Lecture 3: Embodied Sense-making

Question 1

Difference between I and me

Answer 1

I is subjective and the first person experiential basis, me can evolve and expand over the human life course. It is messages from others, constructions and narratives

Question 2

What is the start of the experiential basis of the self?

Answer 2

Affective experiences in the context of a body that moves and is affected, which is before the self.

Question 3

What is enactivism?

Answer 3

A version of theory of mind strongly influenced by phenomenology and existentialism. It is an alternative for cognitivism ,dualism and behaviorism. It emphasis the embeddedness in a body and in an environment of the thinking and experiencing of minded animals like ourselves. It is an understanding of cognition as being a fundamentally embodied and embedded form of action.

Question 4

How useful are animals for looking into the evolutionary biological basis?

Answer 4

We evolved from common ancestors and share a huge amount of genes with them. They may provide models for what human bodies share with other animals that do not have the kind of symbolic structures we live in.
This might give glimpses of non cultural aspects of humans , although we have to be careful. Many
more types of experiments can be done with animals than with humans

Question 5

What is the process of sense-making?

Answer 5

First is about staying alive in the environment by looking for food, danger from safety, distinguishing mates from non-mates. As soon as are capable of this, living a good life becomes more important, adding meaning to life.

Question 6

How can art help us experientially understand?

Answer 6

Theater: The self as an actor.
Literature: The self as an author
Music: The experience of forms of vitality
Dance: The non verbal experiences of self and self with other

Question 7

What does the seeking system involve?

Answer 7

Provides animals with energy to explore the environment to find mating partners, food to nourish the brain and body.
Affective experience
High: interest which leads to euphoria
Low: disinterest which leads to anhedonia and apathy
Clinical problems
High-> manic states, drugs of abuse
Low-> anhedonia, depressed, detached

Question 8

What does the fear system involve?

Answer 8

Promotes the avoidance of dangerous situations and monitor the safety of environments.
Affective experiences:
High can lead to flight or freeze which results in terror
Low can lead to safety and recklessness
Clinical problems:
High fear can lead to anxiety disorders, PTSS
Low fear can lead to psychopathy and risk-taking

Question 9

What does rage involve?

Answer 9

Defending themselves, situations of frustration when an expected reward is absent or being enclosed in a small space.
Affective experience:
High can result in irritation and exploding
Low can be too trusting and naivety
Clinical problems
High-> intermittent explosive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder
Low-> lack of assertion

Question 10

What is involved in lust?

Answer 10

Important for reproduction, can have social functions for certain animals.
Affective experiences:
High which involves feeling attraction and then orgasm
Low involves low interest and asexuality
Clinical problems
High lust can lead to problematic sexual behaviours
Low lust can lead to impotence and lack of pleasure

Question 11

What is involved in care?

Answer 11

Assures young children grow into adults and have families, can extend to non-family members and widely.
Affective experience:
High: tenderness -→ parental love
Low: carelessness -→ detachment
Possible clinical problems:
High CARE -> self-sacrifice?
Low CARE -> anti-social features?, parental failures?, postnatal depression?

Question 12

What is involved in panic/grief attachment?

Answer 12

Reflects separation of distress, signals lost contact with important person or being lost in the environment. For mammals if this occurs it can trigger a distress reaction resulting in distress vocalization. Without reunion there can be deactivation and grief.
Affective experience:
High: longing or loneliness can result in panic or grief
Low: safety which results in detachment
Clinical problems
High panic/grief-> separation anxiety, trauma, borderline states
Low panic/grief-> schizoid, detached states, psychopathy

Question 13

What is involved in play?

Answer 13

Inherent to learn social competencies, motoric skills, getting along in complex social groups. Friendships can emerge through play and playing with symbols through humour.
Affective experience:
High: friendly joy, comradery, tickling –→ bursting in laughter, playfighting
Low: satiety or quietness –> boredom, loneliness
Possible clinical problems:
High PLAY -> difficulty concentrating on routine tasks or overly structured situations, ADHD?
Low PLAY -> Obsessive patterns, joylessness, depressed personality?

Question 14

Properties of emotional systems

Answer 14

• once activated they stay active for some time
• colour the world as experienced
• shape the movements in the world
• strong motivating force
• active certain modes of being in the world

Question 15

What is the neural definition?

Answer 15

1. Intrinsic inputs (US)
2. Coordinate physiological and behavioral outputs (UR)
   3.Gating of inputs (CS and CR)
3. Positive feedback ( including ‘auto activation’)
4. Cognitions instigate emotions (top down influence)
5. Emotions control cognitions (bottom up influence)
   7.Affect reflects the full operation of such processes

Question 16

How do emotions link to FFM?

Answer 16

Fear, anger, sadness can lead to emotional instability
Seeking and low anger to openness
Care can lead to agreeableness
Play can result in extraversion

Question 17

How does affective neuroscience link to temperament and big three?

Answer 17

Fear, rage and panic/grief-> negative affectivity-> negative emotionality
Seeking, play, care-> surgency-> positive emotionality
Effortful control-> constraint

Question 18

What is an issue with this theory

Answer 18

The importance of acting on social stage of life and basic physiological systems

Question 19

What are forms of vitality?

Answer 19

1.Forms of vitality are patterns of arousal that are associated with certain sensory experiences
AND movement
2.They are generally cross modal ; that is we do not experience them only in vision or hearing,
but in any modality of sensory experience
3.They translate between these; hence music and dance, poetry and being touched are intrinsically related

Question 20

Examples of vitality

Answer 20

Explosive, rhythmic, acceleration, diminution, expansive, staccato, legato

Question 21

How do we move each other?

Answer 21

1. Direct touch
   2.Via the air by using our voice
   3.Via their eyes by the reflection of light
2. Via the mirror neurons that are affected ; so we literally mirror the movement of the other
3. And finally , later, via symbols

Question 22

Aspects of vitality forms

Answer 22

• perceived as wholes and Gestalten with 5 components of movement, force, temporal contour, space and directionality/intentionality
• not primary emotions and structures of dynamic behaviour which has emotions and fantasies, streams of thoughts, desires etc. Content can have an exploding form or fantasy can have a surging form
• infants can preconsciously represent other’s emotional manifestations as forms of vitality

Question 23

How can you regulate forms of vitality and affect?

Answer 23

Can move each other through sharing forms of vitality. Parents can use gestures, voices and movements to down-regulate and up-regulate forms of vitality which gives rise to vital experiences of embodied being-with-an-other. With repetition and memorization these represent persistent internal modes of being with another.

Question 24

What is involved in mirroring?

Answer 24

Refers to aspects of sameness in reaction of parent to the child, also known as attunement. In complete mirroring there would be no difference between movement and sound of child and parent.

Question 25

What is marking?

Answer 25

Refers to differentiation in response to the child. Can be variations in pattern of the child or responses in a different modality. The amount of variation and differentiation increases. With too many differences the connection can be lost-> misattuned response.

Question 26

Attunement and misattunement

Answer 26

Attunement is well-regulated mirroring and marking, can be misattunement which is dysregulation of self-experience and self with other experience. Can result in despair, detachment, hate, traumatic moments.