Emotions Flashcards
What is the James-Lange Theory in relation to emotion?
That autonomic arousal and skeletal actions come before emotion - which is the label given to responses.
What are the three aspects of emotion?
Cognition, Feeling, Action
What part of the brain/brain system is essential for emotion?
The limbic system - found in the forebrain area surrounding the thalamus.
What is the behavioral activation system?
Activity in the left hemisphere (frontal and temporal lobes) - could characterize happiness or anger.
What is the behavioral inactivation system?
Activity in the right hemisphere (frontal and temporal lobes) - could stimultate fear or disgust,
How does damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex affect emotion/moral decision making?
If someone has damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex then they are more likely to make ‘utilitarian’ decisions (kill 1 to save 5) or to say that they would kill someone they hated if no one was ever going to find out about it. They show very little concern for others and reduced trust.
What part of the body’s system readies it for emergency fight-or-flight activities.
The sympathetic nervous system
What relationship has been reported between the
enzyme MAOA and antisocial behavior?
Overall, people with genes for high or low production
of MAOA do not differ significantly in their probability of antisocial behavior. However, among those who suffered serious maltreatment during childhood, people with lower levels of the enzyme showed higher rates of antisocial behavior.
If we want to know how much serotonin the brain has been releasing, what should we measure?
We can measure the concentration of 5-HIAA, a serotonin metabolite, in the cerebrospinal fluid or other body fluids. The more 5-HIAA, the more serotonin has been released and presumably resynthesized
What is the startle flex?
Auditory information goes first to the cochlear nucleus in the medulla and from there directly to an area in the pons that commands tensing the muscles, especially the neck muscles.
What is the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis?
A brain area involved in long-term, generalized emotional arousal. The stria terminalis is a set of axons that connect the bed nucleus to the amygdala.
What does reappraisal and similar methods of suppressing anxiety depend on?
Top-down influences from the prefrontal cortex to inhibit activity in the amygdala.
What is the limbic system?
The area is also known as the paleomammalian cortex or the emotional brain. It contains a set of structures around the thalamus, immediately beneath the temporal lobe. Historically, it has been said to play an important part in emotional processing.
What is the Papez Circuit?
A number of structures in which emotions are processed in unity and an interconnected fashion. Processing starts in the hippocampus and ends in the hippocampus. Proposes that particularly the cingulate gyrus adds ‘emotional colouring’ to everyday experiences.
What is the Triune Brain?
Proposes a model based on evolutionary theory. Evolutionary old areas sit in the brainstem, midbrain and thalamus. They are surrounded by the emotional brain which includes subcortical structures. The evolutionary youngest area is the cortex or the ‘thinking brain’.
