Emotion Flashcards
What is emotion categorised as and what are the different ways these are studied?
Emotional expression - Animal and human studies Emotional experience - Human studies Affective Neuroscience - neural basis of emotion and mood - (mood as an emotion extended in time)
What is the effect of opioids on emotion?
Long term opioid abstinence increases anxiety and depression - opioid tolerance developed , require more morphine to balance inhibitory effects
Outline common emotions
Love, hate, disgust, joy, shame, envy, guilt, fear, anxiety, etc
Describe the James-Lange theory of emotion
We experience emotions in response to physiological changes in our body- ie. we feel sad because we cry not the other way around
Describe the Cannon-Bard emotion theory
We can experience emotions independently of emotional expression (dissociations) - no correlation with physiological state
Emotions are produced when signals reach the thalamus either directly from sensory receptors or by descending cortical input
What brain system is responsible for emotion?
Broca’s Limbic lobe
- Limbus (latin) means border
- Primitive cortical gyri that form a ring around the brain stem
Which brain regions does the Broca’s Limbic Lobe consist of?
Broca’s limbic lobe includes
- the parahippocampal gyrus
- the cingulate gyrus
- the subcallosal gyrus
What is broca’s limbic lobe?
Areas of brain forming a ring around corpus callosum: cingulate gyrus, medial surface temporal lobe, hippocampus
⇒ limbic system
What is the papez circuit?
Limbic structures, including cortex, involved in emotion
Where is the papez circuit located?
Emotional system on the medial wall of the brain linking cortex with hypothalamus
Where did Papez believe emotion was determined from?
Papez believed the experience of emotion was determined by activity in the cingulate cortex, and less directly by other cortical areas.
Describe the papez circuit
Emotional expression was thought to be governed by the hypothalamus. The cingulate cortex projects to the hippocampus which projects onto hypothalamus via the fornix (bundle of axons). Hypothalamic effects reach the cortex via a relay in the anterior thalamic nuclei
What is the significance of the cortex in emotion?
Cortex critical for emotional experience
What is the role of the hippocapus regarding emotion?
Hippocampus governs behavioral expression of emotion
Rabies infection implicates hippocampus in emotion -> hyper emotional responses
What is the emotional effect of lesions on the anterior thalamus?
Lesions lead to spontaneous laughing or crying.
What is the significance of the evolution of the limbic system?
Evolution of limbic system allows animals to experience and express emotions beyond stereotyped brain stem behaviours.
Which brain regions form the limbic system?
Cingulate gyrus Parahippocampal structures Septal nuclei Amygdala Entorhinal cortex Hippocampal complex - dentate gyrus - CA1-CA4 subfields - subiculum
What is the role of the limbic system?
Anatomically the limbic system appears to have a role in attaching a behavioral significance and response to a stimulus, especially with respect to its emotional content
What is the consequence of limbic system damage?
Damage to the limbic system leads to profound effects on the emotional responsiveness of the animal
Outline the role of the cingulate gyrus in the limbic centre
Cingulate gyrus
- role in complex motor control
- pain perception
- social interactions-mood
What is the role of the hippocampus in the limbic system?
Hippocampus proper and parahippocampal areas’ primary function is memory
What is the role of the amygdala?
involved in learning and storage of emotional aspects of experience
What are the possible problems with the limbic system?
Difficulties with the single emotion system concept
- Diversity of emotions and brain activity
- Many structures involved in emotion
No one-to-one relationship between structure and function
Limbic system: use of single, discrete emotion system questionable
How are emotion theories studied?
Early theories of emotion and limbic system built on introspection and inference from brain injury and disease.
Studies of disease and consequences of lesions not ideal for revealing normal function.
