grey and white matter
grey matter matures quicker than white matter
white matter tracts will develop up until your early 30s
grey matter thins and prunes away whereas white matter thickens as you age
explain the development of the uncinate fasciculus
the uncinate fasciculus thickens until age 28
then declines into older adulthood
communication between the amygdala and the vmPFC can be compromised at young age and at old age which causes atrophy to occur
define atrophy
harder to regulate emotions
explain the development of the brain as a whole
areas of the brain are slower in older people as the brain ages
explain what happens in patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia
The dementia eats away at areas of the midbrain and forebrain
This causes confusion and emotion
what areas of the brain are most affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s and why?
Hippocampus and Amygdala are close to each other and are usually the one of the first regions to go
Hippocampus (involved in memory) is effected which causes memory loss
Amygdala (involved in emotions) is effected which causes atrophy
what did Phan et al. (2002) find?
found that lots of regions of the brain are involved in emotional experience
what are the different ways of communicating emotions?
expressions
suppression
faking it
explain Field et al. (1982) - expressing emotion
Newborn infants imitate facial expressions
Have seen emotions but don’t know what they mean
explain Willingham (2009) - expressing emotion
Facial expressions of pain and joy while running was similar for congenitally blind, non-congenitally blind and sighted athletes
Haven’t seen these emotions but express them nonetheless
explain Ekman & Friesen (1971) - expressing emotion
Individuals from different cultures display similar facial expressions when hearing emotive stories
explain Olsson & Phelps (2007) - expressing emotion
Emotional responses may be learned through observation
explain Semen & Garber (1996) - suppressing emotion
General display rules
Children learn to suppress their emotions
They are less likely to cry in front of peers compared to their caregivers
explain Friesen (1972) - suppressing emotion
Cultural display rules between countries
Early research suggests that in some populations negative emotions are more likely to be suppressed e.g. Japanese vs North Americans
explain Matsumoto (1993) - suppressing emotion
Cultural display rules within countries
Actually more variation in display rules due to ethnicity and culture interactions
e.g. based on four different ethnic groups in the USA
explain Ekman (1985) - faking emotion
Microexpressions are slight movement of facial muscles
explain Cacioppo et al. (1986) - faking emotion
Microexpressions can sometimes not be seen so easily but if measured via facial electromyography they become apparent
explain Murata et al. (2016) - faking emotion
Lateral frontal associated with surprise
Corrugator supercilii associated with sadness (frowning), anger, fear, disgust, concentration, pain
Levator labii superioris associated with disgust
Zygomaticus major associated with happiness
explain Duchenne’s study
Duchenne coined the ‘fake smile’ by electrically stimulating muscles in the face to cause contraction of muscles around the mouth that become active during a smile - only engaged the zygotmaticus major muscle (mouth) but not the orbicularis ocular (eyes)
explain Ross and Matthiessen (1998) - faking emotion
Damage to different regions of the brain can result in alterations in voluntary and involuntary facial movements
Study into emotional and volitional facial paresis
Network of brain regions control voluntary and involuntary expressions - involuntary expression is innate, voluntary expression is learnt
what happened in patients with emotional facial paresis (Ross and Matthiessen, 1998)?
Emotional facial paresis (e.g. lymphoma in the left thalamus) resulted in difficulty making involuntary emotional expressions on the right side but could make voluntary expressions on both
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what happened in patients with Volitional facial paresis (Ross and Matthiessen, 1998)?
Volitional facial paresis (e.g. dead tissue in left temporal artery resulted in difficult making voluntary emotional expressions in the right but could make involuntary expressions on both)
what did Sackheim and Gur (1978) find?
evidence that emotional expressions start or are stronger on the left side of the face
explain the theory that emotional expressions start/ are stronger on the left side of the face
Right side of brain is more emotional than left
Both hemispheres are active despite the lateralisation dominance on the left side of the face
May be the opposite for left-handed people
Heavily debated theory
explain Hauser (1993)
successive frames from a videotype of a rhesus monkey showing a fear grimace in response to an interaction with a more dominant monkey
emotion seems to be displayed on the left side first
how are emotions recognised?
The amygdala responds to expressions of emotions in others
explain how the amygdala responds to different emotions
Amygdala response to happiness and sadness is limited - you just feel happy.
Response to anger and fear is located in the occipital cortex as anger and fear are active and high-energy emotions so the person must try to work out where this is emotion is coming from - are they angry at me, am I in danger? - involuntary (Xu et al., 2019)
Conley et al. (2018)
what is the effect of ambiguity when it comes to recognising emotion?
· Kim et al. (2017)
· Some studies use continuum’s to examine emotional intensity of facial expressions
· The central nucleus of the amygdala responds in a linear way to the ambiguity of fearful facial expressions e.g. greater amygdala for higher ambiguity
· Amygdala is more active towards negative surprise than positive as you need to figure out what the negative surprise is so it is activated
· Wang et al. (2017)
· Changed intensity of emotion in the face (Song et al., 2018)
what is the effect of damage to the amygdala when it comes to recognising emotion?
· Lesions of the amygdala result in difficulty recognising emotional expressions in the self and others
· Patient with bilateral amygdala lesions could pull facial expressions in the mirror but didn’t recognise her own face (Adolphs et al., 1994)
· Patient with lost areas of amygdala looked at mouth more whereas neurotypical control looked at eyes more (Spazio et al., 2007)
what is the effect of tone of voice when it comes to recognising emotion?
· Greater activity in the right side of the frontal cortex when detecting emotion from tone of voice to find out meaning but the left and right side of frontal cortex when detecting emotion in meaning of words (George et al., 1996)
· Greater activity is observed in the auditory corte and parietal cortex for emotive music as meaning of words and emotion overlap (Koelsch et al., 2018)
explain Strauss and Moscovitch (1981) - lateralisation
· Participants asked to judge the emotions of Figures A and B
· Most said A was sad and B was happy - bias towards left side
· The stimuli for both figures are the same but the sad features for Figure A appear on the left side and for Figure B on the right side
explain contrasting evidence against lateralisation of emotion
· Modern research has found very little evidence of emotion-based lateralisation in the brain - more symmetrical
· Meta-analysis shows people looking at emotional images - bilateral - possibility that one side of the brain works faster than the other when recognising emotion but MRI cannot catch that image as it is too slow (Fusar-Poli et al., 2009)
how do we experience emotion?
Engagement
Imitation
do we have to express emotion to feel it?
explain Rutludge and Hopke (1985) - engagement when experiencing emotion
· Easier to see happiness in others or ‘feel’ happy when the relevant facial muscles for that emotion are engaged
· Participants asked to put a pen across the mouth and rate pictures of people being happy or not as this action uses the same Zygomaticus muscle for smiling - people tended to rate others are more happy when doing this
· Difficult to replicate
explain Lewis and Bowler (2009) - engagement when experiencing emotion
· Easier to ‘feel’ happy when the irrelevant facial muscles for that emotion are disengaged
· Hard to look surprised and hard to frown after having Botox as the muscles used for frowning are reduced so people with Botox reported feeling happier over the course of weeks because they can’t engage the corrigated muscle
· May be other factors that influence mood
explain Tamietto et al. (2009) - imitation when experiencing emotion
· EMG on zygomaticis (smiling) and corrigated (frowning) muscles, then participants were presented with facial expressions very quickly
· Patients with unilateral damage to the visual cortex saw photographs of happy or fearful faces and they engaged these muscles by smiling or frowning regardless of whether they saw the photographs consciously as the brain had seen it and reacted in the same way - it did not matter whether the photographs were presented to their sighted or blind field
· Imitated other people in the image when they know they’ve seen the image and when they think they haven’t but the brain has
· Imitation may occur unconsciously - may have seen it but had no idea that you actually saw it but the brain registered and reacted to it
· Mirroring of others facial expressions helps to understand how they are feeling
