Lecture 8 Flashcards
What are emotions & why are they alongside social processes?
- Emotions = complex reactions
- Physiological, experiential, neurobehavioral
- had early evolutionary benefits
· Social emotions = emotions that depend on other people - People cause emotions
- We cause emotions in people
- People are often the most salient stimuli
Describe Eckman’s Theory.
are 6 basic emotions (cross-culturally) -> state-based
Explain how emotions are demential.
Dimensional theory of emotions= Dimensionality means: emotions can be characterised as more or less aroused and more or less pleasant -> range of emotions
Give examples of what motor behaviors matter for emotional processing.
How is Helmholtz’s unconscious inference relevant to social neurocognition?
How does the perceptual system perceive patterns? Context matters.
-Likelihood principle = we infer what is most likely
-Unconscious Inference = the process of inference is unconscious
What is psychological projection?
-Psychological projection = thinking others feel the way you actually feel § Can be a way to avoid negative emotions
What is a Transorbital Leukotomy and what modern procedure has replaced it? Explain the brain areas involved in both.
§ This is the classic type of lobotomy
§ Nerve fibers connecting the two hemisphere of the PFC are severed
§ Transorbital = the eye socket can be used to access the brain with a fine tool
§ Prefrontal lobotomy = the brain is accessed by creating tiny holes in the head, near the PFC
§ Lobotomies (in general) create more emotional stability and lower emotional intensity
* Many risks, e.g., no change, vegetative state, death
§ Nearly never used since the 1980s
What are the functions of the main parts of the limbic system?
- Cingulate cortex = links rewards, punishments, and emotional responses
- Fornix = episodic memory
- Septum = mediates connections with the cortical areas
- Olfactory bulb = smell
- Amygdala = fear and threat
- Hypothalamus = homeostasis; turns emotions physical (e.g., heart rate when scared)
- Hippocampus = learning & memory
What have lesion studies told us about the social brain?
ØLesion case studies
§ Frontal and temporal lesions = facial expression creation and processing deficits,
social context-driven emotions, personality change
§ Insula = increase pain threshold, impair pain recognition in others
* Anterior insula = emotion awareness
§ Amygdala = fear recognition
§ bilateral vmPFC = impaired social conduct, decision making, emotion processing
* right sight lesions -> pseudo-psychopathy
* left side lesions -> not much changes…
What are the 4 main networks that we discussed? Describe the brain parts involved.
-Amygdala Network
§ Amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, temporal cortex
§ Responding emotionally & detecting socially-
relevant stimuli
-Mentalizing Network
§ Superior temporal sulcus, anterior temporal
cortex
§ Understanding others’ actions
-Empathy Network
§ Insula, cingulate cortex
§ Attributing emotion and perspective to others
-Mirror/stimulation/action-perception Network
§ Mirror neuron system (MNS) – parietal &
premotor regions
§ Activate when we observe the actions of others
(in macaque monkeys, there are neurons
that respond to others’ actions as though the
monkey made the action themselves – humans
don’t have these “mirror neurons” but we have
the MNS network of brain regions instead)
What are memes and how do they relate to culture?
Culture is acquired through memes
● We’ve talked about Hebbian theory & context-dependent plasticity
- We know social world can shape our functional brain processes
How is culture transmitted?
● Memes (Richard Dawkins (1976)): Cultural elements, ideas, behaviours or styles spread from
person to person
Symptoms of Schizophrenia
● Psychosis = when someone loses contact with reality
- Main symptom of schizophrenia
- Many disorders can cause psychosis (and not all of them are psychiatric disorders): malaria,
syphilis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, hypoglycaemia (an abnormally low level
of glucose in the blood), lupus, multiple sclerosis.
· Schizophrenia is a chronic spectrum disorder (multiple episodes) - Usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood
- Many subtypes; highly heterogeneous
- Involves some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking
and behaviour that impairs daily functioning - Often disabling and lifelong
● More than 80% of patients hear voices
● 1% of the population has schizophrenia; 90% heritable (genetic)
● Onset usually corresponds to a psychological trigger (i.e., stressful event)
Schizophrenia: White Matter
women have more white matter–> prevents them
Schizophrenia: Cellular disorganization
Cellular structures have abnormalities
- Dorsolateral prefrontal cells have fewer synapses than typical
-Pyramidal neurons in the hippocampus have haphazard orientations
