Jan 7 Flashcards
affect
the “good”/”bad” quality of experience
feelings, emotions, moods
observable behavioural and physiological changes
affect influences ______ and ______
cognition
behaviour
affective processing is disrupted in…
psychiatric disorders
including depression & anxiety
affective neuroscience is the science of…
affective neuroscience is the study of how the brain processes emotions
who coined the term affective neuroscience?
Jaak Panksepp
coined it at a time when cognitive neuroscience focused on parts of psychology that didn’t include emotion (like attention, memory)
Jaak Panksepp life dates
1943-2017
Estonian-American scientist
BF Skinner on emotions
“the emotions are excellent examples of the fictional causes to which we commonly attribute behaviour”
Panksepp quote: “to understand the basic emotional operating systems of the brain…”
“we have to begin relating INCOMPLETE sets of NEUROLOGICAL FACTS to poorly understood PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA that emerge from many interacting brain activities”
Panksepp thought it necessary to synthesise what perspectives?
behavioural, psychological and neurological
“many disciplines are contributing facts that are useful for achieving the needed synthesis, but there is presently no umbrella discipline to bridge the findings of animal behaviourists, the psychological basis of the human mind, and the nature of neural systems within the mammalian brain”
Panksepp: what missing piece could bring together the disciplines of neurology, psychology and behaviour?
“a missing piece that can bring all these disciplines together is a NEUROLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING
of the BASIC EMOTIONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS
of the mammalian brain and the various
CONSCIOUS and UNCONSCIOUS INTERNAL STATES they generate.”
Panksepp believed it was essential to understand the foundation of emotions where first?
in animals
^ thought this was needed in order to be able to understand emotions in humans
argued we can’t know with certainty what another being experiences (whether it be human or non-human)
Panksepp on the issue of animals and subjectivity/objectivity
question as to whether other animals affectively experience the world and themselves in a way similar to humans
are they subjectively feeling, sentient creatures?
neuroscience typically avoids topic of subjectivity - generally agreed there aren’t direct, objective ways to measure subjectivity of other animals (even other humans)
only words and actions give clues to inner experiences
BUT if we consider ACTIONS to be VALID INDICATORS of INTERNAL STATES in humans, we should be able to grant internally experienced feelings to other animals
what would allow us to grant internally experienced feelings to other animals?
considering ACTIONS to be valid indicators of INTERNAL STATES
Panksepp - “the nature of human and animal emotions cannot be understood without” what?
brain research
analysis of animal emotions (via careful study of how animal brains control certain behaviours) makes it possible to conceptualize the basic underlying nature of human emotions with some precision
what remains a debate in the field of affective neuroscience?
- the BASIS OF EMOTIONS
- WHAT EMOTIONS ARE
the aim of affective neuroscience
to understand NEUROBIOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS of emotions as a BRAIN FUNCTION
affective neuroscience defines emotions as what?
STATES OF THE BRAIN as distinct from conscious feelings
affective neuroscience defines emotions as states of the brain, distinct from…
conscious feelings
affective neuroscience sees conscious feelings as just one…
layer of emotional experience
how can emotions as neurobiological brain states be studied in humans and animals?
by focusing on BEHAVIOURAL EXPRESSIONS of emotion
what value does basic research on emotional control in the brain have?
will help us UNDERSTAND and TREAT mental illness
affective neuroscience outlines a framework for studying emotion, NOT
not another theory of emotion
“scientists studying emotion in rats and in humans need to be able to speak to one another” - Adolphs & Anderson, 2018
