Neurobiology Of Emotions (Year 3)

Question 1

Give two deficits associated with orbital frontal cortex damage

Answer 1

Failure to perform stimulus-reward reversals
Somatic marker hypothesis

Question 2

Define stimulus-reward reversals

Answer 2

• Choosing a certain option leads to a reward
• The contingencies then reverse and the subject must learn that to get a reward they have to choose the previously unrewarded object
• Monkeys with OFC lesions show impairments to this task

Question 3

Define perseverance

Answer 3

An inability to inhibit the response to a previously rewarded object (i.e choosing the option that used to lead to a reward that no longer leads to a reward, as opposed to the other option which is now rewarded)

Question 4

Describe how OFC damage can cause inflexible behaviour

Answer 4

• inability to modify behaviour when new information arrises (e.g a scammer may build trust initially, but once we realise we are being scammed we modify our behaviour so as not to be scammed)
• may be underlied by the same deficit

Question 5

Describe the autonomic responses of patients with OFC damage to decision making tasks

Answer 5

• The anticipatory skin conductance reaction was missing in OFC patients

Question 6

Define the Somatic marker hypothesis

Answer 6

• damasio (1994)
• bodily states corresponding to the emotions produced while evaluating different courses of action (somatic markers)

Question 7

Explain the role of the OFC in decision making

Answer 7

• storing associations between patterns of environmental inputs and the somatic states the inputs produce

Question 8

Explain the model of the neuronal mechanisms underlying decision making in the prefrontal cortex

Answer 8

sensory info, affective info, motivational info
↓ ↓ ↓
OFC
Integration of info to derive the value of potential reward outcomes
↕
DLPFC
Construction of plan to obtain reward outcome

Question 9

Define emotions

Answer 9

Mechanisms to set goals and establish priorities
Criteria helps us differentiate emotions from closely related phenomena, such as moods, sensations, personality and disorders

Question 10

Explain how emotions differ from moods, sensations, personality and disorders

Answer 10

Emotions are:
- Brief: between 1 and 5 seconds (anything longer is a mood)
- Unbidden: happen to us, emotions are beyond volitional control
- Cross-species: phenomena we see in other mammals, even if they are rudimentary
- Coherent: facial, behaviour, physiology, expression work together
- Involve automatic, unconscious, very fast appraisal of stimuli
- Have quick onset

Question 11

Give the two approaches to the study of emotions

Answer 11

Evolutionary approach
Constructivist approach

Question 12

Give and explain the 4 main principles of natural selection

Answer 12

1. Principle of natural design for gene replication: evolution operates in genes - genes need to make it to the next generation
2. Superabundance: animals and plants produce more offspring than necessary
3. Variation: each offspring are somehow different
4. Selection pressures: environmental factors that increase/decrease the likelihood that a particular combination of genes make it to the next generation

Question 13

Give the three types of selection pressures

Answer 13

Natural
Sexual
Group

Question 14

Define the principle of natural design for gene replication

Answer 14

evolution operates in genes - genes need to make it to the next generation

Question 15

Define superabundance

Answer 15

animals and plants produce more offspring than necessary

Question 16

Define variation

Answer 16

each offspring are somehow different

Question 17

Define selection pressures

Answer 17

environmental factors that increase/decrease the likelihood that a particular combination of genes make it to the next generation

Question 18

Define intrasexual and intersexual competition

Answer 18

InTERsexual competition: attributes that females and males use to select mates

inTRAsexual competition: occurs within a sex for access to mates

Question 19

Define environment of evolutionary adaptedness

Answer 19

set of reproductive problems faced by members of a that species over evolutionary time

Question 20

Explain the emotional consequences of the evolutionary approach

Answer 20

1. Vulnerability of babies: has implications for the development of compassion and cooperation
2. Development of emotion in infancy: Instead of using energy to outgrow vulnerability, babies divert calories into metabolically costly neurological machinery for eye contact, imitation, emotional expression

Question 21

Describe the functions of emotions

Answer 21

• Prioritisation: emotions enable rapid orientation to events in environment
• Organisation: emotions coordinate responses

Question 22

Define social or group selection pressures

Answer 22

organisms who are better able to get along with the group have greater chances to reproduce

Question 23

Give the three main ways of investigating environment of evolutionary adaptedness

Answer 23

Study close primates
Archaeological records
Hunter and gathers society now

Question 24

Explain the ‘curse of lucy’

Answer 24

the human gestation period is shorter than it should be because a larger fetus (and larger head) would not be compatible with a birth canal small enough to allow functional bipedalism

Question 25

Explain how evolution changed human behaviour

Answer 25

1. Flattening of social hierachies - hierachies became more egalitarian. Agriculture reintroduced inequalities
2. Monogamist bonds: created specific emotions such as the need for face-to-face communication
3. Need for collective action: In hunter/gatherer societies every waking moment is collective
4. Emergence of caring: In humans there is a lot of caring - why humans can live longer

Question 26

Give two of the central ideas in evolutionary perspectives

Answer 26

1. Emotions are functional. We would know the function of emotions by understanding their elicitors
   
   • Reliable elicitors of emotions
   • Systematic consequences
2. Universality: if we see universality we can infer something has evolved

Question 27

Give some examples of evolutionary adaptations

Answer 27

1. Pregnancy sickness - solved problem of exposure to toxins when embryo is susceptible to damage
2. Baby-face: face arrangement makes parents want to devote themselves to the infant
3. Father engagement: (social adaptation) societies want father to be engaged and devote resources so that the child has a better chance of survival

Question 28

Define social constructionism

Answer 28

• Emotions are constructed within a particular culture, historical moment through language and values
  1. Biology has no role in emotion - radically different emotions have the same underlying physiology
  2. Emotions are open systems constructed by culture in a culturally idiosyncratic way
  3. Culture and emotions make each other up

Constructivist view: emotions have different facets and culture puts them together in radically variable idiosyncratic ways

Question 29

Explain how emotions are open systems

Answer 29

facial expression, physiological processes, vocalisation and touch patterns, skeletal movement can be arranged by culture into any configuration

Question 30

Explain how culture and emotions shape each other

Answer 30

• In a bidirectional fashion
• Emotions are social cues
• Emotions shape our culture and culture shapes how we think

Question 31

Explain how research is done under a constructivist perspective

Answer 31

1. Compare cultures
2. Ethnography: Live in the culture - Cathy Lutz living with the Ifaluk - they have a radically different emotional life, idea of happiness was different, their central emotion was compassion
3. Relativise: The meaning of an emotion is relative - depends on the culture

Question 32

Compare how evolutionists and constructivists define an emotion

Answer 32

Evolutionist: genetically encoded biological processes that are wired into our nervous system
Constructivist: emotions are languages

Question 33

Compare how evolutionists and constructivists define how many emotions there are

Answer 33

E: Number of emotions is constrained by biology - there are only so many facial muscles
C: Unlimited number

Question 34

Compare how evolutionists and constructivists view the system of emotions

Answer 34

E: Closed systems (e.g reflexes)
C: Open systems

Question 35

Compare how evolutionists and constructivists view where emotions come from

Answer 35

E: Evolutionary adaptation
C: Originates in culture, history, sociological trends

Question 36

Give two of the main claims of emotional communication

Answer 36

1- Encoding hypothesis: when we feel a state it is encoded in a unique universal pattern.

2- Decoding hypothesis: across cultures we have evolved to be able to quickly judge other people’s emotions

Question 37

Define co-evolution

Answer 37

Co-evolution: our signaling capacity co-evolved with the capacity of others to interpret and decode those signals

Question 38

Give the 5 categories of non-verbal behaviour

Answer 38

1- Emblems: non verbal gestures that communicate words in a specific culture: about 800 emblems in different cultures, a good deal of cultural variability.
have a direct verbal translation
are known by almost everybody in a social group
shall have a particular effect on the recipient

2- Illustrators: gestures used to dramatise and to give visual imagery to our speech.
i.e: giving directions

3- Regulators: gestures used to control conversation. Coordinate who speaks and who listens.

4- Self adaptors or manipulators: random behaviours that we emit, touch our hair, move legs, scratch. Nervous outcomes that have no direct communicative value
4- Self adaptors or manipulators: random behaviours that we emit, touch our hair, move legs, scratch. Nervous outcomes that have no direct communicative value

5. Affect displays
   - affection

Question 39

What sets apart the facial expression of emotion from other facial expressions?

Answer 39

There are 43 facial motions, and every permutation thereof constitutes a possible emotion – there are thousands of possible facial expressions.

What sets apart the facial expression of emotion from other facial expressions.

1- Symmetry

2- Short duration: 1-5 seconds

3- Involves reliable muscle movements: In anger there is a muscle around the lips that tightens, this muscle is hard to move voluntarily. For sympathy: two muscles that pull the eyebrows up and in. Every emotion has a muscle movement that we can’t fake .

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion are more ecologically valid and salient for emotional communication than static expressions.

Dynamic facial expressions elicit higher emotional arousal than static facial expressions

Question 40

Describe Eckmans (1965) research on facial expressions

Answer 40

aul Eckman (b. 1934) In 1965 he received a grant to do cross cultural variation of expression of emotion. Based his research on Darwin’s book.

Facial expressions of emotion are not culturally determined, but universal across human cultures and thus biological in origin.

Universal expressions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

He developed the Facial Action Coding System(FACS) to taxonomise every conceivable human facial expression.

Ekman found skilled people able to move reliable muscles and took around 3000 pictures,

He took the pictures to other countries (Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile),

Presented the pictures with the 6 words for the emotions and asked with word matched the emotion displayed in the picture,

they generally matched 80-90%

Question 41

Describe issues with Eckman’s research and how this was mitigated

Answer 41

1- Forced choice.

2- Gradient critique: all the expressions should be recognised the same across cultures and they are not, some are well recognised like happiness and others less like fear and surprise.

3- Ecological validity: can you see those faces in the real world, the pictures are extreme, done by actors, like a caricature. People are better at recognising dynamic displays.

Question 42

Give the new additions to universal facial expressions

Answer 42

Contempt: is asymmetrical tightening of the lips corners or sneer
Exhilaration: Laughter involves the contraction of the muscles surrounding the eyes also appears to be a signal of a distinct emotion.

Question 43

Give the criteria for documenting emotions beyond Ekman’s six

Answer 43

To document emotional expressions beyond Ekman’s six plus exhilaration and contempt one needs to show that:
1- the experience of the specific emotion correlates with a unique pattern of facial actions (encoding evidence)
2- others perceive that display as a sign of the target emotion preferably in different cultures (decoding evidence)
3- other species show similar expressive behaviours in contexts that resemble those of common interest. DO THEY???

Question 44

Explain how embarrassment is shown

Answer 44

The antecedents of embarrassment most typically involve violations of social conventions that increase social exposure.

Question 45

Explain how we differentiate embarrassment from shame

Answer 45

Thought by many as an appeasement related emotion which signals the individual’s lower status in particular transgressions, so as to bring social reconciliation

People can differentiate embarrassment from shame which is gaze aversion and downward head movements

Shame follows the failure to live up to expectations, either one’s own or those of significant others

Guilt appears to follow transgressions of moral rules that govern behaviour toward others.

Question 46

Explain the evolutionary advantage of expressing our emotions

Answer 46

a) Informative: emotional experience and expression are sources of information about the social world. They indicate the sender’s emotions, intentions and relationship with the target
b) Evocative: they elicit complementary emotion: faces of anger enhance fear conditioning in observers even when the photographs are not consciously observed (Ohman and Dimberg 1978, Esteves, Dimberg and Ohman 1994)
c) Incentive: displays invite desired social behaviours. Displays of positive emotions are displayed by parents to reward behaviour in children thus increasing the probability of those behaviours in the future. Laughter from interaction partners also rewards desirable social behaviour in adults .

Question 47

Explain sex differences in facial expression recognition

Answer 47

The ability to identify emotional expressions of others shows sexual dimorphism: on average, women outperform men.

Accumulating evidence suggests an underlying role for testosterone

A single administration of testosterone has been demonstrated to reduce emotion recognition abilities in young women

After testosterone administration women show impaired performance on the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test

Question 48

Explain the role of testosterone in facial expression recognition

Answer 48

The effect of testosterone on the RMET varied with a proxy of foetal testosterone to the2D:4D ratio. In utero testosterone exposure lowers the ratio

A lower 2D:4D ratio predicts greater impairment on the RMET after testosterone administration

Thus, by altering connectivity of the prefrontal cortex with other brain regions,
testosterone can be regarded a modulator of the network involved in emotion recognition

Question 49

Explain cultural variations of facial expression of emotion

Answer 49

Briggs (1970) found that Inuit (eskimos) do not express anger.
17th century Samurai wives were alleged to smile upon receipt of news that their husbands died nobly in battle.
Members of different cultures vary in their emotional expression in several ways:

1- Ritualised displays: stylised ways of displaying a
particular emotion.

For example: anger involves furrowed brow, glare,
lip tighten and lip press as prototypical actions,
cultures might take the elements and elaborate upon it:
exaggerate, dramatise it

Question 50

Explain how members of different cultures vary in their emotional expression

Answer 50

2- Regulation of expressive behaviour. Matsumoto et al 1997: American college students and Japanese college students watched a really disgusting film in two conditions, first in private and low light, then with an authority figure in high light.

In private, both students showed, universality in facial expression, exact muscle movement to the exact millisecond.

In public, with the authority figure in US the college student showed more intense expression in Japanese student there was a masking of the disgust expression to a more polite one.

3- Interpreting emotions: Members of different cultures vary in their interpretation of facial expressions of emotion.
Individuals of more individualistic, independent cultures are more accurate judges of facial expressions of emotions.

Americans rated negative emotions as more appropriate than the Japanese did when expressed toward in-group members. The Japanese in contrast rated the expression of negative emotion more appropriate when directed toward out-group members.

Individuals from different cultures differ in the emotional intensity that they attribute to facial expressions of emotions (Matsumoto and Ekman 1998). Japanese participants attribute less intense emotions than Americans to all facial expressions of emotions posed by Caucasians and Japanese except disgust.

Western Caucasian and East Asian looked White and Chinese faces to categorise them into the six core emotional expressions.
East Asian participants made significantly more errors when categorising disgust and fear compared with the Western participants.
Certain emotions are expressed slightly differently in East Asia. They have learned to focus on different facial regions.

Question 51

Describe the Mauritius Child Health Project

Answer 51

The Mauritius Child Health Project is a prospective longitudinal study of child health and development based on a 1969 birth cohort of 1795 children.

Around 720 ongoing

The were followed up at ages 8, 11, 17, 23, 28 and 35 years, still following up

Extensive autonomic assessments (skin conductance and heart rate) of arousal, orienting and fear conditioning were conducted.

Children with low responses to score higher in psychopathy in adulthood

25% in prosocial jobs that require people less fearful

75% criminal behaviour

Question 52

Describe the roles of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

Answer 52

Sympathetic:
prepares for fight or flight.

Parasympathetic:
slows the body down,
house keeping action,
saves energy

Question 53

Describe the central physiological constraints that suggest that the ANS cannot play a critical role in emotions

Answer 53

1- The ANS is not finely tuned, too general diffuse, cannot distinguish between subtle differences. If you have to give a speech heart rate rises 4 beat x min relax it slows down.

2- The ANS is slow, the blood pressure response, you embarrass somebody and about 15 seconds later is when blood pressure adjusts.

3- James’s hypothesis assumes that we can track all the changes in our body.

4- The changes can be similar in different emotions, there is no physiological signature of an emotion.

In view of Canon criticisms in 1962 Schachter and Singer proposed a two factor theory of emotions

Question 54

Describe Ekman’s findings of bodily changes and emotions

Answer 54

Important finding: when physiological arousal or anxiety states do not have an obvious source people tend to label and experience their arousal according to what is happening in the current situation.

When Ekman was studying facial expressions he found that moving his facial muscles seemed to change how he felt.

People were asked to move facial muscles to resemble Darwin’s emotions. They were given instructions such as

1- Wrinkle your nose
2- Raise your upper lip
3- Open your mouth and stick out your tongue

This is for disgust but the participants did not know, they had to hold the expression for 10 seconds and measures of autonomic activity were taken

Moving the facial muscles can generate an autonomic response

Question 55

Describe the three different stages in the evolution of ANS

Answer 55

First stage produced the dorsal vagal complex: present in all species regulates digestion and immobilisation responses

Next to emerge was the sympathetic nervous system involved in fight or flight responses

Last portion is the ventral vagal complex, only present in mammals, it is controlled by the 10th cranial nerve known as the vagus nerve

Question 56

Describe findings around activation of the vagus nerve

Answer 56

Activation of the vagus nerve promotes altruism.

Individuals with higher vagal activity are more resilient, compassionate, warm and agreeable.

9-10 yrs old have more friends, more cooperative, likely to give, handle stress better, socially adjusted.

Conclusion:
Individuals those with high vagal activity are associate with high social traits.
There traits persist in life.

Question 57

Describe research findings into elevated vagal activity

Answer 57

Individuals with elevated vagal activity are prone to certain problems in adjustment like manic disorders

2% of population are prone to mania and their vagal activity is very high:
marry two or three people,
overdraft in their credit card,
become interested on strange political causes,
think they can change the world on their own,
hyperactive in terms of caring.

Vagal stimulation improved epilepsy but ALSO Asperger behavioural symptoms

Question 58

Describe the evolution of the emotional brain

Answer 58

• Rhiencephalon: part of the brain involved with olfaction
• First layer of cells: edible, toxic, sexually accessible, enemy, food
• Second layer: tell the organism what to do: bite, spite, get closer, flew, chase

Question 59

Describe the evolution of the emotional brain in vertebrates

Answer 59

• The human forebrain includes three distinct systems, each of which developed in a distinct phase of vertebrate evolution. Apart from the hypothalamus, the earliest and most basic part of the forebrain is the striatal region: ventral striatum comprises the nucleus accumbens and olfactory bulb

Question 60

Describe the evolution of the emotional brain

Answer 60

• The striatal area became enlarged with the evolution of reptiles
• Schedules and generates basic behaviours: preparation and establishment of a home site, marking and patrolling of territory, formalised fighting in defence of territory, foraging, hunting, hoarding, forming social groups including hierarchies, greeting, grooming, mating, flocking and migration.
• Striatum damage in humans: Huntington’s chorea patients become unable to organise daily activities, tend to sit and do nothing. The striatal area was also damaged in patients with encephalitis letragica

Question 61

What do mammals do that reptiles do not?

Answer 61

• Vocal signaling
• Maternal caregiving with infant attachment
• Play
• All of these are served by the limbic system
• The limbic system developed to enable mammals’ increasing sociality.

Question 62

Describe the role of the amygdala

Answer 62

The amygdala is part of the limbic system. The amygdala is the central emotional computer for the brain , it is the appraisal mechanism for emotions

Question 63

Explain amygdala afferents

Answer 63

• Projections from thalamus (auditory cortex and visual cortex) go to lateral amygdala
• Projections olfactory bulb go to corticomedial amygdala
• Taste and visceral messages go to central amygdala

Question 64

Describe LeDoux’s research into the amygdala

Answer 64

LeDoux removed auditory cortex in rats, and animals well still capable to associate tone to electric discharge and avoid it, which means that the amygdala has the ability to orchestrate a response and create a memory: Emotional conditioning

This means that the amygdala has the ability to store memories that one could be never conscious of.

Emotional conditioning for negative stimuli is quick to be learned and slow to extinguish. One of the reasons why anxiety can be such a severe and long-lasting clinical disorder.

The amygdala is the site of primary appraisal, the automatic evaluation of events in relation to goals and concerns.

Rats will learn to associate CS and US as long as the amygdala and thalamus are present

Question 65

Describe the difference between the amygdala vs hippocampus

Answer 65

Hippocampus: stores facts. I.e; you almost had a car accident trying to overtake. Hippocampus stores all the factual information.

Amygdala stores emotional climate

To understand the difference imagine that you are telling that story to somebody.

Question 66

Describe the role of the amygdala in psychopaths

Answer 66

The amygdala seems to be responsible for assigning emotional significance to events that signal dangers and threats, and possibly to emotionally significant events of other kinds

It’s like they’re analyzing emotional material in extra-limbic regions

“Non-psychopathic offenders show lots of activation in the amygdala [to unpleasant scenes], compared with neutral pictures.

Question 67

Explain study findings which confirm the role of amygdala in processing of emotions

Answer 67

1-The perception of fear and sad faces activates amygdala even when the presentation of the face is subliminal and masked by the presentation of a neutral expression

2- Young black and white participants were asked to look at faces and determine gender.
Increased activation with unfamiliar faces
Activation decreased when watching the same ethnic group
Conclusion:
unfamiliar faces are threatening
faces of own ethnic group become less threatening.
.
However…early social deprivation to race, shapes amygdala function later in life and provides support that early postnatal development may represent a sensitive period for race perception.

3- Several studies suggest a role of increased amygdala activation in depression (Altshuler et al, 1998)

depressives suffering from bipolar disorder have enlarged amygdalas.
depressives have higher amygdala baseline activation
depressive individuals show elevated amygdala activation in response to emotionally evocative stimuli such as fearful faces
Depressives show higher amygdala activation during REM sleep

Activation of the amygdala during REM sleep is related to several clinical conditions such post traumatic stress disorder and mood disorders, especially depression which is accompanied by an increase in REM sleep

Question 68

Describe Le Doux’s findings on amygdala proccessing

Answer 68

Le Doux: We process information at two different levels of analysis:
First level: unconscious evaluation whether the stimulus is good or bad or rewarding or not

Second level of analysis: conscious processing of the semantic meaning of the stimulus memory, knowledge, what is the meaning or categorisation of the stimulus compared to other
We can have gut feeling before we actually consciously see something.

Some cortically blind patients show amygdala activation in response to facial or bodily expressions of emotion.

In human subjects, the amygdala response to eye contact does not require an intact primary visual cortex.

Question 69

Describe ways of investigating amygdala damage

Answer 69

Lesion studies: in animals amygdala removal leads to loss of fear (gut feeling is gone), hyperorality, hypersexuality, approaching of dominant individuals without sense of fear.

Klüver-Bucy syndrome
1- Docility
2- Hiperorality
3- Hipersexuality
4- Dietary changes
5- Visual agnosia

Question 70

Give some of the implications of amygdala damage

Answer 70

Amygdala damage in humans: temporal lobe lobectomy , tumors, strokes, acute herpes simplex encephalitis

Inability to identify feelings in others; emotional blindness.

People who were once aggressive and violent have been rendered quite pleasant

Huge appetite, hyperorality and increase in sex drive

Charles Whitman (the “Texas Tower Sniper“): in 1966 killed 14 and wounded 32 during university shooting

Murdered his mother and wife at home first

Been to doctor, did not know why he was having irrational thoughts, requested post-mortem in suicide note

Question 71

Describe the case study of SM

Answer 71

S.M. is a female patient first described in 1994.

She has an extremely rare genetic condition called Urbach–Wiethe disease

In her case it lead to exclusive and complete bilateral amygdala destruction

Because of this damage, she has little to no capacity to experiencefear

S.M. who’s been dubbed the “woman with no fear”. She is left unmoved by snakes, spiders, horror films, haunted houses and real-life knife attacks.

SM is almost too friendly.

In healthy volunteers amygdala triggers if sense of personal space is violated

Question 72

Explain William’s syndrome

Answer 72

• a rare genetic disorder (26 genes missing on chromosome
  7) that causes unique changes in social behaviour.

Highly social and empathetic, even in situations that would elicit fear and anxiety in healthy people (no common sense).
They will eagerly, and often impulsively, engage in social interactions, even with strangers.
However, they experience increased anxiety that is non-social, such as fear of spiders or heights (phobias) and worry excessively.

Question 73

Describe the relationship between amygdala and impulses

Answer 73

The amygdala reacts in half the time than neocortex 12 ms vs 24, does not need to know what exactly the danger is, this was crucial in survival

The emotional mistakes arise from the fact that feelings happen before thought (precognitive emotion)

Question 74

Describe the evolution of the prefrontal cortex in emotional regulation

Answer 74

After emergence of striatum and limbic system the third large step was the neocortex.

Question 75

Describe the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional regulation

Answer 75

PFC has 3 areas of interest
1- Orbito frontal region:
2- Dorsolateral prefrontal region
3- Anterior cingulate and medial frontal regions

PFC has dense and reciprocal connections with the amygdala

PFC has connections with Nucleus Accumbens
Damage: normal language, memory, sensory processes but have problems regulating emotional behaviour. Phineas Gage
PFC seems to get emotional signals and help the individual to act upon them

Question 76

Explain why patients with OFC damage only hyperexpress negative emotions, they dont’t become generous or help other people

Answer 76

We need to go back in time:
1- Any behaviour that induces dopamine release in the NAcc is perceived as rewarding

2- In order to carry it out again the animal needs to MOVE!!

3- So…. Increases of dopamine in the hypothalamus increase activity

4- The amygdala reacts in half the time than neocortex 12 ms vs 24, does not need to know what exactly the danger is, this was crucial in survival

All true and fine BUT.. What is the problem of these structures left to act????

If you think about all subcortical structures they work perfectly fine but they are completely unaware of consequences

Basically if a behaviour is rewarding you do it again… there is no sense of good and bad

Prefrontal cortex receives information from subcortical structures and inhibits impulsive behaviours.

So basically PFC is always talking to subcortical structures and usually telling them that those behaviours are NOT a good idea

Question 77

Describe and explain the role of BDNF

Answer 77

BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) is a growth factor that plays an important role in learning through its influence on neuronal survival, growth, and synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system.

The human genome contains a common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that codes for a valine-to-methionine substitution which leads to reduced levels of BDNF

A high percentage of psychopaths carry that substitution, as a consequence maturation of some brain areas such as PFC is decreased (thinner grey matter in PFC)

In addition they release less dopamine in response to situations that other people find rewarding

This means that in order to feel pleasure the intensity of the stimuli needs to be bigger

Therefore their use of drugs that enhance dopamine is increased

Question 78

Describe the role of the left vs right hemispheres in emotional regulation

Answer 78

The right side of the cortex is more closely associated with the processing of emotional events (identification and production)

The left side of the face is more emotionally expressive than the right side

Patients with right cortex damage have difficulty in recognising facial expression of emotions

Patients with damage to left cortex were significantly better than those with damage to right cortex and normal people in detecting whether people were lying or telling the truth on video tape.

Subjects who attend to language were more likely to be misled by words while subjects with poor language ability relied on facial clues.

L: regulates bad emotions
R: stores negative feelings (aggression, fear), working memory

Some mechanisms concerned with experience and expression of + emotions are situated on the left side and those for – emotion on the right side

Question 79

Describe the left vs right cerebral hemispheres

Answer 79

1- Activation is stable in time, correlation of around 0.7.

2- Lateralisation produce different kinds of depression right hemisphere depression with a lot more negative emotions.

3- If you are a left lateralised person and see amusing film you have bigger positive emotional response if you show right lateralised person negative film clips bigger negative responses.

4- Shy kids (1-2 years of age). Right lateralised activation of the brain

5- Meditation story: Happiest human being ever!!!
Buddhist monk for 30 yrs.

5 SD out left lateralised

No right hemisphere activation.

Question 80

Explain Matsumotos’s judoka competition research

Answer 80

Matsumoto’s team studied thousands of photographs taken of jūdōka at the Athens Olympics in 2004 just after matches had ended.
The researchers were particularly interested in whether, and how quickly, competitors’ altered their initial facial emotional expressions after winning or losing.
Key findings:

There are cultural differences.

Athletes’ initial emotional expressions were universal, however their subsequent expressions were culturally regulated.

Athletes from collectivist cultures, such as China, tend to mask their emotional expressions more than athletes from individualistic cultures like the UK.

Athletes from more wealthy, densely populated countries tended to be less concerned to mask their emotional expressions than competitors from rural, less populated countries.

Question 81

Describe research findings into cultural variation of facial expression of emotions

Answer 81

Cultural influences on emotional expressions tended to kick in within one to two seconds of the initial appearance of a facial emotional display.

The initial facial reaction is triggered automatically by subcortical brain structures, before more culturally specific modification is applied by the motor cortex.

Dampening down an emotional expression appeared to take less time than completely masking an initial emotional display with another expression, consistent with the idea that masking requires more neurocognitive resources.

Question 82

Give the two schools of thought concerning the psychology of smiling

Answer 82

These are:
1. Smiling is primarily an individual act. We smile as a result of an inner feeling of happiness.
2. Smiling is primarily a social act. We smile to let those around us know that we are happy.

Question 83

Giving research findings into bowling and smiling

Answer 83

4% of bowlers smiled after hitting a strike

42% smiled when they turned round

Question 84

Give the two types of smiles and explain

Answer 84

• Duchenne and Pan Am smile
• When people smile in a polite way without feelings of happiness is more asymmetrical
• Only 1 in 10 people can fake a Duchenne smile

Question 85

Explain sex differences in research into smiling

Answer 85

For instance, being a womanmeans you’re more likely to be perceived as warm,but less likely to be seen as dominant.

In this study, students who ratedneutral faces, some of the usual effects of gender and ethnic stereotypes came into play. For example, theyrated Caucasian men lower on the trait of agreeableness than Caucasian women, and they rated Japanese women as less extravert than their Caucasian counterparts.

However…

Personality ratings disappeared or were greatly reduced when those faces were smiling.

“Smiling provides cues related to personality that are strong enough to negate the use of information based on gender or race in forming impressions of others,”

“smiling levels the playing field”.

Question 86

Describe research findings into vocal emotional expression

Answer 86

Van Bezooijen, van Otto, and Heenan had 4 male and 4 female Dutch native actors saying twee maanden zwanger (Two months pregnant) in neutral voice and voices expressing nine emotions: disgust surprise, shame, interest, joy, fear, contempt, sadness and anger.

Audio recording were played to Dutch, Taiwanese and Japanese subjects. They were able to identify Dutch vocal expressions of emotion beyond chance expectancy

In a review of 60 studies of this kind Juslin and Laukka (2003) concluded than hearers can judge 5 different emotions in the voice: anger, fear, happiness, sadness and tenderness with accuracy rates that approach 70%. Judgements are better when listeners listen to members of their own culture. Some emotions like disgust are not well communicated by voice

Is there evidence for continuity of human emotional vocalisation with that of non- human species? primates show sophisticated communication. Vervet monkeys have three different call for 3 different predators.

Question 87

Describe how laughter is a vocal expression of emotion

Answer 87

Laughter is clearly an emotional signal.

Very frequent

Probably preceded language in its evolutionary emergence.

It was and it is a primary means for enabling closeness with others.

Can reflect: tension, anxiety, contempt, anger, sarcasm, embarrassment, modesty and sexual desire.

Sometimes laughs do not involve emotions at all and are used to fill empty gaps in conversations, a signal that they are paying attention and encourage the speaker to carry on.

People attracted to each other laugh more (a common reason that women give for being with a long term sexual partner: “he makes me laugh”)

Question 88

Describe how human laughter differs from animal laughter

Answer 88

Animal laughter is a reflex-like reaction restricted to the behavioural contexts of play and tickling
Human laughter is a more complex behaviour, expressed not only in the context of play, but also in various emotional states

Question 89

Explain the neural activity related to tickling

Answer 89

There are distinct neural activation patterns during perception of tickling and emotional laughter (anterior rostral MFC in addition to other areas)

Emotional laughter may have evolved and diversified in humans to accommodate increasingly complex social interactions.

While tickling laughter is an unequivocal signal which has a direct impact on the listener and, therefore, imposes only moderate demands on social cognition processes, emotional laughter is an equivocal signal which may incorporate diverse meanings and, therefore, imposes higher demands on social cognition processes.

Question 90

Explain research findings into laughing with friends vs strangers

Answer 90

Bryant et al. (2016)

Asked pairs of undergraduates (some were friends and some only met that day) to come into the lab and talk about various topics, such as “bad roommate experiences”.

Both individuals wore microphones, and their speech and laughter were recorded.

The listeners (from 24 countries) were able to judge whether the laughter clips came from friends or strangers with a reasonable degree of accuracy

The listeners’ ability to judge which pairs were friends and which were strangers was very similar across cultures, including those with no familiarity with English.

It doesn’t matter where you come from: it seems laughter is a language we all understand

Question 91

Define tactile communication

Answer 91

Tactile communication: touch is exquisitely sensitive, a lot of the brain is devoted to analysing touch sensation.

Touch is the most developed sensory modality at birth and contributes to cognitive and socio-emotional development throughout infancy and childhood.

Question 92

Give the reasons why we touch other people

Answer 92

1- To reinforce reciprocity: if a chimp is given a lot of food the chimp is more likely to share the food with a chimp he groomed earlier. Same applies to humans

2- To sooth: when babies undergo painful procedures (heel lance) they cry 82% less if they have physical body to body contact and had lower heart rate.

3- Safety: parents who have a lot of bodily contact with their children tend to have children who are more secure and feel safer in social environments.

4- For pleasure: rub the arm with a piece of velvet and that activates OFC (the same as other rewards as food)

Question 93

Describe how emotions can be communicated through art

Answer 93

30,000 – 50,000 thousand years ago.

Works of art are often thought of expressions of emotions that attain cultural significance

Freudian view: Art allows us to express emotions instead of attacking each other.

Question 94

What does expressing emotions through art do?

Answer 94

1- Clarifies our emotions: 5-25 % of our daily emotions are not clear to us. They require the use of art to express themselves.

2- Relieves powerful feelings: powerful feelings drive us to artistic expression : studied the lives of creative people, they report that emotion conflict and stress are catalyst for art. Through artistic expression we gain catharsis. It is an adaptor. The claim is that through artistic expression we gain insight into our emotion.

3- Artistic expressions take the form of our emotional expressions. Music analysis shows that the acoustic matches our emotion related vocalisations.

Question 95

Described research findings into communicating emotions through music

Answer 95

Fritz et al 2009 played samples of computer-generated piano music to members of the culturally isolated Mafa tribe of Cameroon as well as to Western participants.

The music had been specifically designed to convey either happiness, sadness or fear by careful manipulation of mode, tempo, pitch range, tone density and rhythmic regularity, according to Western conventions.

The tribes-people had never before heard Western music and yet they matched the musical samples to the appropriate (according to Western convention) pictures of facial emotional expressions, with an accuracy significantly above chance performance.

Both them and Western participants relied on the same cues to make their judgements:
for example, pieces with higher tempo were more likely to be rated as happy, whereas lower tempo prompted ratings of fear.

Evidence for the universality of musical enjoyment.

This time the researchers played either Western or traditional Mafa music to Mafa tribes-people and Westerners.

Crucially, they played either unaltered versions of the music or “spectrally manipulated” versions.

This manipulation altered the timing of the music to make it sound more dissonant or lacking in harmony.

The tribes-people and the Westerners both preferred the unaltered versions of both the Mafa and Western music.