Emotions Flashcards
What is an emotion?
An automatic physiological, behavioural and cognitive reaction to external or internal events
Emotions are accompanied by 2 things; what are they?
Emotional experience (subjective feelings labeled to identify particular emotions) and Emotional expression (over and covert behaviours)
What was the evolutionary theory of emotions about? Who was the author of this theory?
Darwin: Emotions have evolutionary/adaptive value
What is the James-Lange theory of emotions about?
• Stimuli > physiological arousal > emotion
Emotion is the brain’s interpretation of arousal
What is the Cannon Bard theory of emotions about?
• Stimuli > arousal + emotion (both independently, but happening simultaneously)
What was the
Schachter and Singer’s Two-Factor Theory of emotions about?
• Stimuli > arousal > cognitive label associated w arousal + situation (appraisal) > emotion
What is the relation between emotions and bodily changes?
Emotions are Partly Induced by Patterns of Bodily changes
Emotions can be differentiated by the patterns of bodily changes to which they give rise
What is the discrete theory of emotions about?
Discrete Theories: propose that a small set of emotions (basic emotions) can be distinguished from one another and are universal
• Basic emotions have now grown to 22
What is the dimensional theory of emotions about?
Dimensional Theories: argue that emotions do not neatly fit into categories - there are basic elements but emotions differ across individuals
What are the basic elements of emotions according to the dimensional theory of emotions?
○ Emotional valence (perception of whether an emotions is + or -)
○ Arousal (how strongly the emotion is felt)
○ Potency (feelings of power/weakness)
○ Unpredictability
What is the theory of constructed emotions about?
Emotional experiences result from the brain’s analysis (through introspection and then categorization) of physiological arousal
Like colours, it can differ from person to person and its the brain that makes sense of it
Describe 2 structures of the Papez circuit and their roles in emotions
• Hypothalamus: responsible for behavioural responses part of emotional expression
Cingulate cortex: produce emotional experience
**Go see pic in notes for more detailed circuit
What structure did McLean add to the Papez circuit?
The limbic system
WHat are the parts of the limbic system?
Amygdala, septum, prefrontal cortex
What is today’s view on the Papez circuit?
A meta-analysis proposed that the basic emotions used different parts of the brain (fMRI)
Therefore the circuit of emotions is not a single one
What is the Klüver-Bucy Syndrome?
A set of symptoms, including a loss of fear and flattened emotions, that follow the removal of the temporal lobes. (including hippocampus and amygdala)
What is fear conditioning?
procedure allowing to express fear
the tone causes the rats to freeze in place, a conditioned response (CR) when they hear the tone (Figure 11.8a, left). This reaction is taken to be a display of fear
Describe the location of the amygdala
Deep within the temporal lobes
Part of the limbic system
Describe the functions of the amygdala
Autonomic responses associated w fear
Emotional responses
Processing/consolidating memory
Hormonal secretions
What is the direct pathway to the amygdala? What is the main function of this pathway?
From the thalamus direclty to the amygdala - fear perception
What is the indirect pathway to the amygdala? What is the main function of this pathway?
thalamus, cortex, then amygdala (hippocampus also involved - decides if emotion is relevant)
Fear experience
What happened to SM, who had a degenerative disease causing the deterioration of the temporal lobes and of the amygdala?
• Cannot feel fear, cannot be conditioned to fear stimulus, cannot recognize fear in others
People who have damage to amygdala struggle to recognize facial expressions in others
How is the amygdala possibly related to racial prejudice? What was the experiment done in relation to this?
The amygdala can learn to respond to threats without awareness of the stimuli causing the response (people feared angry faces previously paired with unpleasant noise without seeing them consciously) -subliminal stimuli
What is the story of Phineas Gage?
metal rod through his cheek and prefrontal cortex during an explosion
• After the accident his personality changed and he changed from being well-mannered to confused and unable to make decisions, sometimes engaging in profanities
What is the story of Elliott?
damages to prefrontal cortex after tumor surgery
• Ability to take decision impaired
• Abilities to speech/maths, etc were not affected, as well as senses and memory
Both Gage and Elliott suffered injuries to the:
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)
What is the somatic marker hypothesis?
The hypothesis that the unconscious activation of past emotional experiences informs decision making.
According to the SMH, bodily changes induced by autonomic nervous system activity, as well as changes in posture and muscle tension that result from emotionally arousing stimuli, are stored within the brain assomatic markers.
What is the Iowa Gambling task?
Participants are given play money (like 2000$) and have to choose out of 4 decks of cards (A,B,C,D); 2 of them makes them loose a little money and gain a little, and the 2 others makes them loose a lot more, but also gain a lot more
The task is designed to make sure that it is impossible to learn consciously which decks to choose to win, the learning has to take place implicitly.
Patients with damages to the VMPFC failed to learn to avoid the 2 decks making bigger losses
