Lecture 9: Emotions Flashcards
emotions
complex experiences involving cognition, affect, and physiology. the cognitive component of the emotion identifies the stimulus. the affective component of emotion produces feelings, and the physiological response is the activation of the sympathetic nervous system
moods
lasts longer than emotions
affect predisposition
the tendency to react in a certain way to certain situations
interpersonal stances
include how one stands towards others
aesthetic emotions
emotions evoked by music or art
utilitarian emotions
real everyday emotions
freeze
also called attentive immobility in which an orientation reaction is shown and the animal/person stops what it is doing and searches the environment for the source of the threat
flight
if possible, the animal will flee to avoid conflict, but if not possible one must go to the next option
fight
sympathetic activation mobilized resources ready for battle when flight is not possible. however, there are circumstances when fighting fails and the next option is required
playing dead
like freezing, startle is also called tonic immobility. it is different from freezing because it does not involve gathering information about the threat
surrender
this occurs after the startle and initiates a ‘shut down’ of activity via parasympathetic activation. this is seen as surrender. there will be a drop in blood pressure and heart rate
fainting
this is a loss of consciousness mediated by aversion. it has been argued that disgust evolved as an emotion because it had a protective function against threats of infectious disease. fainting therefore protects the organism in advance from potentially infectious or harmful stimuli
behavioral immunity
means that certain behaviors help us avoid being exposed to life threatening micro-organisms
charles darwin
emotions are innate, adaptive and universal
paul ekman
identified universal facial expressions
william james (james-lange theory)
claimed that one experiences physiological changes first and only then emotions, so physiological responses determine the experienced emotions
cannon-bard theory
claims that physiological and emotional responses happen at the same time and independently
schacther-singer theory
states that emotions happen when you have a physiological reaction and then interpret it or label it cognitively
arnold-lazarus theory
states that our perceptions of emotions are entirely based on our appraisal or evaluation of a situation
james averill
counter part of darwin: he states that emotions are social constructs. according to him every culture has its own specific emotions
ledoux and damasio
made the connection between brain and emotions
three components of emotional responses
- subjective
- behavior
- physiological
primary emotions in humans (paul ekman)
surprise , fear, anger, disgust, joy, sadness. additional emotions may include contempt and shame
plutschik
states that there are eight basic emotions that represent opposite dimensions. all the different shades of emotions come form combination of these dimensional emotions
russel
circumplex model of affect viewed emotion on dimensions of pleasant/unpleasant and excited/not excited
deep facial muscles
attach to the bone and allow for large movements, such as chewing
superficial facial muscles
attach only to the skin and provide much of the subtlety in emotional expression and when they contract, they change the shape of the mouth, nose and so on
orbicularis oculi and zygomaticus muscles
activated to produce a smile
wave muscles
activated during the frown of anger
levator labii superior
produces the face of disgust
the two cranial nerves
control the muscles of the face: the facial nerve and trigeminal nerve. the facial nerve control the superficial levels while the trigeminal nerve control the deep facial muscles
facial feedback hypothesis
states that feedback of facial expression plays a causal role in emotional experience
alcoholics
social processing, particularly emotional processing is impaired. social cognition is compromised as a result of brain damage caused by alcohol abuse, particularly in the right hemisphere and frontal lobes
right hemisphere
plays an important role in social processing tasks, and therefore it is believed that damage to this area is one reason why alcoholics may suffer from poor social skills
visuospatial deficits
misidentification of emotions may occur due to poor cognitive processing causing slow recognition and misidentification of facial expressions
abnormal processing of social information
detected by slow reaction times and high error rates in emotional processing tasks and a lack of inhibitory control. because frontal lobe function is impaired by substance abuse, the ability to mediate amygdala activity is minimal and may be related to a tendency to exaggerate emotions
interpersonal feelings and stress
linked to abnormal processing. for a variety of reasons, one’s own stress may not be handled well and may be exacerbated by subcortical damage, which may explain an exaggerated or blunted response to emotional stimuli
walter cannon criticized the james-lange theory for several reasons:
- total separation of the viscera from the central nervous system does not affect emotional behavior observed in experimental animals
- the same visceral changes occur in very different emotional states and also non-emotional states, such as fever
- the intensities are somewhat insensitive structures
- visceral changes are too slow to be a source of emotional feeling
- artificial induction of the visceral changes characteristics of strong emotions does not actually produce an emotional experience
kreibig
found support for the physiological specificity of emotion. the negative emotions were: anger, worry, disgust, fear and sadness. the positive emotions are: affection, amusement, satisfaction, happiness, joy, pleasure, pride, and relief. the emotions with no clear value were surprise and uncertainty
schachter’s cognitive characteristic theory of emotion
the emotion experienced is a product of the interpretation of the environment
cognitive labeling theory
there is a cognitive attribution of emotion, where context is critical and physiological arousal increases the intensity of the experienced emotion
short route to processing emotional information
information is sent to the thalamus and then to the amygdala. this is fast but sloppy
long route to processing emotional information
send information to the thalamus, then to part of the cortex, and then to the amygdala. this route is slower but more specific. only after this information processing does the reaction takes place
roll’s model
based on reinforcement and punishment. the horizontal and vertical dimension consist of a positive and negative side. emotions are placed on these dimension depending on whether they are positive or negative and whether something is lost or gained
constructivist approach
emotions such as anger do not refer to a specific state, but to a group of variable instances, which depends on the specific environments, contexts, and past experiences
lisa barret
claims that the brain uses concepts and prediction to interpret bodily sensations, leading to experiencing emotions. she also claimed that actors mimic basic emotions during ekman’s research and that these emotions are not as evident in everyday life
love
love is a strong tendency for a specific person, which is not replaceable. love is not an emotion, but a motivational state. love has a several aspect, namely emotional, physical, behavioral, and cognitive
thalamus
a site of sensory integration in which emotional stimuli are processed. the thalamus plays a role in the circuity of emotion, but that can only be because it is involved in sensory perception of the world in general and is not specific to emotionally evoked stimuli
papez circuit
the original proposal by papez was a neural circuit for expressing emotions. thalamus received input and projects it to the sensory cortex, which further processes the emotionally valuable stimulus and then communicates with the cingulate cortex. at the same time the thalamus communicates with the hypothalamus, which concretizes the necessary mechanisms for the body’s response, but also projects to the anterior thalamus and then to the cingulate cortex
cingulate cortex
delivers output to the hippocampus and through the fornix back to the mammillary bodies of the hypothalamus
lesions in the amygdala
may be responsible for the reduction in fear response seen in Kluver-Bucy syndrome
amygdala
it is not a single set of nuclei, but rather a complex of different regions, and these different regions have different neuroanatomical connections. patients with lesions to the amygdala have difficulity recognizing the emotional content of complex social scenes when there is only facial expression
basolateral nuclei
receives input from the cortex, thalamus and hippocampus
conditioned emotional response (CER)
fear responses can be learned (CER). lesions of the central amygdala prevent a CER from developing, while lesions at the cortical processing have no effect
hippocampus
ledoux reported the hippocampus as an area responsible for contextual fear conditioning. lesions at the hippocampus prevent contextual fear conditioning. if lesions are performed after conditioning, only the fear response to the context is blocked. the hippocampus provides memory for past event and experiences
fear conditioning
represents the process carried out by neural mechanisms in response to a conditioned stimulus. fear conditioning does not denote the conscious feeling of fear: it only describes the neural correlated of a learning process
survival circuits
can be innate or learned. are evolutionary and include defense circuits, reproduction circuits, and feeding circuits. according to ledoux survival circuit has an indirect influence on emotions
defensive organism state
activated by the activity of survival circuits that detect threats
ledoux
argued that feelings occur in humans when consciousness (1) detects the survival circuits are active or witnesses the existence of an overall organism state, initiated by the activation of a survival circuit in the presence of a particular type of challenge or opportunity and assesses and (2) labels this state.
conceptual action model
this model views emotion as a psychological phenomenon that requires socially shared conceptual knowledge to make meaning of physiological changes
three general hypothesis with the conceptual action model
1- emotions are mental events that are constructed almost instantaneously form psychological processes that produce variations in ‘core effect’. the core effect is the feelings of positive or negative affective states. the core effect is therefore the mental representation of bodily sensations, which inform the organism that something in the environment is important
2- primitive psychological processes are not specific to emotions, but rather general processes for mental life. the combination of psychological primitive processes creates a variety of mental states called emotions
3- non-emotional factors, such as concepts and language, play an important role in determining emotions
rolls
he sees emotions as a product of reward and punishment. in the reinforcing model of emotion, positive emotions are associated with reward and negative emotions are associated with punishment
rolls elaborations on the theory
- reinforcing stimuli relevant to a particular motivational state are not classified as emotional stimuli
- emotional states can be produced by remembered reinforcing stimuli
- the stimulus, which produces the emtional state, must have reinforcing properties only; that is, it can be a reward or a punishment. it is the association that is important
- cognitive processes are required to determine whether the stimulus is a reward or punishment
- the primary reinforcers such as pain do not produce emotion, but the secondary reinforcers produce emotion
- emotional states have many functions and only some of those functions are associated with emotional feelings
- learning is critical because it is the association of a stimulus with the reinforcements that occurs when an emotional response is learned
- understanding the nature of emotions required understanding the function of emotions
orbitofrontal cortex
allows flexibility of emotional behavior and is sensitive to change. the orbitofrontal cortex considers a representation of the different reinforcement values or stimuli
selection
making music can be seen as relational behavior
huron
suggests that there are eight theories of why we have adapted to emotional responses to music
social cohesion
music can bring groups of individuals together as a collective against rival groups
group effort
music can facilitate the coordination of group work
perceptual development
music can be seen as hearing exercise, which is beneficial for language
motor skill development
fine motor skills from playing instruments and singing can be practiced for coordinated motor actions such as speech
conflict reduction
music can reduce interpersonal conflict
spending time safely
as people become efficient hunters, they also become rich with time. music provides a harmless activity for the quiet moments between hunts
transgenerational communication
music offers a communication channel through which information can be passed on to successive generations
antonio damasio
made a distinction between emotions and feeling of emotion. he argued that the feeling of emotion or ‘feelings’ is a term that should only be used fro the subjective mental experience of emotion, whereas the term emotion should refer to all processes related to emotion.
somatic marker hypothesis of emotion
the change in the body leads to changing feelings that determine the course to take. emotional decision-making is this influenced by peripheral feedback from the body
prefrontal cortex
research suggests that the function of the prefrontal cortex inhibits the response of the amygdala. the frontal lobes suppress actions when necessary
unpleasant music
increased activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and temporal lobes; all areas associated with negative emotions
pleasant music
activates inferior frontal gyrus, anterior superious insula, ventral striatum, Herschel’s gyrus, and rolandic operculum
neurochemical activity in response to music
- increased oxytocin when singing
- increases immunoglobulin A
- reduced beta-endorphins
- decreases or increased cortisol depending on the style of music
- music activates the release of dopamine in the dorsal and ventral striatum
