Lecture 30- Social cognition Flashcards
What part of the brain is activated during facial recognition?
-inferior temporal gyrus (IT area= part of the ventral stream)
What part of the brain is activated during judgments of trustworthiness?
- amygdala
- important social judgement
- involves memory, predictive behaviour, also evaluation relating to an emotion
- how we feel about things guides this
- amygdala activated
What part of the brain is synonymous with our mind?
- prefrontal cortex
- this is where our mental thinking happens, evaluating people etc.
Is social cognition innate?
-some of it is -cultural inheritance -much is learned, we have a model of behaviour and this changes over time (like how gay people are more accepted now etc.)
What was the experiment with children and display of emotions?
-children were given a toy, it would break, ashamed -body collapses etc when ashamed, = in children visible, as adults we get good at hiding the body language
What is an important aspect of our social competence?
-development of the so called self conscious emotions -these are experiences when an individual is able to internalize social constructs and evaluate their performance in relation to them (develops later in life)
What is the model with evolution of emotion with age?
- 7 innate emotions (surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear and disgust)
- then display at 1.5 years= recognise themselves as agents of change= develop embarrassment, envy etc, =so can recognise themselves as individuals
=later they will recognise themselves as individuals in context to others, rules of behaviour =then evaluative embarassment, sham, pride, guilt
Do animals have models of behaviour?
-yes -it is not just about understanding rules, -animals understand the rules, dog knows the bear is not a threat -manipulation of cognitive dispositions
What role does this play in human social life?
- different control pathways
- so you control= volitional movement so you don’t show the real emotion
- on the other side= must detect the difference between voluntary and involuntary
- politicians are very good at this social cognition, can tell lies
What is the case of Phineas Gage?
-damage to prefrontal cortex -mostly medial and ventral damage (dorsal and lateral intact) -resulted -personality change, befor ehe was serious, industrious, energetiic then not as nice as before, given to animal passions -cannot carry out plans (acquired sociopathy) -“no longer Gage” -probably exegarrated -one of the changes= seems like a child, very tenacious, demanding, changing their minds etc….
What were the frontal lobotomies that used to be popular in the early 20th century?
-very popular for misbehaviour, depression, childhood disorders, criminal behaviour etc. -over 50 000 procedures were performed in the US between 1936-1950 -psychiatric neurosurgery -developed even a really quick method= 15 mins through the eye
What is prefrontal lobotomy good for?
-you take out most of the prefrontal cortex -broca’s etc is not damaged -drive of language is no longer there -therapeutical value in certain psychoses
What is acquired sociopathy?
-arises as a result of brain injury -distractibility, emotional lability, tactlessness, a tendency towards outbursts, extraverness, impulsiveness, slight euphoric states
What part of the brain is crucial in being able to cognitively represent emotional states?
-prefrontal cortex -we imagine emotions, situation= then how they make us feel -people with prefrontal lobotomies have reported that something inside them died, they can’t feel real happiness or sorrow -a nurse cannot feel empathy after prefrontal lobotomy
What abnormal behaviour do animals with prefrontal lesions exhibit?
-monkey with lesions in orbital ventromedial prefrontal cortex exhibit indifference to physical environment and other monkeys, they are timid and withdrawn -grooming and other social behaviour is diminished, = poor sexual partners and bad mothers -reduction in facial expressiveness, no longer vocalize or communicate, -the orbital prefrontal animal is a social cripple, incapable of social interaction and securing a place in social order (can die as a result)