L12 Flashcards
what does making a decision involve
A decision involves the selection of one option among several. It
typically involves the evaluation of the expected outcomes
associated with each option.
what is subjective value of descision making made up of
7 things
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.
there are 2 systems models of decision making. what do these involve
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
what are the 2 systems of decision making based off
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
where is the amygdala located
sit in the anterior portion of the hippocampus in the temporal lobe
what is kluver-bucy syndrome caused by
Damage to the anterior temporal lobes, including the
amygdala
what are some of the symptoms of kluver-bucy syndrome
- consumption of almost anything
- increased sexual activity
- investigate objects with the mouth
- a lack of innate response to fear
what was seen when people were presented with a calm face and a fearful face 3 years after 9/11
people that were present at the attack had greater amygdala activation
why is the ventral prefrontal cortex involved in emotoion
The more pleasant the memory the more activation in the ventral prefrontal cortex
Therefore the VPFC and the amygdala are involved in emotion
Emotional processing in the amygdala is projected to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate
what does this mean
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
what is Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis
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.
what do somatic markers facilitate
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
patients with ventromedial frontal cortical damage would fail to show…..
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)
what can you measure form skin conductance
why
arousal
Conductance will go up as you become more aroused (eg because of sweating)
what is the iowa gambling task
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
what results would you expect to see in the iowa gambling task for people with amygdala or ventromedial prefrontal damage
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?
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
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
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
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
what are semantic markers
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)
what is an example of a type one process
semantic markers
what does the somatic marker theory state
Somatic Marker theory posits that affect (consisting of emotions, feelings, and drives) facilitates and expands cognition
what is the somatic marker theory grounded by
is grounded in states of bodily physiology and on the processing of those states in the entire nervous system,
what is the somatic marker theory shaped by
shaped by a person’s past experiences in similar situations.
what is the endowment effect
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
what is moods affect on the endowment effect
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)
what predicts the buy sell price
the medial prefrontal cortex
if you are looking to buy. when will the medial prefrontal cortex activation be highest
(low medium or high price)
low price
if you are looking to sell. when will the medial prefrontal cortex activation be highest
(low medium or high price)
high price
what does the ventromedial prefrontal cortex have connections to
the hippocampus formation and the amygdala complex
what is the role of the dorsolateral PFC
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
what does the dorsolateral PFC have connections to
motor structures
More involved in action exsiccation and activation
what is an instance when the prefrontal cortex is inhibited
alcohol intoxication
what is alcohol intoxication affect on a go/no go task
PFC activity is reduced (overall)
alcohol intoxication causes more frequent false alarms because less PFC activation means its harder to inhibit responses
what are the 2 types of fear
reactive and cognitive
what is reactive fear
fast escape dissensions (rapid fear response)
what is cognitive fear
slow, strategic escape (strategic fear response)
what would you expect to see when these is an approaching threat in terms of brain activity
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
what would an approaching threat inhibit
therefore an approaching threat inhibits the vmPFC
what is fears role in decision making
example of pressing 2 buttons
Fearful group tended to sample more before choosing which button they like, but were less likely to switch between buttons
what does an immediate threat cause
Inhibit prefrontal activity
Compromise choice behavior because of inflexibility
How has evolution shaped our response to threat?
Fight, Flight or Freeze
what is our set up for fight
gaze oriented to threat
body oriented to threat
arms oriented to threat
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
we haven’t evolved to turn there steering wheel way from an oncoming accident therefore people often freeze and don’t have any reaction
