Emotion lecture 3 Flashcards
What is meant by psychological appraisal theories?
Cognitive evaluation of a situation
How do psychological appraisal theories compare to JL theory?
They look at emotion in a different way than JL and CB theory
Like James they focus on the subjective experience of emotion
However, they they suggest that feelings reflect cognitive evaluation of a situation which is more intuitive
Distinguish between two broad categories of appraisal
- Primary appraisal: Judging situation as positive/negative (valence). Note: every daily activity has this kind of valence. (also known as core effect.)
- Secondary appraisal: Analysis of own coping resources (if you can cope with it, causes a lot of stress.)
What are meant by two factor theories
Combining James’ ideas with appraisal theories:
1) Perception of bodily arousal => Intensity of emotion (but not the type of emotion)
2) Cognitive appraisal of situation => Type of emotion
How does this theory explain the finding that adrenaline injections does not produce emotions as predicted by James’ theory
- Unexpected and unexplained arousal (e.g. through injected adrenaline) will be explained with available situational cues
- If bodily arousal can be explained (e.g. “I have received an injection of adrenaline”), other situational cues will not be used
Describe two simple studies which demonstrate this cognitive appraisal
A young attractive researcher stood in the middle of a ‘dangerous’ bridge and on a more structurally safe bridge and asked young men a few questions and two write a story based on a picture. The researcher also gave her number for any further questions. Those on the more dangerous bridge were more likely to call her and their stories seemed more sexually charged. It was inferred that the cognitive arousal due to the scariness of the bridge was partly attributed to the attractive woman.
In the 60’s there was also a study where students would rate nude female students based on their attractiveness while they would receive feedback on their heart rate. Researchers would sometimes give elevated reports of the participant’s heart rates. Participants would give a higher rate of attractiveness.
Describe Schacter and singer’s classic experiment
There were three manipulations:
Injection of adrenaline (or not) manipulation
Informed subject group manipulation: Subjects are either informed about the manipulation (do not use situation cues) or they are not informed, told it was about eyesight (do use situational cues.)
Situation manipulation: Angry confederate (questionnaires were asking really intimate details about their sex life etc) or euphoric confederate (jumping around using a hula hoop etc, making fun comments about the questionnaires).
What were the ‘idealised’ results of Schacter and singer’s classic experiment?
In the informed subject group:
Those with the angry confederate don’t feel angry (attribute arousal to injection, rationalise the effect)
Those with the euphoric confederate (attribute arousal to injection, rationalise the effect)
In the uninformed subject group:
Those with the angry confederate feel angry (take cue to explain their arousal- misattribution)
Those with the euphoric confederate feel happy (take cue to explain their arousal- misattribution)
Contrast the causal pathway in emotion in JL theory, Canon-bard theory and schacter and Singer theory
James Lange: Stimulus => Body response => Feeling
Cannon bard: Stimulus => Subcortical brain activity => Fear + body response
S&S: Stimulus => Body response + appraisal => Feeling
Describe the neural pathways suggested in canon-bard theory
The emotional trigger passes through the occipital lobe into the thalamus. The thalamus functions as an ‘emotion hub.’ Via connections to the thalamus, the hypothalamus then induces body changes while the cortex simultaneously causes feelings.
Based on this canon-bard model, Papez, an anatomist while tracing connections in the brain made some claims on how information and emotion are processed in the brain. Name and describe the model he proposed
The Papez circuit:
- Stream of thought from dorsal thalamus (sensory relay) to sensory cortex
- Cannon’s pathway from ventral thalamus to hypothalamus induces body changes
- Stream of feeling from hypothalamus to anterior thalamus to cingulate cortex and back to hypothalamus via hippocampus
- Integration in cingulate cortex: Feelings
What neural system does the Papez circuit play a key role in? What role does it play and name some other structures involved
Limbic system (McLean):
- Key role of Papez circuit in autonomic regulation (Cingulate cortex => hippocampus => hypothalamus)
- Hippocampus as a key structure
- Later addition of other structures: Amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex
How well does MacLean’s limbic system (1949) hold up to today’s standards?
Quite outdated and wrong, In Maclean’s illustrations of the limbic system:
Some information no known to be correct such as hypothalamus projecting to the brainstem, important for autonomic responses. Information about smell from olfactory bulbs also up to date. Also information from the viscera and other sensory modalities in the temporal lobe is also partly up to date.
However the central system shown to be the hippocampus, the key function of it is clearly not emotion but memory.
Why did MacLean insert the hippocampus as the central area in emotion?
Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy experienced intense emotions, especially when damaged around the hippocampus.
Kluver-Bucy syndrome: Monkeys with temporal lobe lesions show dramatic behavioral changes (docility dietary changes, hyperorality, hypersexuality, agnosia, amnesia). These were considered emotional changes then, ignoring the key symptoms of agnosia and amnesia.
What essentially constituted the original limbic system?
Hippocampus and Papez circuit (Cingulate cortex, hippocampus, anterior thalamus, hypothalamus and mamillary bodies)
What has also been included in the limbic system?
- Orbitofrontal cortex and parts of the medial prefrontal cortex
- Amygdala
The limbic system is sometimes posited as the brain system for emotions. Is this accurate? Why or why not (3)
While it is an enduring and influential model of the emotional brain, it is a vague poorly defined concept. Additionally most parts of the limbic system are more related to declarative memory than emotion (hippocampus, mamillary bodies, anterior thalamus). Also some parts of the basal ganglia are missing.
Why is giving current views on the key roles of different brain areas in emotion a difficult task?
Because the current view is that emotions are linked to distributed complex neural networks rather than localised brain areas
Name the seven brain areas which Timo claimed are consensually the most important brain areas
- Amygdala
- Hypothalamus
- Periaqueductal gray
- Ventral striatum
- Insula
- Anterior cingulate cortex
- Orbitofrontal cortex
What constitutes the amygdala?
A collection of nuclei in the anterior temporal poles
Why is it not straightforward to link the functions of the amygdala in the rat brain to the human brain
The different cell types and nuclei in the amygdala differ across species and it is not simple to link two nuclei between species.
Where does the amygdala get input from? Where does it have bidirectional connections?
Viscera (via hypothalamus, orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus), from the olfactory bulbs (why smells trigger memories) and from all senses.
Bidirectional connections with hippocampus, thalamus, ventral striatum, hypothalamus, orbitofrontal cortex and brainstem.
What functions is the amygdala associated with? (2/3)
Learning and representing the emotional value (good vs bad) and salience and relevance of stimuli (e.g Pavlovian fear conditioning). It also plays a key role in inducing bodily changes
Evidence for preferential involvement in fear perception and experience
Describe the neural process of pavlovian learning when a mouse is shocked in the foot alongside a tone.
The tone activates a response in the auditory thalamus which sends a signal to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA). The activity in the auditory thalamus also activates a response in the auditory cortex* which sends a signal to the (LA) in the amygdala.
The shock activates a response in the somatosensory thalamus which sends a signal to the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA). The activity in the somatosensory thalamus also activates a response in the somatosensory cortex* which sends a signal to the (LA) in the amygdala.
*The thalamus is necessary for this learning to occur however the learning can occur without the relevant cortex. The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) acts as a sensory input nucleus of the amygdala. It projects to the central nucleus of the amygdala which projects to other areas which produce bodily changes and the fear response.