Emotion Flashcards
definition of ‘emotion’
sets of physiological responses, action tendencies, & subjective feelings that adaptively engage humans to react to events of biological/individual significance
basic emotions
innate, cross cultural, evolutionarily old, associated w specific facial expressions
e.g. anger, fear, disgust, happy, sad, surprise
complex emotions
learned emotions that are culturally specific
found mostly in humans, have complex response patterns, influenced by language & develop later in life
e. g. jealousy, contempt, shame, envy, greed
* may predict that diff brain areas are involved in diff emotions
dimensional theories of emotion
emotions occur along a continuum of two+ fundamental features
level of each feature determines the specific emotion
features: arousal (i.e. intensity), & valence (pleasant, unpleasant)
* imply that emotions are not discrete
circumplex models
consider arousal and valence on two intersecting axis
the associated emotions depend on the combo of pos/neg valence and level of arousal
james-lange theory of emotion
proposes an early brain model suggesting that each emotion is created by a specific physiological response (sensory cortex–> motor cortex)
no emotion can occur in the absence of bodily rxns
no specialized neural structures for emotion
cannon-bard theory of emotion
proposes there are not enough physiological responses to acct for all our emotions
suggests that emotions allow mobilization of the autonomic nervous system (thalamus, cortex, hypothalamus)
proposes a dual pathway for emotion processing (simultaneous processing to generate feelings & rxns)
LeDoux’s low road/high road theory
a parallel model of emotion processing
low road- a fast automatic processing of stimulus
hardwired fight/flight
(thalamus–>amygdala)
high road- slower cognitive route for info, deeper processing of emotions, considers context, experience etc
(sensory cortex–> amygdala)
extended by Papez to include several other brain regions
*eventually became known as limbic system, to include cingulate cortex & amgydala as central to emotion processing
locationist approach
diff basic emotions localized to discrete functional regions of the brain
constructionist hypothesis
emotions are represented by activity across a network of regions, not localized. areas are specialized for specific kinds of processing, not specific emotions
brain regions & proposed associated emotions
amygdala –> fear response (central bc it is well positioned & connected)
-influences attention, visual search, memory, & decision making
insula –> disgust
orbital frontal cortex –> anger
cingulate cortex –> sadness
thalamus and hypothalamus –> general memory
