Lecture 21 Flashcards
What is the study of emotion?
- Emotions: AKA Affective states
- Until recently, the study of mind was largely neglected due to scientific bias against studying ’what cannot be observed’
- Positivist/behaviourist movements of 1900’s
- Brain research has largely ignored centres of emotion (e.g. hippocampus, amygdala)
- Focused on frontel lobes (logic, decision-making, ‘higher level functions’)
What is the brain?
- Seat of consciousness
- Sense of self
- Memories - short and long term
- Thoughts - ideas, logic, knowledge, information
- Feelings - moods, emotions
- Highly conserved: same basic systems and networks in humans and animals
What is emotions/affective states?
- Emotions evolved asadaptive neurological functions
- But remain poorly understood…intellect vs emotions
- Evolutionary perspective - emotions have a function
- Emotions are protective: (fear, anger, jealousy)
- Central to social bonding: (love, maternal care, sexual attraction)
Where do emotions come from?
Probably will be a question on ROM and RAM
- Mid and hind brain (sub-cortical regions)
- Brain research has focused more on cognition and intelligence (frontal lobes/cortex)
- Evolutionary layering: new layers build onto older regions
- hind-brain -> mid-brain -> fore-brain
- Similar emotions, brain regions andpathways are found across all mammalian species = homology
What is the triune brain model?
- Reptilian, limbic and neocortical regions
- Emotions are based in limbic and reptilian regions
- Layers added over time
- Reptilian brain: exploration, aggression, sex
- Limbic system: social bonding, play
- Neocortex: thought, language
Thought that regions work independantly but they do not!
What did Charles Darwin determine about the expression of the emotions in man and animals?
- Darwin’s biological approach linked emotions to their origins in animal behaviour
- Cultural factors: play only an auxiliary role in the shaping of emotions
- All human cultures share similar emotions
- Homology: the same systems are present in man and animals
- Six emotional states: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust
What is the history of the study of emotion?
- 19th century - mentalism: unscientific approaches, metaphysics were popular in the Victorian era
- 20th century - Positivism, Behaviourism: a more scientific approach; focused only on observable and measurable events, so deliberately ignored the inner workings of the brain (‘Black Box’)
because subjective phenomena cannot be observed objectively in animals it is idle to either claim or deny their existance -Tinbergen
What is affective neuroscience and who is the father of it?
The study of the neural correlates of emotions
Jaak Panksepp
How do emotions work?
- Emotions are a primary response
- Physiological changes result from the emotion, not from higher thought/cognitive process
- Event -> Emotion -> Arousal-> Understanding
What are the emotional networks?
- Emotions arise from medial brain regions
- cognitive responses are secondary to the emotional response
- Emotional networks are genetically determined
- Specific pathways and neurotransmitters
- Functions of emotions:
- Positive emotions - comfort/seeking
- Negative emotions - discomfort/protective
What are the positive and negative emotional networks?
- Affective states evolved to deal with goalsand threats in the environment
- Positive networks: associated with goals
- evoke electrical self stimulation (SS) when brain region stimulated
- Negative networks: associated with threats
- evoke avoidance response when brain region stimulated
there are 7 emotions
What is the networks and functions of the positive emotional networks?
- Seeking - motivation, appetitive behaviours
- Lust - sexual attraction
- Care - maternal behaviour, bonding
- Play - experience, learning, ‘fun’
What are the neurotransmitters for the positive emotional networks?
- Dopamine
- Endorphins
- Estrogen
- Testosterone
- Oxytocin
- Serotonin
- GABA
What is the networks and functions of the negative emotional networks?
- Panic (Grief) - reunite with mother, social group
- Fear - avoid danger
- Rage - protect self, offspring
What are the neurotransmitters for negative emotional networks?
- Adrenaline
- CRH
- Substance P
- Glutamate
What is seeking?
- Positive motivation -> appetitive behaviour
- Exploration, foraging, excitement
What is underactive and overactive for seeking?
- Underactive: leads to depression, sickness
- Overactive: impulsive behaviour and psychosis (olds’ self-stimulation experiment - brain gets stimulated with dopamine)
What is the reward system for seeking?
- Electrical stimulation in these regions is rewarding
- Animal learns to self stimulate (SS)
- Dopamine
What is care?
- Promotes maternal behaviour lactation
(cat adopts ducklings- cat was about to give birth and toom in baby ducks) - Closely related to GRIEF and LUST
- -GRIEF= returning to offspring
- -LUST= Partly responsible for bond
What is play?
- Highly motivated behaviour - play is self-rewarding
- Appetitive and Consummatory phases are the same
- Promotes social bond, learning, control, exploration
- Practice physical activities - risk taking/loss and regain of control. Preparation for ‘real life’
- rat laughter
What is grief?
- Functional goal is said to reunite with parent or social group
- Isolation calls - chicks, piglets
- Panic, followed by despair, hopelessness
- Separation anxiety
- Paralels to opiod withdrawl
- Absence of endorphins
- Opposite response to/side effect of ‘CARE’
- We grieve because we care
What is fear and rage?
Negative emotions - protective, defensive, jealousy
* Brain region for fear stimulated in humans - scared to death
* brain region for rage stimulated in humans - clenching jaw
What are micro expressions?
smaller, more subtle actions are important
ex. Clever hans 1907 - horse does math - we thing now it was a very well traind horse and understood slight hand movements
ex. Sow-piglet nose contact -social communication
What is brain lateralization?
Left:
* Analytical thought
* Detail Oriented Perception
* Ordered
* Sequencing
* Rational Thought
* Verbal
* Cautious
* Planning
* Math/science
* Logic
* Right field vision
* Right side motor skills
Right:
* Intuitive thought
* Holistic perception
* Random sequencing
* Emotional thought
* Non-verbal
* Adventurous
* Impulse
* Creative Writing/Art
* Imagination
* Left Field Vision
* Left Side Motor skills
How does tail wagging working with brain lateralization?
Left brain: positive emotions
- Wag to right signals positive response: owner, stranger, cat
Right brain: negative - fear, anxiety
- Wag to left signals negative response: unfamiliar
What is true and false about the Triune Brain Model?
True
* Different areas in the brain have different functions
False
* All layers work independently
Disagreement
* which parts belong to which layers of the brain
Confusing
* Names of the parts
* the reptile brain did not first asppear in reptiles
* Not only mammals have the limbic system
What is the James-Lange Theory on how emotions work?
- Life-challenging situation (grizely bear in woods) results in automatic arousal. Emotionla experience follow only after bodily arousals are ‘read out’ by higher cognitive process
- Stimilus -> Arousal -> Understanding -> Emotional response
- Promoted the misleading belief that emotions are a subset of cognitive process (not a primary response) - taught for a century
- illustrates human bias and desire for control
This is wrong!!!
