Medial PreFrontal Cortex

Question 1

Phineas Gage

Answer 1

Damasio: emotional changes, and problems evaluating situations after accidental lesion of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex.

Question 2

Somantic Markers

Answer 2

Damasio: bodily signal that is triggered automatically when we experience a situation that has been previously linked with an emotional reaction - influences decision making.

VMPFC is the site involved in this process; therefore hypothesised to be the main neural structure for the learning of secondary emotions.

Secondary emotions: learned from repeated association, unconscious, majority of human emotions fall into this catergory (amygdala is the site of primary emotions)

Question 3

Good and bad decks

Answer 3

Lowa Gambling Task - normal part. experience somantic markers when choosing from the bad decks before they consciously realise that one deck is bad. Patients with a ventro-medial prefrontal cortex lesion do not experience these bodily reaction (link to poor decition making - Phineas Gage (financial))

Question 4

Damasio’s Theory of Conscious Bodily Emotions (2 factors), and link to other theories..

Answer 4

..provoked by 1.) Bodily changes generated by unconscious neural mechanisms 2.) Situation eliciting these changes (and its meaning).

Link: James: -emotion is the perception of bodily changes
-Stimulus - Bodily change - conscious feeling

*Scachter & Singer (1962) add in ‘cognitive analysis’ as a causation of conscious emotions.

Question 5

Evidence from depressive patients for VMPFC

Answer 5

Drevets et al (1997): structural MRI, with volumetric analysis of unipolar/bipolar patients found smaller volume of VMPFC. 39% / 48%.

Question 6

MPFC - name and location

Answer 6

medial prefrontal cortex - in between the lateral prefrontal cortex and the cingulate cortex

Question 7

Emotional structure that is connected to positive emotions

Answer 7

Basal ganglia