Emotion

Question 1

What is affective neuroscience?

Answer 1

The study of emotions in neuroscience.

Question 2

Emotions are difficult to define, which is important for debates such as…?

Answer 2

Whether animals and infants have emotions in the same way we experience them

Question 3

In what ways are emotions important for our survival?

Answer 3

• Fight/flight response
• Reproduction (attraction) and upbringing (attachment)
• Quick decisions to complex problems
• Learning - avoidance/approach

Question 4

What are the two components of emotions?

Answer 4

• Emotional response (body)

- Subjective emotional feeling.

Question 5

What changes in the ANS does an emotional response elicit?

Answer 5

• Hypothalamus controls the activity of the parasympathetic and sympathetic NS, when one is active the other is not. Para = rest+digest, Symp = fight/flight.

Question 6

What does activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System cause?

Answer 6

• Increased HR
• Slowing of digestive function
• Perspiration
• Increase in glucose availability
• Pupil dilation
• Inhibit salivation
• Secrete adrenaline and noradrenaline

Question 7

When is SNS useful?

Answer 7

Short term emergency, e.g. fear, anger, sexual arousal.

Question 8

How can ANS changes be detected?

Answer 8

• Polygraph

- Galvanic skin response

Question 9

What hormonal changes does an emotional response elicit?

Answer 9

The adrenal glands produce cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline when stressed, giving a supply of oxygen and glucose to the brain and muscles (rapid energy).

Question 10

What is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and what does it do?

Answer 10

Among other things, controls stress reactions.

hypothalamus, CRF (cortisol releasing factor), pituitary gland, ACTH, adrenal gland, cortisol released.

Question 11

What are the typical actions in terms of body posture and gestures caused by an emotional response?

Answer 11

Fight/flight/freeze

Question 12

What are Ekman’s 6 primary emotions?

Answer 12

Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. Said to be universal and innate, some definitely are, e.g. blind children laughing.

Question 13

What are the two neural circuits which produce facial expressions?

Answer 13

Voluntary and involuntary (spontaneous)

Question 14

What bodily systems are associated with the voluntary neural circuit?

Answer 14

• Corticospinal system

- Pyramidal tract (motor cortex)

Question 15

What bodily systems are associated with the involuntary neural circuit?

Answer 15

• Subcortical system

- Extrapyramidal tract (insula, basal ganglia).

Question 16

What are subjective feelings?

Answer 16

Awareness/conscious experience of emotions. Difficult to investigate.

Question 17

According to Damasio, what are subjective feelings the result of?

Answer 17

Integration of environment and body (emotional response).

Question 18

What comes first out of emotional response and subjective feeling according to the James-Lange theory (1984)?

Answer 18

1. Physiological changes

2. Subjective feeling

Question 19

What are the two main criticisms of the James-Lange theory?

Answer 19

1. Autonomic responses aren’t diverse enough to produce the range of emotions we feel.
2. People with spinal cord injuries (no info body-brain) can still feel emotions.

Question 20

What does Cannon-Bard theory (1927) suggest?

Answer 20

Subjective feelings cause physiological changes.

Question 21

What are criticisms of Cannon-Bard theory?

Answer 21

• Forcing yourself to smile makes you happier.
• Drugs reducing HR reduce subjective feeling of anxiety
• Autonomic responses to subliminally presented angry faces
  = no need for subjective feeling to have an emotional reaction.

Question 22

Historically, what has been searched for with regard to emotions in the brain?

Answer 22

A single emotional centre, with a focus on the limbic system (Broca), popularised by Paul McLean in 1952.

Question 23

What can we conclude about subjective feelings and emotional responses?

Answer 23

They aren’t strictly one before the other and we need a better understanding of their neural basis to understand their interaction.

Question 24

What did James Papez do in the 1930s?

Answer 24

Highlight a bidirectional circuit of brain structures involved in emotion, including the neocortex, cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus.

Question 25

What does current evidence suggest about emotions in the brain?

Answer 25

• Not all structures of the limbic system are involved in emotion
• There’s no single emotion system
• We use different brain networks for different emotions
• Several brain structures are important (hypothalamus, amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and insula)
• The structures involved aren’t exclusive to emotion processing

Question 26

What is the role of the hypothalamus in emotion processing?

Answer 26

• Important for generating emotional response (hormonal and ANS changes)
• Associated with aggressive behaviour.

Question 27

What is the role of the amygdala in emotion processing?

Answer 27

• Important for fear and aggression
• Kluever-Bucy syndrome in monkeys after temporal lobe removal (absence of fear and aggression, hypersexuality, visual recognition problems, oral tendencies), amygdala lesion responsible?
• Responds to unconditioned and conditioned stimuli

Question 28

According to LeDoux, how does an emotional stimulus elicit emotional responses?

Answer 28

2 routes:

1. Stimulus, thalamus, cortex, amygdala, responses.
2. Stimulus, thalamus, amygdala, responses (simple stimuli).

Question 29

What is the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (or orbitofrontal cortex) in emotion processing?

Answer 29

• Important for emotional feeling, social interactions and decision making
• Phineas Gage’s social changes.
• Iowa gambling game - lesioned pts pick bad cards.

Question 30

What is the role of the insula in emotion processing?

Answer 30

• Important for experience of pain and basic emotions (esp. disgust)
• According to Damasio, important in translating visceral states into subjective feelings.