Fear & Emotion Flashcards
What are the 3 main fear responses?
Behavioural - movement appropriate to a situation
Autonomic - blood vessels constrict/dilate, with heart rate changing to enable a behavioural response
Hormonal - hormones produced to reinforce autonomic response
What areas and subareas of the brain are primarily involved with the fear response?
Amygdala!
Central nucleus - projects information
Lateral & Basal nucleus - recieves sensory information
What is the result of lesions to the central and lateral nuclei of the amygdala?
Deficits in fear conditioning, note: lesions to basal nucleus do not have the same effect!
What has single unit recording found in the lateral amygdala?
Increased firing in response to CS after training
How are humans social learners when it comes to fear?
Increase in GSR when exposed to CS+ despite never having received shock, only by watching others be shocked
What area of the brain is activated in humans when they are told to expect a shock?
Left amygdala (lateralisation due to language?)
How can fear response be reduced with extinction?
- cue presented many times with shock absent
- conditioned response decreases
What brain area is associated with fear extinction?
Amygdala response is inhibited by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, electrical stimulation of this area speeds up extinction
How does cognitive therapy decrease the response of the amygdala?
- Participants asked to think of nature when presented with stimuli
- Believed to be inhibited by vmPFC and dlFFC
What is reconsolidation?
Process by which stored memories that have been reactivated/remembered, are then stored again
How can reconsolidation be used to reduce a fear response?
- Ask participant to recall memory
- Administer protein blocker or use extinction during reconsolidation window
- Memory is lost permanently
