L2 Psychobiology of Emotion

Question 1

What are emotions?

Answer 1

transient events
in response to external or internal events
characterised by attention

Question 2

Emotion triad

Answer 2

1) Physiological responses
2) A readiness to act in specific ways
3) Feelings

Question 3

Plutchick and emotions

Answer 3

8 basic emotions arranged in pairs of ‘opposites’

Joy-Sadness

Trust-Disgust

Fear-Anger

Surprise-Anticipation

Question 4

Ekman and emotions

Answer 4

Basic emotions expressed facially are innate

• Anger
• Fear
• Disgust
• Suprise
• Happy
• Sad

Question 5

James-Lange theory

Answer 5

Physiological arousal initiates feelings of emotion

Question 6

Cannon-brad theory

Answer 6

Emotions proceeded the physiological changes that consequently occur

Question 7

Frijda and emotions

Answer 7

Emotions predisposes specific actions

Question 8

Schacter & Singer

Answer 8

(students given adrenaline/saline and then exposed to anger/euphoria)

Physiological response is governed by cognitive interpretation
-when informed they were the least emotive

Question 9

Panic disorder

Answer 9

Bodily sensations are wrongly appraised as evidence of impending catastrophic illness [e.g my heart is racing; I am going to have a heart attack]

Pts response to cues suggestive of severe illness

Question 10

Dorsal and ventral visual stream

Answer 10

Dorsal stream

• from primary visual cortex V1 in occipital lobe to parietal lobe
• interprets where the object is in space

Ventral stream

• From V1 in medial temporal lobe
• identifies the object

Question 11

What is the Limbic system composed of? [8]

Answer 11

• Hippocampus
• Cingulate gyrus
• Hypothalamus
• Orbitofrontal cortex OFC
• Mammillary bodies
• Fornix
• Amygdala
• Insula
• Anterior thalamic nucleus

Question 12

Role of hippocampus

Answer 12

Involved in memory
-episodic, declarative
Spatial navigation

Question 13

Amygdala

• Where is it located?
• What are its 2 divisions?

Answer 13

Located in medial temporal lobe

Division
-Corticomedial- nuclei project to hypothalamus

Basolateral
-Nuclei diffuse into PFC and other extensive projections

Question 14

What is the function of the amygdala?

Answer 14

Processes emotion
Also recognises emotion in others and is involved in emotional learning

Processing fear
-When viewing fear in Facial expression: activation in Lateral Amygdala

Conditioned fear
-activation in Dorsal Amygdala

Question 15

Benzodiazepines and Amygdala

Answer 15

Reduces anxiety

Binds to GABA a sites in the amygdala

-even after amygdala destruction, BZ still have some anxiety reducing effect.

Question 16

What is the function of the cingulate?

Answer 16

Contains sections that processes

• Pain/ contextual arousal
• Rest/relaxation/ Depression

Question 17

Subgenual cingulate & depression

Answer 17

This area is very involved in processing sadness

-Disruption in this area can be associated with depression

Question 18

Orbito-frontal cortex OFC

Answer 18

Closely connected with amygdala

Functional Consequences

• Impulsivity, “acquired sociopathy”

Impaired smell, taste, flavour,
reward, satiety

Impairment - Flexible relearning

Question 19

Function of the Insula [2]

Answer 19

1) Representation of internal bodily state & integration of bodily feedback into awareness
2) involved in normal response to aversive stimuli especially disgust

Question 20

VTA

Answer 20

VTA projects to the NAcc via the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway