final study guide Flashcards
what are the regions of the prefrontal cortex and what are their functions?
- dorsolateral
understanding rationale behind others - ventrolateral
understanding one’s feelings and others (theory of mind) - medial
understanding oneself - orbitofrontal
memory, learning, rewards and habits, decision-making
what is the limbic system? what parts make it up? what do they do?
limbic: emotion center
amygdala
fear, anger, anxiety
anterior cingulate cortex
attention
hypothalamus
reward center: dopamine, maintains homeostasis
hippocampus
memory/learning
what is the insula?
insulates emotions in response to bodily reactions (for homeostasis)
- insulates pain
what is the dorsal striatum?
long term habits & decision-making
- smoking (addicts) (doesn’t bring pleasure anymore)
- brushing teeth
- morning routines
- breathing
what are nucleus accumbens?
rewards, pleasure, motivation, immediate gratification
- food
- sex
- completing hw
what is the ventral tegmental area (VTA)?
located in midbrain
where dopamine is created
involved in reward, motivation, pleasure -> sends info to nucleus accumbens
what is the temporo-parietal junction?
incorporating emotions (limbic system) and senses (external stimuli) to process environment
- theory of mind
- interpreting facial expressions
what are 5 chemicals and their functions?
dopamine
reward, motivation,
pleasure
oxytocin: love hormone
trust, connectedness,
stress reliever
endorphins: runner’s high
pleasure, pain reliever
cortisol: stress
fight/flight response, regulating BP and glucose levels, fluctuates during the day
sex hormones: sex drive
testosterone: males
estrogen: females
what is body-image?
one’s perception of their own body in regards to feelings
tripartite influence
peers, parents, media
what are the two factors that lead to negative body-image?
internalization of the thin ideal and social comparison
what is interoceptive awareness?
one’s ability to sense and interpret signals from the body
- measuring one’s heartbeat
- feeling hot/cold
what are some things that activate the nucleus accumbens?
- rewards
- learning
- anticipation
- pride
- shame
- positive social feedback
- avoiding criticism
what is body dysmorphic disorder?
when one has a distorted perception of one’s body
what do social species thrive on?
relationships because it is rewarding
what is the social rejection and cyberball study and what did it show?
- fMRI scan while people simulated a game of catch
- eventually stopped passing it to the person
- activated ACC (attention to one’s mistakes)
- dorsomedial PFC (rationalizing one’s mistakes)
difference between lust, attraction, and love?
lust
nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hypothalamus
attraction
nucleus accumbens
love
oxytocin, VTA, caudate nucleus (rewards), temporo-parietal junction, thalamus (senses), anterior cingulate
what shapes our brain circuitry?
genetics and early childhood experiences
types of childhood attachment?
secure
anxious-resistant
uncomfy with mom gone but hesitant to accept help
anxious-avoidant
uncomfy with mom gone but doesn’t go back to mom for comfort
disorganized
doesn’t feel discomfort when mom is present or gone
types of adult attachment?
secure
anxious-preoccupied
craves relationships and is scared of being alone
fearful-avoidant
craves relationships, but afraid of being hurt so distanced
dismissive-avoidant
doesn’t want to depend on others
what is the theory of mind?
the ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, intentions) to oneself and others
regulated by medial PFC, dorsomedial PFC, temporo-parietal junction
what is the mirror neuron system?
allows us imitate others
- learning/memory
what did the social laughter vs real laughter study find?
social laughter: activates ACC (attention) and dmPFC (rationale to one’s own mistakes)
what did the effective communication study find? (synchronization)
- synchronization in brains between reader and listener
some regions in listener lagged behind the speaker
- insula (feelings), parietal regions (senses), nucleus accumbens (rewards)
- speaker already knows what happens
some regions in listener preceded speaker
- mPFC (attention), orbitofrontal (reward and emotion), DLPFC (decision-making), nucleus accumbens (rewards)
- listener is anticipating motives of characters
what are the 3 types of conversations?
what happened, feelings, identity convo
intent vs impact
what is empathy? what brain regions are involved in empathy?
ability to feel one’s pain and suffering
- ACC
- insula
what is novelty? how does it relate to the brain?
playing new video games/trying new experiences
activates the nucleus accumbens (reward system)
- releases dopamine (VTA)
what did the multitasking study show?
- more variety throughout day increases happiness
- more variety in short amount of time decreases happiness
- undermines productivity
what is gamification and what are the benefits?
setting goals and markers to achieve
- activates reward system (nucleus accumbens)
operates on achieving rewards/points
what is cyberchondria?
an unhealthy habit of constantly searching up health info (health anxiety
what brain regions are involved in working memory and long-term memory?
working: dorsolateral PFC
long-term: hippocampus
what are the benefits of emotional self-awareness?
- decreased risk of depression
what is the culture of availability? what are the pros and cons?
FOMO
pros
- stay connected
- peace of mind
- rewarding to receive unexpected invites
cons
- too addicted to phone
unimportant interruptions
- signals to others that they’re less important
what are the 3 mediators of stress?
- controllability
- certainty
- consequences
what did the social media and mental health studies show?
- FB use correlates negatively with life satisfaction
- correlates with depressive symptoms
mediated by social comparison
what are the physiological responses to music?
-increased BP during crescendos (sympathetic: exciting)
- decreased BP during static parts (parasympathetic: calming)
- nucleus accumbens activate
- endorphins are released: midbrain is activated where endorphins are produced (hypothalamus)
-oxytocin: trust, love, calming, pain reliever
- cortisol decreases
what is the flow state?
when there is an equal balance between challenge and skill which results in peak fulfillment
traits of flow state
- distorted sense of time
- clear feedback to one’s actions
- lose self-consciousness
- merge of actions and awareness
- activity becomes autotelic (done for itself)
- no worry of failure
what is the default mode network?
- parts of brain that are active at rest (usually thinking about oneself)
- medial pfc
- angular gyrus(ventromedial pfc)
what are the effects of awe?
- hippocampus: relating to past experiences
- striatum: engraining new habits/reward
- lateral pfc: imagination
deactivates default mode network because you’re in different state of mind and attention is heightened
what is the mesolimbic dopamine system?
-center of VTA (where dopamine is produced)
- amygdala
- ACC: evaluating reward from dopamine
- PFC: cognition; regulating behaviors
- nucleus accumbens
what is brain-gut connection/microbiome?
- millions of bacteria in gut (microbiome)
change what you eat can affect type of bacteria in your gut
