Neurophysiology Of Emotions Flashcards
Reason we can read facial expression well
So we can avoid or go towards the thing the other person is experiencing
Good for survival: drinking sour spoiled milk vs fresh milk
Limbic System
Border in the base of the cerebrum
Controls motivational (emotional) behavior, and olfaction
Ex: how to get a patient to workout
Hypothalamus
Key in emotional experiences due to it connection with the ANS causing our physiological responses
Ex: I don’t know you’re nervous until I feel my heart pounding and my face turn red
Para-olfactory/ Olfactory areas
Olfaction is strongly linked to emotions and recalling memories
Thalamus
Anterior part of the Papez circuit (learning and memory) and (creating emotions) and (relay info of sensory input into the limbic system)
Basal Ganglia
NA(ventral striatum) and Putamen
Pleasure and reward
Disgust
Hippocampus
Another part of Papez circuit
Links memory to emotions, we remember things based on how they made us feel
parahippocampal region= surprise
Amygdala
Strong association with anger and fear Sham rage (more in animals)
Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Sadness
Below the neocortex (6 layers)
Is Paleocortex (3 layers) - some have 6 layers
Higher level control
Neurons show after-discharge, continue to fire after an event, reason we still feel some type of way after the event has ended
(Usually anger and sadness persist more after the event then happiness)
Emotions are hardwired in the brain , which ones
- Fear
- Anger
- Pleasure
- Avoidance
- Sadness
- Disgust
- Surprise
The circuit pathway to identify an emotion in someone else VS circuit pathway of feeling an emotion
They are the same
Many lab tests on how emotions are perceived is don’t by telling people to look at pictures
EX: if a person can’t experience an emotion then they can’t identify it on a picture
Which neurons are activated during an emotion
Mirror Neuron System
Mirror Neurons fire both when I do something (smile) and when I see someone else do the same thing (smile)
Innate (unconditioned) fear
Fear happening due to no past experience
Humans= falling and loud noises are thought as cues
Animals= associated with olfactory cues like pheromones (like sick smells)
Learned (conditioned) fear
Fear learned from experience
This can also be indirect like watching someone experience fear
Fear and Amygdala
- Processes social cues related to fear
- This is part of emotional conditioning (learned emotion for fear)
- Memory of fear event
Sensory inputs to the amygdala to elicit fear
LEARNED FEAR
First type
- A direct thalami-amygdaloid pathway ——> lateral nucleus of the amygdala (RAPID RESPONSES)
Ex: immediate fearful to me
Sensory inputs to the amygdala to elicit fear
LEARNED FEAR
Second type
- Indirect thalami-cortico-amygdaloid pathway ——> lateral nucleus of the amygdala (goes through the cortex)
LATER RESPONSES
I didn’t like that, I am going to fear that
The lateral nucleus of the Amygdala
Gets fear information LINKING OF FEAR
And INTEGRATES the inputs to the event and what you saw or felt or smelled
Ex: I heard a cat when I got shocked by a cord, I will link those two things which can cause a conditioned LINKAGE for fear
Basal nucleus and Intercalated nuclei of the amygdala
After linkage is done in the lateral nucleus
This info is sent here for more processing (REALLY link these things together)
Thunder sound= weather is bad and dangerous
Central Nucleus of amygdala
Information from the basal and intercalated Nuclei send info here
To decide which response I should do: ELICIT FEAR
Relay info to right place in the brain ——> Hypothalamus to increase HR, BP, dilate pupils, I sweat
Damaged Amygdala and fear
There is no conditioning or learned fear
Anger and Amygdala
First emotion linked to a brain region Required DOPAMINE ——> D2 receptors NEEDED TO FEEL AND RECOGNIZE ANGER If you block these receptors, you can’t recognize anger in other people faces Ex: these people push others too far
How to inhibit anger
The Neocortex——> Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Nuclei
BREAKS ON FEELING ANGER
Old for some survival
Avoidance
Opposite of going for pleasure and reward
PREVENT short-term benefits/rewards behavior that can cause long-term consequences
NO IMMEDIATELY NEGATIVE
How is avoidance elicited
3 brain areas
Lateral Posterior Hypothalamus
Dorsal Midbrain
Entorhinal Cortex(also in olfaction and pheromones can trigger avoidance)
Where is sadness felt
Lower part of Anterior Cingulate Cortex
= is strongly elicited when recalling sad events
Where is emotion stored
The same area it is elicited or generated from
Disgust
What brain areas that recognize and elicit this
Lesion
Insular Cortex and Putamen
Lesion: Huntington’s =disrupts putamen, can’t feel or recognize disgust , comes before the motor symptoms show up
Surprise
Brain region that detects and elicits this
Parahippocampal Gyrus
Also detects new and unexpected things “something new just happened”
Two major brain areas for processing (understanding) and controlling emotion
PFC and Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Anterior Cingulate Cortex in control and processing emotion
VENTRAL= Affective (intellectual info that we are experiencing an emotion)
1. Integrations of visceral, attentional, and emotional input
Ex: kids can generate an emotion like anger, only don’t understand that they are anger
2. How we express the emotion (Top-down) control : poker-face vs crying
Ex: can’t suppress anger
3. Sees conflict between “right now”’ functional state and new info that can be motivationally consequential
Ex: I am angry, however I am standing in front of my boss)
DORSAL= Cognitive
PFC in control and processing emotion
DECIDES WHAT TO DO
DORSOLATERAL = gets input from motor areas basal ganglia, pre-motor, supp-motor + Cingulate Cortex (for performance monitoring)
judging our emotions to meet my standards (how am I doing with controlling and expressing my emotions)
VENTROMEDIAL = gets input from Amygdala, hippocampus, temporal visual, dorsolateral PFC
MOST IMPORTANT
VENTROMEDIAL PFC Function
- Reward Processing (orbitofrontal region) = with the amygdala link stimulus with reward
- Integration of bodily signals= GUT FEELING, (Ventromedial PFC) = when logic is unable to help, we do what feels right
- Top-Down regulation= delayed gratification
EX: I will be angry later so that my boss can’t fire me, and then when I want to leave I’ll tell her
