Neurophysiology of Emotion (Karius) Flashcards
What does the limbic system control?
Emotional Behavior Motivational Drives
What role does the hypothalamus play in the limbic system?
Create physiologic response to emotion
What role does the olfactory areas play in the limbic system?
Smell and emotion is strongly linked and can be a strong stimulus
What role does the thalamus play in the limbic system?
Relays sensory information into system
What role does the basal ganglia play in the limbic system?
Tied to pleasure and disgust
What role does the hippocampus play in the limbic system?
Links emotion to memory creation and plays a role in surprise
What role does the amygdala play in the limbic system?
Tied to fear and anger that can also lead to memory formation
What role does the anterior cingulate cortex play in the limbic system?
Can play a role in why emotions continue after initial event
- Higher level control
- Sadness
What is the mirror neuron system?
Neurons that fire when you see someone else do the same action
- play a role in imitation and imitative learning
What is innate fear?
Unconditioned fear that requires no experience
What is learned fear?
Conditioned fear from experience
What is the direct pathway for fear?
Thalamo-amygdaloid pathway to the lateral nucleus of amygdala
What does the direct pathway for fear mediate?
rapid responses to fear
What is the indirect pathway for fear?
Thalamo-cortico-amygdaloid pathway to the lateral nucleus of amygdala
What does the indirect pathway for fear mediate?
Later responses to fear
What is the role of the lateral nucleus of the amygdala
Integrates the inputs for learned fear
Pairing sound and electrical shock
After inputs from both fear pathways arrive at the lateral thalamus of the amygdala, where do these inputs travel to?
Basal and intercalated nuclei of the amygdala for additional processing
After traveling to the basal and intercalated nuclei of the amygdala, where does the information travel to?
Central nucleus of amygdala
What does the the central nucleus of amygdala do and where does it send information to?
Decides what responses and required
Relays to hypothalamus to create physiologic response
What happens if a person presents with a damaged amygdala?
Fear is not perceived and there is no conditioning to fear
What receptors does “anger” use?
D2 receptors at amygdala
What regions of the brain can inhibit anger?
Neocortex
Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nuclei
Septal Nuclei
What is avoidance?
Prevents behaviors that have short term rewards but long term negative consequences
What are the anatomical structures that deal with avoidance?
- Lateral posterior hypothalamus
- Dorsal midbrain
- Entorhinal cortex
What are the anatomical structures that deal with sadness?
Lower sector of anterior cingulate cortex
What are the anatomical structures that process and recognise social cues related to disgust
Putamen and insular cortex
What are the anatomical structures that deal with surprise?
Parahippocampal gyrus
What does the ventral region of the anterior cingulate cortex do?
- Integration of visceral, attentional and emotional input
- Controlling emotion display
- Conflict detection (I’m angry but I’m standing in front of my boss)
- Relays information to prefrontal cortex to determine what to do
What does the dorsolateral division of the prefrontal cortex do?
Recives input from motor areas and decides whether motion is appropriate
Where does the ventromedial division of the prefrontal cortex receive input from?
- Amygdala
- Hippocampus
- Temporal visual association area
- Dorsolateral division of the prefrontal cortex
What is the role of the ventromedial division of the prefrontal cortex do?
- Reward processing - with the amygdala, we link new stimulus to a primary reward
- Integration of bodily signals - Gut Feeling
- Top down regulation - Delayed Gratification
Huntington’s disease abolishes what emotion
Disgust
becuase it damages the Putamen
