Emotion Flashcards
Define affective neuroscience.
The study of emotions in the brain.
Why are ‘feelings’ not a scientific term?
Feelings are subjective experiences - we need a more concrete entity that can be externally assessed.
Define an emotion.
A consistent and discrete response to a significant event.
What are emotions used for in the brain?
To help organise cognitive function and direct an appropriate response.
Emotions can be thought of as point on an axis. What are the two axes?
Arousal and valence.
What does arousal mean?
State of alertness, from sleepy to hyperactive.
What does valence mean?
Either positive of negative.
Many emotions can be easily recognised, regardless of cultural differences. How do we recognise them?
In specific facial expressions.
Facial expressions associated with different emotions can be elicited via stimulation of one or more facial muscle groups. True or false?
True.
Arousal can be characterised by an increases in which physiological factors?
Heart rate, blood pressure, sweat production etc.
Which part of the nervous system controls arousal?
The autonomic nervous system.
Arousing emotions are said to be what kind of responses?
‘Gut’ responses, as in there are visceral components.
Who hypothesised in the 19th century that the cognitive experience of emotion is secondary to the physiological response?
William James and Carl Lange.
Give 4 reasons why James and Lange’s theory was wrong.
- Emotions can develop in less than a second, autonomic responses take longer
- Emotions are very specific, autonomic responses are usually identical
- Emotions continue after the physiological stimuli has subsided
- Lesions to the hypothalamus can lead to rage
In the early 20th century Walter Cannon and Phillip Bard suggested what about the emotional response?
It is organised by the hypothalamus and communicated via the thalamus to the cortex for cognition.
Most modern theories assume that emotion are communicated to awareness a) directly and b) indirectly. What does this mean?
a) Directly via emotional processing centres in the brain
b) Indirectly as the body senses autonomic responses
Work by Schachter has shown that emotion is a construct of the mind. How did he show this?
He injected subjects with adrenalin, which increases heart rate. Subjects normally associated increased heart rate with emotion, but modulated this interpretation knowing the effects were due to adrenalin.
What is the most modern theory of emotional control?
The autonomic response is coordinated by the hypothalamus. Emotions also require cortical processing, largely involving the prefrontal cortex.
Patients with cortical lesions cannot form smiles on request but can form natural smiles, for example is response to a joke. What does this tell us about the generation of facial emotion?
There is likely to be more than one pathway. One for volitional gestures and one for automatic responses.
What components would a pathway that generates volitional gestures require?
Motor cortex involvement and basal ganglia.
Would a pathway that generates automatic responses require the motor cortex?
No.
Define the amygdala.
A small, almond-shaped nucleus in the temporal lobe.
Define the limbic system.
A networks of nerves and brain areas associated with instinct and emotion.
Why has the limbic system hypothesis become increasingly weak?
The numbers of structures assigned to it has grown, and its explanatory power has thus reduced.
