Emotion

Question 1

Diencephalon (including the thalamus and hypothalamus)

Answer 1

Is crucial for emotional responses. The hypothalamus and thalamus control the expression of emotion and autonomic responses.

Question 2

Limbic structures (general)

Answer 2

Interact with the hypothalamus to create emotional states. Generate raw emotional behavior. The limbic circuit includes the amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, anterior thalamus and cingulate cortex.

Question 3

Amygdala

Answer 3

Receives input from all sensory systems and contains multimodal neurons that respond to visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory stimuli. Helps quickly identify and evaluate emotionally significant stimuli, both positive and negative. Interacts with the basal ganglia and medial temporal cortices, linking emotional memory to both implicit and explicit systems.

Question 4

Orbitofrontal (OFC) and ventromedial regions

Answer 4

Crucial for representing reward and punishment, learning associations between neutral stimuli and their emotional value, and tracking changes in subjective pleasure, such as adjusting emotional responses based on hunger or satiety.

Question 5

Mid-anterior OFC

Answer 5

Closely associated with pleasurable experiences (e.g., food, sex, music).

Question 6

Medial orbital region

Answer 6

More involved in predicting reward value than in the experience of pleasure itself.

Question 7

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

Answer 7

Connected to the posterior parietal cortex and supports visuospatial cognition, including spatial awareness and working memory.

Question 8

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)

Answer 8

Emotional regulation, decision-making, integration of cognition and affect recognition, encoding of emotional values, and processing of facial signals.

Question 9

Hypothalamus

Answer 9

Plays a crucial role in emotional responses. It controls the expression of emotion and autonomic reactions and interacts with limbic structures such as the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex to create emotional states.

Question 10

Cingulate cortex

Answer 10

Is activated during the anticipation of pain and is involved in the cognitive control of emotion.

Question 11

Insula

Answer 11

Activated by disgust and during tasks related to empathy.

Question 12

Cerebellum

Answer 12

Involved in supporting the emotional and motivational aspects of social behaviour, as part of the subcortical structures.

Question 13

Basal ganglia

Answer 13

Including the nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, and ventral tegmentum, also support the emotional and motivational aspects of social behaviour.