Emotion and Cognition Flashcards
what determines emotional experience?
bottom up processing
(perception and attention)
top down processing (drawing on stored knowledge)
what evidence is there for the distinction between bottom up processing and top down processing?
Oschner et al (2009)
bottom condition- see aversive photos and asked to respond naturally
top condition - ask to interpret neutral photographs as aversive
they found that there was common and distinct areas activated for the two conditions
what is a key top down process in emotion regulation?
inhibitory control
what are appraisals?
they are the process of evaluating the importance of environmental changes for one’s well-being
appraisals influence our emotions
how do appraisals work?
they initiate :
physiological (body sensation), expressive and behavioural changes
Smith and Kirby’s framework of appraisals …
believed that appraisal processes work in parallel by using three mechanisms
what are the 3 mechanisms of appraisals?
1) processing that involves priming and activating memories
2) reasoning
3) continuous monitoring of appraisal info that comes from the other two processes
different appraisals lead to different emotions …
if you perform badly in an exam,
one appraisal could lead to anger and another appraisal could lead to guilt
evidence that appraisals cause emotion?
Schartau et al 2009
participants were shown a film or humans and animals experiencing extreme distress
in the manipulation condition the participants had positive appraisal training there they looked for a silver lining
positive appraisal reduced rating of negative emotions
can appraisals occur unconsciously?
evidence supports that appraisals can result from very rapid associative processes that occur subconsciously
evidence for subconscious emotional processing …
ohman and soares
presented pictures of snakes, spiders, flowers and mushrooms subliminally to snake and spiders phobics
by studying their reaction to the pictures they found there was phobic specific arousal and negativity
appraisal theory IRL evidence..
Bennett and Lowe conducted a real world test of appraisal theory
they identified the most recent stressful work incident and found their emotions were linked to the appraisal of the situation
summary of appraisal in relation to emotion
appraisal has an impact on emotional experience
also likely that emotional experience can influence our emotional experience
what is emotion regulation
refers to the management and control of one emotion, it is effortful and try to override spontaneous emotion
what are the strategies of emotion regulation?
- controlled breathing
- mediation
- distraction
some mechanisms are adaptive/maladaptive
when are emotion regulation strategies employed?
- attentional deployment stage (distraction)
- Cognitive change stage (changing emotional meaning)
- reappraisal is cognitively demanding but has long lasting benefits
Attentional deployment (distraction)
can redirect attention away from negative emotional info and turn it towards a distracting stimuli
filling the working memory with distracting stimuli
cognitive reappraisal
two types of cognitive reappraisal (reinterpretation and distancing)
reappraisal involves the PFC and reduced activity in the amygdala
what is reinterpretation?
it is one type of cognitive reappraisal that involves changing the meaning of the context in which a stimulus was presented
what is distancing?
it is a type of cognitive reappraisal and involves making detached third person perspective
how effective are emotional regulation strategies?
acceptance and reappraisal reduce anxiety and depression
troy et al said what about reappraisal ability …
in uncontrollable situations those with high appraisal ability were less depressed, however, when the situation was controllable they were more depressed
emotion regulation happens where in the brain?
emotion evaluation = ventrolateral PFC
initiation of regulation = dorsolateral PFC
execution of regulation = superior temporal gyrus
cognitive features of anxiety
“ of depression …
attentional phenomenon = anxiety
memory phenomenon = depression
cognitive biases in psychopathology …
attentional bias = where you orient attention
interpretative bias = how you interpret ambiguous stimuli
explicit memory bias = conscious recollection
schemata …
cognitive structures that influence a persons perceptions, interpretations and memories
depression schemata ..
global negativity
anxiety schemata
exaggerated vulnerability and danger to self
what is bower’s network theory?
each distinct emotion has a specific node in memory that joins other aspects of emotion to it by associative pointers
