Emotion Flashcards
What are three components of emotional response?
Behavioural, autonomic, hormonal
What are emotions?
Physiological changes and accompanying behaviours
What are behavioural components of emotional response?
Muscular movements that are appropriate to the situation that elicits them
What are autonomic responses?
Facilitate behaviours and provide mobilization of energy (through increased activity of sympathetic branch and decrease of parasympathetic branch)
What are hormonal components of emotional response?
Reinforce autonomic responses through epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenal medulla)
And through steroid hormones (adrenal cortex)
Where does integration of the behavioural, autonomic and hormonal components of emotion happen?
Amygdala
What are the three primary nuclei in the amygdala involved in emotion?
Lateral nucleus, basal nucleus, central nucleus
Where does the lateral nucleus receive info from?
The neocortex, incl ventromedial prefrontal cortex, thalamus, hippocampus
Where does lateral nucleus send info to?
Basal nucleus (and other parts of brain)
Where do lateral nucleus and basal nucleus send info to?
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Central nucleus
What part of brain facilitates expression of aversive emotional stimuli?
Central nucleus of amygdala
What is impact of lesions on central nucleus of amygdala?
Reduced fear responses to threat
Reduced chance to develop ulcers
Reduced stress hormones
What does excitation of central nucleus of amygdala produce?
Physiological and behavioural signs of fear and agitation
Stress induced illnesses
What is a conditioned emotional response?
A classically conditioned response that occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an aversive stimulus
Usually includes behavioural, autonomic and hormonal physiological changes
What are the physiological changes caused by fear?
Heart rate and blood pressure increase
Muscles become tense
Adrenal glands produce epinephrine
Where do physical changes responsible for classical conditioning of CER occur?
Lateral nucleus
What happens to the conditioned emotional response if it is only paired with the conditioned stimulus (ie without aversive stimulus?)
Response is extinguished (not forgetting).
Where does inhibition of conditioned stimulus occur (in CER)?
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
What role does ventromedial prefrontal cortex play in CER?
Inhibition (extinguishing) of CR
What are two divisions of autonomic nervous system
Sympathetic
Parasympathetic
Where does sympathetic division of ANS come from?
Thoracic and lumbar regions of spine
Where does parasympathetic division of ANS come from?
Sacral and cranial parts of spine
What part of ANS is involved with energy expenditure?
Sympathetic
What part of ANS is associated with energy conservation?
Parasympathetic
Where do axons of sympathetic neurons exit grey matter of spine?
Ventral roots
Which sympathetic preganglionic cells don’t form synapses in gangli?
Those connected to adrenal medulla
What does adrenal medulla resemble?
Sympathetic ganglia.
Connected to by preganglionic axons, secretory cells are v like post ganglionic sympathetic neurons
What does parasympathetic division of ANS control?
Functions that occur during relaxed state
(Salivation, gastric and intestinal motility etc)
Deactivates energy system
Describe neurons from parasympathetic division
Very long presynaptic axon, v short postsynaptic
Describe role of amygdala in expression of emotion
Integrates the three responses to aversive stimuli (behavioural, autonomic, hormonal)
What is augmented startle response?
Startle response - designed to protect organs in body.
Add element to aversive stimulus (eg light + shock) through CER
Creates greater startle response
Where does augmented startle response happen
When input from amygdala connects with nucleus particularis pontis caudalis
What does stimulation of amygdala produce?
Feeling of fear (only place that does)
What do lesions of amygdala result in?
Less feeling of fear
Less augmented startle response
Less capacity for CER
What part of brain is activated in CER?
Amygdala
What part of brain is activated in extinguishing of CER?
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
What are the five forms of aggressive behaviour?
Treat behaviour Defensive behaviour Submission Predation Within species and gender aggression - all use diff parts of brain
Describe pathway for aggression
Input from amygdala and hypothalamus goes to periaquaductal grey matter (PAG)
- dorsal PAG –> defensive rage
- ventral PAG –> predatory rage
What do low levels of seratonin lead to?
Increased (unmoderated) levels of aggression
Small monkeys killed because they took on big monkeys
What mediates within species aggression?
Androgen- sensitive neurons in medial pre-optic (MPA) area
What does testosterone injected into MPA (medial pre-optic area) lead to?
Increased aggression in males
What are two effects of testosterone
Organisation - testosterone ‘preps’ brain making it more sensitive to testosterone
Activation - aggressive behaviour stimulated by circulating testosterone
What does early exposure to testosterone do?
increases sensitivity of subsequent activation response to testosterone
the earlier in development this occurs, the stronger the response
both males and females
Describe interaction of alcohol and testosterone
increased alcohol increases testosterone [hence aggression]
Describe role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in emotion
appropriate emotional responses to complex situations
What does damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex result in?
Reduces inhibitions and self-concerns
Become indifferent to consequences of actions
Pain no longer produces emotional response
What are display rules?
Cultural rules that describe when and how we should show signs of particular emotions
What are the three aspects of emotions?
Recognition
Experience
Expression
Describe hemispheric specialisation of emotion
Left is for meaning
Right is for emotion
Describe cultural relationships to emotion
Emotions expressed in universal ways
similarly across sighted and blind people
What does brain damage to right hemisphere result in [re emotions]
Recognition of emotions
Describe localisation of function through lesions [emotion]
Can recognise faces but not emotional expression
Can recognise emotional expression but not faces
Can recognise visual expression but not auditory expression
Describe role of amygdala in recognition of emotions
Increase in activity related to fear, not happiness
Damage to amygdala impairs ability to recognise emotions
Restricted to visual component of emotional expression
What are the two pathways in visual processing
Magnocellular - low frequency, low detail, emotional information
Parvocellular (visual cortex) - high frequency, fusiform facial recognition, detail, colour
What is primary source of visual information to amygdala?
Subcortical input from colliculus and pulvinar [thalamus] - magnocellular. Source of emotional input.
Amygdala will recognise fear before it recognises object - speed of magnocellular system
Describe blindsight
Where some blind people are able to recognise emotional expression
Why are gaze cells necessary
If someone is looking angry, need to know if they are looking at you
What do mirror cells do in emotion?
Mirror expression, tells you what emotion is being expressed
emerges from sensori-motor cortex
Describe volitional facial paresis
Can’t do emotions when asked to smile; when smile naturally, muscles work
Describe emotional facial paresis
Can force a smile
can’t do one when spontaneously smiling
What do chimerical faces show?
That rhs responsible for emotion
[chimerical - mirrors rhs of face to lhs [creating composite face]]
Describe James-Lange theory of emotion
Stimulus produces behavioural response; Feelings of emotions are produced by feedback to behaviours
Feeling is result of emotional response, not cause
Describe Cannon-Bard theory of emotion
Stimulus leads to cognitive appraisal which leads to simultaneous emotional, visceral and behavioural changes [eg thalamus sends signal simultaneously to cortex (feeling), viscera (arousal) and to skeletal muscles (action)
How has James-Lange theory of emotion been supported?
- Spinal transections lead to reduction in emotional intensity
- Facial feedback - different emotional expressions lead to different autonomic activity [eg happiness = decreased heartrate, no change in skin temperature
How do animals learn to be afraid?
Pair neutral stimulus with aversive stimulus
