Limbic System and Physiology of Emotion

Question 1

What is the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)?

Answer 1

• allows anticipatory emotional response preceded explicit knowledge of the correct strategy
• necessary for the prediction of consequences, but not necessary for registering the actual consequences
• reinforcing predictions about risks

Question 2

What is the function of the Insula?

Answer 2

• olfaction
• gustation
• sensation

Question 3

What is the role of the amygdala?

Answer 3

• formation and storage of memories associated with emotional event
• fear
• appetitive (positive) conditioning

Question 4

What is the definition of emotion?

Answer 4

• the complex psychophysiological experience of an individual’s state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences
• associated with terms such as mood, temperament, personality, and motivation

Question 5

What is the definition of motivation?

Answer 5

providing with reason to act in a certain way

Question 6

What is the definition of cognition?

Answer 6

• refers to a faculty for the processing of information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences
• includes memory, attention, language, problem solving, and planning

Question 7

Describe the Anatomy of Broca’s “Great Limbic Lobe.”

Answer 7

• Hippocampus
• Amygdala
• Mammillary bodies
• Hypothalamus
• Olfactory cortex and striata
• Anterior perforated substrate and Diagonal band of Broca

Question 8

What is the role of the ventral striatum?

Answer 8

reinforcing predictions about rewards

Question 9

Recognize that “Papez’s circuit” and hypotheses about a “Limbic System” involve some structures that are, and some that are not involved in the physiology of emotion.

Answer 9

Papez would argue that emotion is not a function of any specific brain center but of a circuit that involves four basic interconnected structures:

1. the hypothalamus with its mamillary bodies
2. the anterior thalamic nucleus
3. the cingulate gyrus
4. the hippocampus

Question 10

What is the definition of mood?

Answer 10

• a tone and intensity and a structured set of predictions about future experience of reward or punishment
• hypothetical constructs depicting an individual’s emotional state

Question 11

What is the role of the ventral tegmental area (VTA)?

Answer 11

learning via rewards and punishment