Lecture 5: Emotion & Health

Question 1

What is emotion?

What does it involve?

Answer 1

increase or decrease in physiological activity accompanied by feelings that are characteristic of the emotion and characteristic behaviour and expressions

Physiological changes
Behavioural responses
Changes in cognition

Question 2

What is Affect ?

Answer 2

Affect is used generally to include emotions, moods, and impulses

Question 3

What is the function of emotion?

Answer 3

The biological responses (physiological, behavioural and cognitive) enhance survival

Emotional responses are activated to emotional stimuli

Question 4

What are the 6 common universal emotions?

Answer 4

- Happiness
–Sadness
–Fear
–Anger
–Disgust
–Surprise

Question 5

What are the biological basis of facial expression?

Answer 5

• Evolutionarily conserved (i.e. similar across animal species)
  –Culturally conserved (i.e. similar across human cultures)
  –Innate (emerge at birth and also in blind children)
  –Automatically produced by the brain
  –Inherited (slight differences in the structure of facial expressions are passed down from parent to child)

Question 6

Culture establishes social rules for when people may show certain emotions

True or false

Answer 6

True

Example: pain

Question 7

What are mirror neutrons?

Answer 7

Respond while observing a specific act

Also respond performing the same act

Question 8

What are the components of fear emotions?

Answer 8

Physiological: sympathetic arousal

Cognitive: belief that one is in danger

Behavioural: avoidance tendencies

Question 9

What are the components of anger?

Answer 9

Physiological: sympathetic and parasympathetic arousal

Cognitive: frustration or belief that one is being mistreated

Behavioural: attack tendencies

Question 10

What are the components of depression emotion?

Answer 10

Physiological: parasympathetic arousal

Cognitive: thoughts of helplessness, hopelessness, worthlessness

Behavioural: inactivity, possible self destructive tendencies

Question 11

What are the cognitive components of emotion?

Answer 11

Appraise

Label

Evaluate

Question 12

What areas of the brain are involved in emotion?

Answer 12

The Limbic system: emotional processing

The amygdala is a critical component of the Limbic system

Question 13

What is the effect of the amygdala to emotions?

Answer 13

• Stimulation of the amygdala elicits emotional responses
  –Damage to the amygdala impairs normal emotional responses
  –The amygdala has a particular role to play in emotional memory
  –The amygdala is mainly associated with, but not limited to, fear

Question 14

What regulates the amygdala?

Answer 14

The prefrontal cortex (orbitofrontal)
regulates the amygdala

–The prefrontal cortex projects to the amygdala
–The prefrontal cortex inhibits the amygdala

Question 15

What happens when the prefrontal cortex is damaged?

Answer 15

Damage to the prefrontal cortex disinhibits emotional responses
(e.g. increase in aggression and impaired emotional memory extinction)

Question 16

Where are positive emotions located in the brain?

Answer 16

Left frontal

Question 17

What happens when the left frontal part of the brain is damaged?

Answer 17

More anxiety and sadness about life

Question 18

Where are negative emotions located in the brain?

Answer 18

Right frontal

Greater autonomic responses to emotional stimuli (facial expressions, emotional scenes)

Question 19

What happens when the right frontal part of the brain is damaged?

Answer 19

Unperturbed or euphoric even when bad things happen

Patients with right-hemisphere damage have trouble recognizing emotion in facial expressions and tone of voice.

Question 20

What are the behavioural components of emotion?

Answer 20

●Action tendencies – the potential or drive to act
●Nonverbal responses – e.g., posture, gestures
●Facial expression

Question 21

Emotions comprise biological responses as well as subjective feelings and cognitive appraisals

True or false?

Answer 21

True

Question 22

Emotional responses do not aid survival?

True or false ?

Answer 22

False they do

Question 23

The amygdala is a core component of the limbic system that underlies emotional responses

True or false?

Answer 23

True

Question 24

Emotional facial expressions are biological and consistent to aid recognition

True or false?

Answer 24

True