L12

Question 1

what does making a decision involve

Answer 1

A decision involves the selection of one option among several. It
typically involves the evaluation of the expected outcomes
associated with each option.

Question 2

what is subjective value of descision making made up of

7 things

Answer 2

The subjective value of an item is made up of multiple variables that include….

payoff amount, 
context, 
probability, 
effort/cost, 
temporal discounting, 
novelty and 
preference.

Question 3

there are 2 systems models of decision making. what do these involve

Answer 3

System 1

• Processes of an experiential-affective nature
• Predominantly automatic
• Associative
• Rapid
• Undemanding

System 2

• Rational and analytic in nature
• Controlled
• Deliberative
• Rule-based
• Slow
• Conscious

Question 4

what are the 2 systems of decision making based off

Answer 4

system 1 = previous experiences and is usually automattic (eg the gut feeling you get when making a decision)

system 2 = thinking about the benefits and the costs

Question 5

where is the amygdala located

Answer 5

sit in the anterior portion of the hippocampus in the temporal lobe

Question 6

what is kluver-bucy syndrome caused by

Answer 6

Damage to the anterior temporal lobes, including the

amygdala

Question 7

what are some of the symptoms of kluver-bucy syndrome

Answer 7

• consumption of almost anything
• increased sexual activity
• investigate objects with the mouth
• a lack of innate response to fear

Question 8

what was seen when people were presented with a calm face and a fearful face 3 years after 9/11

Answer 8

people that were present at the attack had greater amygdala activation

Question 9

why is the ventral prefrontal cortex involved in emotoion

Answer 9

The more pleasant the memory the more activation in the ventral prefrontal cortex

Therefore the VPFC and the amygdala are involved in emotion

Question 10

Emotional processing in the amygdala is projected to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate

what does this mean

Answer 10

There is a direct pathway from the thalamus to the amygdala, therefore there is some basic processing from the eyes to the thalamus and then you get a very rapid response to the amygdala

It is then passed to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex where the memories are.

Therefore the initial response is alarm and then you get the rational eg there are no poisonous snakes in NZ

Question 11

what is Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis

Answer 11

When faced with complex decisions, we make choices that are in our best interest only after properly weighing potential short-term and long-term outcomes.

A key idea of the SMH is that when these outcomes are
ambiguous or uncertain, then emotions and feelings are essential to making a decision.

The VMPC (particularly orbitofrontal) is critical for triggering various bodily changes (somatic states) in response to stimuli such as cues for reward or punishment.

Question 12

what do somatic markers facilitate

Answer 12

decision making by influencing potential responses via their
affective value

Eg you wouldn’t walk through a dark ally because of previous experiences therefore you have a semantic marker and you would walk the long way around

Question 13

patients with ventromedial frontal cortical damage would fail to show…..

Answer 13

failed to show autonomic emotional responses to arousing stimuli

innate responses e.g.
to a loud noise were still intact

therefore if you got a fright (from a loud noise) you would still jump but you wouldn’t get a fright from something you should have learnt to be scared of (a tsunami moving towards you)

Question 14

what can you measure form skin conductance

why

Answer 14

arousal

Conductance will go up as you become more aroused (eg because of sweating)

Question 15

what is the iowa gambling task

Answer 15

there are 2 decks of cards (high risk and low risk)

the high risk has short term gains and long term losses ( if you flipped over all the cards you could win $1000 but you would lose $3100) therefore you have an overall loss

in the low risk deck if you flipped all the cards over you could win $500 and loose $330 therefore making an overall gain

Question 16

what results would you expect to see in the iowa gambling task for people with amygdala or ventromedial prefrontal damage

Answer 16

Control would shift to the low risk deck by the end

Amygdala showed no fear/anxiety therefore they were more likely to stay with the high risk

same with VMF but amagdila more dramatically?

Question 17

what skin conductance responses would you expect to see in the iowa gambling task before they flipped over the card

control vs amygdala/ventromedial prefrontal damage

Answer 17

When measuring anxiety levels right before they were about to flip a card from the high risk deck was very high for the control but amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal damage did not have this response

Question 18

what skin conductance responses would you expect to see in the iowa gambling task after they flipped over the card

control vs amygdala/ventromedial prefrontal damage

Answer 18

for the controles the had a higher level of conductance when they received a punishment (losing money)

amygdala had very little response in terms of reward and punishment

VMF group had a response (not as much as the controls) but they did not remember this when they went to flip another card over

Question 19

what are semantic markers

Answer 19

Somatic markers (SM) are a special instance of feelings generated from secondary emotions.

Those emotions and feelings have been connected by learning to predicted future outcomes of certain scenarios. On occasion SMs may operate covertly (without coming to consciousness (type 1 mode)

Question 20

what is an example of a type one process

Answer 20

semantic markers

Question 21

what does the somatic marker theory state

Answer 21

Somatic Marker theory posits that affect (consisting of emotions, feelings, and drives) facilitates and expands cognition

Question 22

what is the somatic marker theory grounded by

Answer 22

is grounded in states of bodily physiology and on the processing of those states in the entire nervous system,

Question 23

what is the somatic marker theory shaped by

Answer 23

shaped by a person’s past experiences in similar situations.

Question 24

what is the endowment effect

Answer 24

Sell high and buy low

They would say that they would sell it for a higher price than they would buy it for

Therefore if you own it then you think that it has much more value than if it belongs to someone else

Question 25

what is moods affect on the endowment effect

Answer 25

nuteral = things you own have more value then things you don’t own

disgust = both things you own and things you don’t decrease in value (things you don’t own are valued slightly higher than things you don’t)

sad = things you don’t own increase in value and things you do own decrease (this is why retail theroy often makes people feel better)

Question 26

what predicts the buy sell price

Answer 26

the medial prefrontal cortex

Question 27

if you are looking to buy. when will the medial prefrontal cortex activation be highest

(low medium or high price)

Answer 27

low price

Question 28

if you are looking to sell. when will the medial prefrontal cortex activation be highest

(low medium or high price)

Answer 28

high price

Question 29

what does the ventromedial prefrontal cortex have connections to

Answer 29

the hippocampus formation and the amygdala complex

Question 30

what is the role of the dorsolateral PFC

Answer 30

The role of dorsolateral PFC is to define a set of responses suitable for a particular task and then bias these for selection ‘sculpting the response space’
(Frith)

responsible for how

Question 31

what does the dorsolateral PFC have connections to

Answer 31

motor structures

More involved in action exsiccation and activation

Question 32

what is an instance when the prefrontal cortex is inhibited

Answer 32

alcohol intoxication

Question 33

what is alcohol intoxication affect on a go/no go task

Answer 33

PFC activity is reduced (overall)

alcohol intoxication causes more frequent false alarms because less PFC activation means its harder to inhibit responses

Question 34

what are the 2 types of fear

Answer 34

reactive and cognitive

Question 35

what is reactive fear

Answer 35

fast escape dissensions (rapid fear response)

Question 36

what is cognitive fear

Answer 36

slow, strategic escape (strategic fear response)

Question 37

what would you expect to see when these is an approaching threat in terms of brain activity

Answer 37

initially there will be a greater range of activation (reactive fear) which will be in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex

then in the later stages of the threat (when you would have to respond to it) (cognitive fear) there is less activation and it is not in the vmPFC

therefore an approaching threat inhibits the vmPFC

Question 38

what would an approaching threat inhibit

Answer 38

therefore an approaching threat inhibits the vmPFC

Question 39

what is fears role in decision making

example of pressing 2 buttons

Answer 39

Fearful group tended to sample more before choosing which button they like, but were less likely to switch between buttons

Question 40

what does an immediate threat cause

Answer 40

Inhibit prefrontal activity

Compromise choice behavior because of inflexibility

Question 41

How has evolution shaped our response to threat?

Answer 41

Fight, Flight or Freeze

Question 42

what is our set up for fight

Answer 42

gaze oriented to threat

body oriented to threat

arms oriented to threat

Question 43

our evolution shaped our response to a threat is not always helpful, particularly in circumstances that
we haven’t experienced in our evolutionary history

what is an example of this

Answer 43

we haven’t evolved to turn there steering wheel way from an oncoming accident therefore people often freeze and don’t have any reaction