Emotional & Social (Exam 2)

Question 1

Emotion

Answer 1

a cluster of three distinct but interrelated sets of phenomena-physiological responses, overt behaviors, and conscious feelings -produced in response to an affecting situation.

Question 2

Fear response

Answer 2

cluster of physiological changes, overt behaviors, and conscious reactions that accompany the emotion of fear

Question 3

arousal/flight or fight

Answer 3

a collection of bodily responses that prepare the body to face a threat

Question 4

The pituitary Gland in the Hypothalamus and adrenal glands in the kidney release hormones

Answer 4

Brain —————–> signals adrenal glands
Eyes ——————> pupils dilate
Lungs —————-> fast breathing
Heart —————–> acceleration
Muscles ————–> tense
Adrenal glands —-> produce hormones
Liver ——————-> converts glycogen to glucose
Stomach ————-> slow digestion
Bladder ————–> relaxation
Hair Shaft ———–> becomes erect

Question 5

James-Lange Theory

Answer 5

Emotional Stimulus —-> Bodily Responses (Physiological responses & overt behaviors) ——-> conscious emotional feelings

Question 6

Cannon-Bard Theory

Answer 6

Emotional Stimulus —–> Bodily Responses (Physiological responses & overt behaviors) OR Conscious emotional feelings

Question 7

Schachter-Singer (Two-factor) Theory

Answer 7

Emotional Stimulus —–> Bodily Responses (Physiological responses & overt behaviors) OR Cognitive Appraisal –>
Conscious emotional feelings

Question 8

Learned Helplessness

Answer 8

a phenomenon in which exposure to an uncontrollable punisher teaches an expectation that responses are ineffectual, which in turn reduces the motivation to attempt new avoidance responses

Question 9

Mood congruency of memory

Answer 9

principle that is easiest to retrieve memories that match our current mood or emotional state

Question 10

Flashbulb memory

Answer 10

a memory formed under conditions of extreme emotions that seem especially vivid and long-lasting

Question 11

Limbic System includes

Answer 11

Frontal Cortex
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Cortical and subcortical regions

Question 12

Hypothalamus

Answer 12

Regulates bodily responses to emotions

Question 13

Thalamus

Answer 13

Sensory relay

Question 14

Hippocampus

Answer 14

Vital for episodic memory formation

Question 15

Amygdala

Answer 15

collection of brain nuclei that lies at the anterior tip of each hippocampus, critical for learning and expressing emotional responses as well as mediating the emotional modulation of memory formation

[Almond in Greek]

Question 16

Blood-brain barrier

Answer 16

membrane that controls the passage of substances from the blood into the central nervous system, including the brain

Question 17

norepinephrine

Answer 17

a neurotransmitter that is chemically related to epinephrine but that (unlike epinephrine) can cross the blood-brain barrier and affect brain function

Question 18

Phobia

Answer 18

excessive and irrational fear of an object, a place, or a situation. It can include claustrophobia, acrophobia, arachnophobia, and agoraphobia.

Question 19

Systematic desensitization

Answer 19

therapy for phobias in which successive approximations of the fear-evoking stimulus are presented while the patient learns to remain relaxed; eventually, even the presentation of the stimulus itself does not elicit fear.

Question 20

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 20

A psychological syndrome that can develop after exposure to a traumatic event (e.g., combat, rape, natural disaster); symptoms include re-experiencing the event (through intrusive recollection, flashbacks, or nightmares), avoidance of reminders of the trauma, emotional numbing, and heightened anxiety.

Question 21

Social Learning - briefly

Answer 21

Perspective taking
Emotion contagion
Observational conditioning
Mirror neurons
Autism spectrum disorder

Question 22

True imitation

Answer 22

copying that involves reproducing motor acts

Question 23

Emulation

Answer 23

copying that involves replicating an outcome without replicating specific motor acts

Question 24

Two-action sets

Answer 24

a technique developed to investigate imitation abilities

Question 25

Perspective taking

Answer 25

imaging oneself in the place of another

[View of oneself + View of others = Meta Perspectives]

Question 26

Emotional contagion

Answer 26

inborn tendency to react emotionally to visual or acoustic stimuli that indicate an emotional response by other members of one’s species, typically in ways that replicate the observed response

Question 27

Observational conditioning

Answer 27

process in which an individual learns an emotional response after observing similar responses in others

Question 28

Mirror neurons

Answer 28

a neuron that responds during the performance of an action and also during the observations of that action

[observation —–> imitation ——> intent]

Question 29

Autism spectrum disorder

Answer 29

a developmental disorder associated with deficits in social interactions and social learning.

Question 30

Gestational age

Answer 30

time since conception

Question 31

Elicited imitation

Answer 31

a technique for assessing memory in infants by observing the ability to mimic actions they have seen earlier

Question 32

Sensitive period

Answer 32

a time window, usually early in life, during which a certain kind of learning occurs most easily and is most effective

Question 33

imprinting

Answer 33

young animals of some species tend to form an attachment to the first individual they see after birth.

Question 34

Sensitive Period for Language Learning

Answer 34

-Language (approx 25 - 40) speech sounds (phonemes)
-Adults lose the ability to distinguish between speech sounds outside of their native language
-infants younger than 6 - 8 months distinguish between all sounds

Question 35

Puberty

Answer 35

the process of physical changes during which the body transitions to sexual maturity, usually beginning around the age of 10 -12 in humans

Question 36

Adolescence

Answer 36

the transitional stage between puberty and adulthood, which corresponds roughly to the teenage years in humans (ages 13 -19)

Question 37

Working memory

Answer 37

one that is last to mature and one of the first to show deficits

“Old memory = Better than new learning”

Question 38

Neurogenesis

Answer 38

creation of new neurons in the brain

Question 39

Apoptosis

Answer 39

natural cell death as opposed to cell death caused by accident or disease

Question 40

Synaptogenesis

Answer 40

creation of new synapses

Question 41

Spines

Answer 41

tiny protrusion on a dendrite where synapses may form

Question 42

Adult neurogenesis

Answer 42

the ability to produce functional neurons throughout the lifespan

Question 43

Down syndrome

Answer 43

a congenital disorder that causes mild to moderate intellectual disability and is usually due to trisomy 21 (chromosomal abnormality)

Question 44

Trisomy 21

Answer 44

a condition in which an embryo inherits three (rather than two) copies of chromosome 21, resulting in Down Syndrome.

Question 45

Dementia

Answer 45

progressive cognitive decline, usually due to accumulating brain pathology

Question 46

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)

Answer 46

a form of dementia due to accumulating brain pathology (specifically amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles)

Question 47

Amyloid plaque

Answer 47

a deposit of beta-amyloid protein; these deposits accumulate in the brains of patients with AD

Question 48

Neurofibrillary tangles

Answer 48

an aggregation of collapsed remains of the tau proteins that normally hold a neuron in place and help transport nutrients around the cell; such tangles occur in the brains of individuals with AD

Question 49

Cognitive reserve

Answer 49

brains ability to improvise and find alternate ways of completing tasks

Question 50

Enriched environments

Answer 50

environments which are changing and stimulating

• healthy diet
• regular low-level exercise
• varied mental exercises
• social stimulation