Emotion Flashcards
Which part of the brain is linked to aggression?
The hypothalamus which is in the frontal lobe.
Phineas gage had an accident where a spear went through his head. He recovered but his personality changed. He became more aggressive and hostile - the spear went through the frontal lobe and caused most damage to the hypothalamus.
What is the area of the brain mostly linked to emotion?
The limbic system which is in the frontal lobe.
Which part of the brain is linked to fear?
The amygdala
What is the link between the amygdala and fear in animals?
The toxoplasma is a parasitic disease which is carried through cats but which mainly affects rats. When the disease is transferred into rats the parasite travels up into the brain and eats the amygdala. The rats fear levels then are reduced which causes them to approach cats and get eaten therefore continuing the cycle on.
Berody looked into this.
What is the link between the amygdala and fear in humans?
Aldoph looked into a case study of a whole who had damage to her amygdala. She was unable to understand the emotion of fear and when asked to illustrate fear upon a humans face she couldn’t.
What is a biological cause for aggressive behaviour?
Low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin have been linked to aggression.
Higley did a study with monkeys, the rhesus monkeys with the lowest levels of serotonin were the most aggressive.
What are the two types of nervous systems?
Somatic and autonomic
What is the difference between the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system?
The somatic nervous system is responsible for voluntary movement and the autonomic nervous system is responsible for involuntary automatic responses .
The autonomic nervous system can be divided into two; sympathetic and parasympathetic.
What’s the difference between parasympathetic and sympathetic?
Sympathetic nervous system prepare out body for action “fight or flight”
Parasympathetic nervous system activates the part of the body needed to calm down
What is the left brain hemisphere related to according to Gray?
Behavioural activation system-
Happiness and anger = low autonomic arousal
What does the right hemisphere of the brain relate to?
Behavioural inhibition system -
Inhibited action - disgust or fear = increased attention and arousal.
If someone has more activity in their left brain hemisphere what does that suggest and vice versa?
If someone has more brain activity in their left brain hemisphere they are more likely to be happy.
If someone has more brain activity in their right brain hemisphere they are more likely to be withdrawn.
Within facial expression the basic muscles are always present and always symmetrical.
True or false.
True.
Non- basic muscles are not always present and not always but often symmetrical.
What facial expression/response did Darwin believe was uniquely human?
Blushing - reddening of the face associated with embarrassment.
What research method could be used in the topic of emotion?
fMRI’s (functional MRI’s) look at haemoglobin levels within areas of the brain which would indicate which area of the brain was stimulated during tasks.
PET scans use radio activity to understand which areas of the brain are in use at what time. Chemicals are usually injected in order to highlight the areas more clearly.
