Lecture 19 - Emotions

Question 1

Which part of the brain processes the abstract, cognitive aspects of emotions?

Answer 1

The neocortex processes the abstract, cognitive aspects of emotions.

Question 2

What brain structure is typically required for processing the raw, reflexive feelings of fear?

Answer 2

The amygdala, which is part of the limbic system, is required for processing the raw, reflexive feelings of fear.

Question 3

How are streams of thought and streams of feeling processed differently in the brain?

Answer 3

Streams of thought are processed in the cerebral cortex, while streams of feeling are processed in the limbic system.

Question 4

Are facial expressions of emotion learned or innate? Provide evidence.

Answer 4

Facial expressions of emotion are innate and unlearned. Babies as young as 36 hours old display universal facial expressions.

Question 5

What are the six universally recognized facial expressions of emotion?

Answer 5

Fear, anger, surprise, disgust, sadness, and happiness.

Question 6

How does time affect the ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions?

Answer 6

Recognition is generally automatic, rapid, and accurate. Giving people more time to think about the emotion shown does not significantly improve their accuracy.

Question 7

What is volitional facial paresis, and what causes it?

Answer 7

Volitional facial paresis is when people cannot voluntarily control their facial muscles due to damage in or around the primary motor cortex, but they can still express genuine emotions.

Question 8

What is emotional facial paresis, and which condition often shows this symptom?

Answer 8

Emotional facial paresis is when people cannot show automatic emotional expressions but can voluntarily move facial muscles. It is often seen in Parkinson’s Disease.

Question 9

How do researchers assess fear in monkeys?

Answer 9

Researchers measure variables like the time it takes for monkeys to retrieve food placed next to a snake, spider, or neutral object.

Question 10

What are the three types of responses coupled with raw emotional feelings?

Answer 10

• Behavioral responses (e.g., facial expressions, body language)
• Autonomic responses (e.g., fight or flight via the peripheral nervous system)
• Hormonal responses (e.g., reinforcing autonomic responses via the bloodstream).

Question 11

Why might inferring emotions from facial expressions be unreliable?

Answer 11

The same facial expression can convey different emotions, and different facial expressions can convey the same emotion. Emotional expressions are not universally consistent.

Question 12

How many unique emotional blends are thought to exist beyond the six basic emotions?

Answer 12

There are about 25 unique emotional blends, which involve multimodal expressions like voice, touch, posture, and gaze.

Question 13

What is the common-sense view of the sequence of emotional events?

Answer 13

The subjective feeling of emotion (e.g., fear) comes first and causes the associated physiological response (e.g., trembling, sweating, running away).

Question 14

What did early research in the late 1800s suggest about spinal cord damage and emotions?

Answer 14

People with spinal cord damage reported feeling emotions less intensely, and the reduction in emotional experiences correlated with how much sensation and movement they had lost. Some of the subjects looked and acted angry at times, but reported that they did not feel very angry.

Question 15

What does the James-Lange Theory of emotion propose about how emotions are experienced?

Answer 15

The James-Lange Theory suggests that an emotion-eliciting event triggers behavioral and physiological responses, and feedback from the peripheral nervous system to the brain causes the subjective feeling of emotion.

Question 16

How does interfering with muscular movement associated with emotions affect emotional experience, according to the James-Lange Theory?

Answer 16

It slightly decreases the ability to experience the corresponding emotion, as seen in studies of people receiving Botox injections.

Question 17

What are criticisms of the James-Lange Theory?

Answer 17

Internal organs are insensitive and too slow to account for emotions, cutting sensory nerves doesn’t stop emotional behavior in animals, and artificially activating the autonomic nervous system doesn’t reliably produce specific emotions.

Question 18

What is the role of the hippocampus in the limbic system?

Answer 18

The hippocampus is critical for explicit memory formation.

Question 19

What is the primary function of the amygdala in the limbic system?

Answer 19

The amygdala is critical for feeling and recognizing emotions, particularly fear.

Question 20

How did damage to the amygdala affect patient S.P.’s ability to recognize emotions?

Answer 20

S.P. could not identify fear in facial expressions, including her own, and had reduced ability to recognize disgust, sadness, and happiness, though recognition of anger and surprise was unimpaired.

Question 21

How does damage to the amygdala affect eye movements in recognizing emotions?

Answer 21

Patients with amygdala damage, like S.M., don’t naturally look at the eyes when viewing faces, impairing their ability to recognize emotions.

Question 22

What is the central nucleus of the amygdala responsible for?

Answer 22

It regulates emotional responses, especially fear, and its stimulation can cause fear, anxiety, and stress-induced illnesses.

Question 23

How can people without conscious awareness of seeing a face still show amygdala activity?

Answer 23

They may still respond to emotional faces, even mimicking the facial expression, due to the amygdala receiving visual inputs from several brain areas.

Question 24

Which brain regions, beyond the amygdala, are involved in recognizing emotions?

Answer 24

The somatosensory cortex, insular cortex, premotor cortex, and cingulate cortex, particularly in the right cerebral hemisphere.

Question 25

What is the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in emotional regulation?

Answer 25

The vmPFC helps regulate emotional expressions and has an inhibitory influence, aiding in the extinction of learned fear responses.

Question 26

How did Phineas Gage’s injury illustrate the role of the vmPFC?

Answer 26

Damage to his vmPFC caused severe emotional dysregulation, leading to impulsive and irresponsible behavior, despite intact cognitive abilities.

Question 27

What is the relationship between low serotonin levels and behavior?

Answer 27

Low serotonin levels are correlated with risky behavior, impulsive aggression, and antisocial behaviors in both monkeys and humans.

Question 28

How do SSRIs, like Prozac, affect behavior?

Answer 28

They increase serotonin signaling and tend to reduce irritability and aggressiveness.

Question 29

Imagine you’re at a social gathering, and someone suddenly looks frightened when they see a spider. However, upon closer observation, you notice that this person doesn’t express any fear on their face, even though they appear terrified. What could this suggest about the brain’s processing of emotions?

Answer 29

This could indicate that the person’s emotional expression is being inhibited by a brain region involved in facial muscle control, such as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Damage to the vmPFC may impair the ability to control emotional responses, leading to difficulty expressing emotions despite feeling them.

Question 30

A person with damage to their amygdala seems to have no problem recognizing faces, but they can no longer identify when a face expresses fear. What does this tell us about the role of the amygdala in emotional recognition?

Answer 30

This suggests that the amygdala plays a critical role in recognizing fear, as it is responsible for processing emotions, particularly fear. Even though the person can recognize faces, the inability to identify fear indicates the amygdala’s specialized function in detecting and processing specific emotional cues, like fear.

Question 31

In an experiment, monkeys take longer to retrieve food when it’s placed near a snake than when it’s placed near a neutral object. What might this tell us about the biological basis of emotions and behavioral responses?

Answer 31

This behavior suggests that emotions like fear are biologically linked to both physiological (autonomic responses) and behavioral reactions. The delay in food retrieval when a snake is present indicates a fear response that triggers fight or flight behavior, activating the autonomic nervous system to prepare the monkey for potential danger.

Question 32

During an acting class, students are taught to make facial expressions of emotion, but the instructor encourages them to experience the emotion genuinely rather than faking it. Why is this emphasis on genuine emotion important for accurate expression of feelings?

Answer 32

Genuine emotions involve different facial muscles compared to artificial expressions. The instructor’s focus on experiencing the emotion helps students produce more authentic facial expressions because real emotions engage deeper, involuntary facial muscle movements, which are harder to fake.

Question 33

A child with a condition that prevents them from controlling their facial muscles is still able to display emotions like fear. What does this tell us about the relationship between emotion and facial expression?

Answer 33

This scenario suggests that emotional feelings can occur independently of voluntary facial muscle control. Conditions like volitional facial paresis, where voluntary facial control is impaired, highlight that emotions are processed in areas like the limbic system (such as the amygdala), and the display of emotion can still be automatic, even if voluntary control over facial expressions is lost.

Question 34

Imagine you are working with a child who has difficulty reading facial expressions. Despite being told that they should be able to recognize fear from a face, this child consistently struggles to identify fearful faces accurately. What might be the underlying reason for their difficulty, based on what we know about emotion processing in the brain?

Answer 34

The child may have difficulty recognizing fear due to a dysfunction in the amygdala, which is critical for processing emotions like fear. The amygdala is involved in both experiencing and recognizing emotions, and damage or abnormalities here can impair emotional recognition, particularly for emotions like fear.

Question 35

You are a therapist working with a patient who has difficulty controlling their emotions, frequently experiencing extreme frustration and emotional outbursts. They struggle to calm down after becoming upset. What part of the brain is likely not functioning properly in this individual, and how might it contribute to their behavior?

Answer 35

The patient’s difficulty controlling their emotions may be due to damage or dysfunction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). The vmPFC plays a crucial role in regulating emotional responses and has an inhibitory effect on emotions. Damage to this area can lead to emotional dysregulation, making it harder for the individual to control their emotions and calm themselves during moments of frustration.

Question 36

Imagine you are a researcher investigating how animals express fear. You place candy near a snake, a spider, and a neutral object, and measure how long it takes the animal to retrieve the food. Which of the following would you expect: the animal shows a longer delay in retrieving food near the snake, spider, or neutral object? Why?

Answer 36

You would expect the animal to take longer to retrieve food near the snake or spider because these stimuli are likely to evoke a fear response, which is processed in the limbic system, particularly the amygdala. The delay in retrieving food is a behavioral manifestation of the fear response, which includes physiological and autonomic reactions such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, and readiness for fight-or-flight.

Question 37

Imagine you are an actor trying to convey genuine emotion on screen. Despite practicing your facial expressions, you notice that something is missing. What is the difference between fake and genuine emotional expressions, and why does it matter for your performance?

Answer 37

Genuine emotional expressions involve different facial muscles and are often more complex than artificial expressions. When actors try to fake emotions, their facial muscles may not align with the emotional experience. Authentic expressions involve subtle muscle movements that are often unconscious, which is why actors often try to genuinely feel emotions rather than simply mimicking facial expressions to achieve a more convincing performance.

Question 38

You’re studying the link between emotion and behavior in patients with spinal cord damage. One patient reports feeling less intense emotions after their injury, correlating with the amount of sensation lost. How might this relate to the James-Lange theory of emotion?

Answer 38

The patient’s diminished emotional intensity supports the James-Lange theory of emotion, which suggests that physiological responses (like muscle movement or changes in internal organs) trigger the feeling of emotion. In this case, the reduction in sensation and physical responses after spinal cord injury could lead to a decrease in the subjective experience of emotions, as there are fewer bodily feedback signals reaching the brain.