Lecture 10 - How Cognition affects Emotion Flashcards
Appraisal Theories: What are the different stages of appraisal?
Appraisals START the emotion process - they initiate the physiological/expressive/behavioural changes that comprise the resultant emotional state
–> Can occur automatically (without awareness or control) OR consciously (deliberate/volitional)
Different levels of appraisal:
o Primary –> motivational relevance eg. positive/negative/irrelevant to wellbeing
o Secondary –> account taken of resources to cope with the situation
o Reappraisal –> stimulus and coping strategies are MONITORED with earlier appraisals being modified if necessary
Key Revision: What are the stages in the processing of emotional stimuli?
Stimulus Presentation –> Appraisal –> Affective State –> Regulation
Regulation is of the affective state
Appraisal: occurs at a very early stage of processing - identification of the emotional significance of a stimulus
What is emotional regulation?
The management and control of emotional states by various processes (eg. selective attention; appraisal)
–> The role of appraisals in emotion gives us scope to ALTER OUR EMOTIONS by changing our appraisals (a mechanism of emotional regulation)
Regulation can be
AUTOMATIC/CONTROLLED
CONSCIOUS/UNCONSCIOUS
Affecting one or more points in the emotion generative process (eg. selecting situations, trying to modify situations, changing your thoughts, changing behaviours)
What are the 5 techniques for emotional regulation?
Situation Selection: Involves choosing the environments or situations one exposes themselves to in order to regulate emotions. This can include avoiding or seeking out specific situations based on how they are likely to impact one’s emotional state
Situation Modification: Refers to actively changing aspects of a situation to alter its emotional impact. This can involve altering the environment, adjusting the circumstances, or influencing the behavior of others to create a more favorable emotional outcome
Attention Deployment: Involves directing attention towards or away from specific aspects of a situation to regulate emotions. This can include focusing on positive aspects of a situation to enhance positive emotions or distracting oneself from negative aspects to reduce negative emotions
Cognitive Change: Involves modifying one’s thoughts, beliefs, or interpretations about a situation in order to regulate emotions. This can include reframing negative thoughts in a more positive light, challenging irrational beliefs, or adopting a different perspective on the situation.
Response Modulation: Refers to regulating emotional responses through behavioral or physiological means. This can include using relaxation techniques to calm oneself down, expressing emotions in a healthy way, or suppressing emotional expressions when necessary
Oschner and Gross Model of Emotion Regulation: What are the three stages?
Includes 3 stages and suggests they have partially distinct neural correlates
–> Proactive strategies such as reappraisal (preparing yourself to interpret the information differently before you experience it) is generally believed to be MORE effective than reactive strategies (eg. response suppression)
- Behavioural Control (suppressing emotional expression) (REACTIVE)
- Attentional Control (distraction)
- Cognitive Change (reappraisal) (PROACTIVE) reinterpreting the stimulus to change my emotional response to it
–> Reappraisal modifies the experiential, behavioural, physiological, and neural components of emotion as intended = successful strategy (doesn’t use many cognitive resources, and doesn’t impair memory)
What is response suppression?
Response suppression is EFFORTFUL - leads to sympathetic arousal
- takes up cognitive resources
- interferes with social interactions
a LESS effective regulation technique
How do we know what goes on during emotion regulation?
NEUROIMAGING
–> Imaging shows us that many of the mechanisms are not unique to emotion regulation, but are also involved in cognitive control
(eg. inhibiting the influence of distractors)
Appraisal and Affective State (Amygdala, Insula, Thalamus, Brainstem Nuclei, Ventral Striatum, orbitofrontal cortex)
Regulation (DLPFC, Dorsal ACG, Hippocampus)
Distraction v Reappraisal - What are these techniques?
May work by OCCUPYING THE LIMITED CAPACITY of working memory with information that ‘displaces’ negative emotional material
–> Suggested that distracting oneself or reappraising (re-interpreting) an emotion-eliciting situation are the most EFFICIENT ways to prevent unwanted emotions
BOTH are effective techniques
Expressive suppression is NOT as effective –> it increases physiological arousal and fails to change one’s feelings
Siegle et al. 2002: Abnormal Emotion Regulation in Depression
Participants viewed a negative word, then performed a working memory task (distraction technique)
–> Participants with depression showed a sustained amygdala response to the negative word that persisted through the working memory portion of each trial
–> Healthy controls showed a reduction in amygdala response associated with the WM task - patients with depression did not show this “switching off”
Emotion Regulation: How is SELECTIVE ATTENTION involved?
Another cognitive function used in emotion regulation is selective attention to affective stimuli
–> in particular, the ability to successfully IGNORE negative stimuli
One brain region that is frequently activated when people try to overcome cognitive conflict in tasks like the emotional stroop is the ANTERIOR CINGULATE (AC)
Neuro-Regions of Divisions: Role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex
–> Response to negative v neutral words in depression
Current suggestions that the dorsal/ventral split relates more to appraisal and expression vs regulation of emotion
The Anterior Cingulate Cortex: implicated in the induction of sad moods
–> appears to underlie the negative cognitive bias in depression
–> Mitterschifthaler: found greater attentional bias AND ACC activation in emotional stroop task depression patients
Brain Imaging: What are the new experimental treatments for depression targeting brain
Brain imaging studies help us understand the neural basis of how cognition and emotion interact in healthy controls and psychiatric patients
Brain stimulation can decrease overactivity in brain regions linked to sadness
–> Transcranial direct current stimulation (least invasive)
–> TMS is a less invasive treatment that is APPROVED
–> Deep-brain stimulation (brain electrodes) (most invasive - not NHS approved)
Can Cognitive (Brain) training improve emotion regulation?
Schweizer et al. (2011-12)
- Groups receive 20 days of emotional working memory training or control training
- Task activates the working-memory network (fronto-parietal regions)
- Task DEACTIVATES emotional regions (amygdala, insula)
- Task performance also improved with training
–> Brain training = less emotional distress when watching negative films…and increased brain activation in the fronto-parietal regions (involved in emotion regulation)
Decision-Making: Where cognition and emotion collide - outline the role of the Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
–> Evidence: Phineas Gage
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex: lesions result in:
- widespread impairment of emotional expression identification
- impulsiveness
- impaired decision-making
Key Evidence: Phineas Gage (VMPFC injury)
- Lasting accident effects were in Gage’s PERSONALITY - a previously kind and thoughtful man was now RUDE and ANTISOCIAL
- His emotional and social behaviour had changed
The Iowa Gambling Task: Testing for Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Function - what is the task? What is the adaptive learning pattern found?
IGT is a test for VMPFC function
Task:
–> Cards A B C D
–> You LOSE money over time choosing A and B (but receive initial higher winnings)
–> You WIN money over time choosing C and D (but receive smaller amounts)
People initially go for A and B, then learn over time it is safer to go for C and D (an ADAPTIVE LEARNING PATTERN)
–> Different groups show impaired decision making over this task
–> Patients with VMPFC injury and substance use disorders FAIL to show the adaptive learning pattern
