Fear, pleasure, anger, hunger and sex, getting to know your Limbic system Flashcards
What are the main parts of the limbic system?
Amygdala
Hippocampus formations
What are other parts of the limbic system
Septal nuclei
Hypothalamus
Mamillary nuclei
Cingulate gyrus
What is the amygdala responsible for
emotion-matching, threat/trust differentiation, attention, episodic memory
What is the hippocampal formation responsible for
consolidation of long term memory, spacial memory
What is the septal nuclei responsible for
Pleasure/ reward
What is the cingulate gyrus responsible for
decision/ prioritisation
emotional regulation
What is the limbic system function
The limbic (“between”) system mediates between entirely automatic brain functions, and the cognitive and other higher cortical areas of the brain.
Functionally it can be considered as a set of brain systems or capabilities that provide an ‘emotional guidance system’ based on past experiences:
storing information connected with past experiences
to compare to current circumstances,
to rapidly generate hormonal, physiological and motivational responses to sensed circumstances.
The limbic system co-ordinates elements of hormonal, autonomic response as well as directing attention and
motivating behaviour in response to the stimuli it receives
How are responses that the limbic system deal with categorised
positive/ move toward
negative / move away
How is an anger response categorised
positive/ move toward
How is an attraction response categorised
positive/ move toward
How is a desire response categorised
positive/ move toward
How is a fear response categorised
negative / move away
How is a sadness response categorised
negative / move away
How is a disgust response categorised
negative / move away
What is affect?
affect is the overall physiological stance of the organism, the particular way the organism’s physiological
resources are set up to respond to the environment. Affect states can be subtle, but fundamental types of
affect can be identified. An organism can be
1) moving into a state where it must draw on its reserves and mobilise resources and respond to challenges
and threat - something that typically involves sympathetic nervous system activation
or
2) moving into a state where it can build up reserves and resources, recover from challenge/threat response
and maintain repair and grow – a set of responses that typically involve the parasympathetic and (to some
extent) oxytocin systems.
What is allostatic load
The extent to which the organism drawing on the reserves and resources to meet demands or threat
What is The extent to which the organism drawing on the reserves and resources to meet demands or threat termed as?
allostatic load
What is emotion?
the way we perceive and make sense of our affect , along with its meaning and context
What does developing the ability to recognise and manage emotion depend on?
the ability to perceive affect and sense the internal state of the body (“interoception”)
a process of learning – typically in childhood and early life – by which we construct what these patterns
mean, and how we should respond to them (which is crucially dependent on the quality of our interpersonal
environment and culture)
What are advantages and disadvantages of pleasure response?
Pleasure responses are fundamental to healthy motivations to carry out important functions such as eating and reproducing, but can also form the basis of addictive patterns of behaviour
What are the two definitions of stress?
a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation
a state resulting from a stress; especially: one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium
What is eustress
circumstances and responses associated with raised “performance”
What is dystress
where responses involve suffering and/or falling performance
