ppd 3 Flashcards
what are some importaint properties of emotional systems
Once activated they tend to remain active for some time
They ‘color’ the world as experienced
They ‘shape’ the movements in the world (towards, away from, etc.)
They present strong motivating force
they activate certain ‘modes of being in the world’.
Primary emotional systems of Panksepp
These are 7 neurally defined emotional systems that have the following properties:
(1) Intrinsic inputs (US): the system can be activated by inborn signals (e.g. a loud noise -> FEAR)
(2) Coordinate physiological and behavioral outputs (UR) : the activation of the system results in inborn reactions (e.g. FEAR -> startle response).
(3) Gating of inputs (CS and CR): this means that the system learns on the basis of classical and operant conditioning, by which learned stimuli can activate the system (CS) and learned responses can become activated (CR).
(4) Positive feedback (including ‘auto-activation’): the systems are NOT only affected by external stimuli (as in classic behaviorism), but (1) have patterns of internal auto-activation, like sleep-wake rythms for the SEEKING system. And (2) once activated the system tends to remain activated for quite some time influencing our perspection of the world for longer than the duration of the stimulus.
(5) Cognitions instigate emotions (top-down influence): this indicates that ‘higher-level’ cognitive processes are involved in activating the systems.
(6) Emotions control cognitions (bottom-up influence): this bottom-up influence is strong – as you all know from experience. The activation of a strong emotion colors our thoughts, attention, memory, selffeeling, and so on.
(7) Affect reflects the full operation of such processes: this is important. A full and complete affective state is not simply a single basic emotional system, but the full activation of multiple systems together with behavior and cognition. The affective state is in this sense like tasting a complex wine: it is not just sour or sweet, but much more than that.
how do we move eachother
1.Direct touch
2.Via the air by using our voice
3.Via they eyes by the reflection of light
4.Via that also mirror-neurons are affected; so we literally mirror the movement of the other.
5.And finally, later, via symbols (next lecture)
Enactivism
A version of TOM strongly influenced by phenomenology. It emphasises the embeddedness in a
body and in an environment of the thinking and experiencing of minded animals like ourselves. It is an understanding of cognition as being a fundamentally embodied and embedded form of action
Embodied sense-making (valences)
Sense-making is a fundamental part of being alive: in order to stay alive, an organism must make sense of
its environment-even if only in the very basic sense of distinguishing food from non-food, danger from
safety, mates from non-mates, etc. Living beings depend on their environment for survival, which implies the need for some (basic) form of sense-making activity of the organism.
Existential ‘stance taking’ (values)
However, as soon as organisms are capable of relating to themselves and their environment, like human
beings, the functionality principle [of embodied sense making] is loosened or altered. For it is no longer just survival that counts, but also living a good life. If valences result from being a needy creature in relation to an environment, we can say that values emerge for those organisms that on top of that can relate to this relation. We do not only have the will to survive, we also have the “will to meaning”
Forms of vitality
- Forms of vitality are patterns of arousal that are associated with certain sensory experiences
AND movement. - They are generally cross-modal; we experience them in any modality of sensory experience
- They translate between these; hence music and dance, poetry and being ‘touched’ are intrinsically related.
Mirroring
mirroring generally refers to aspects of sameness in the reaction of the parent to the child. In complete mirroring there would be almost no difference between what the movement and sound of the child and that of the parent. The child then would have a difficult time distinguishing self and other
Marking
Marking generally refers to the aspect of differentiation in response to the child. For example, the child
may utter a voice that goes upward and the parent a voice that goes downward. Or there may be variations on the pattern of the child, or responses in a different modality like making a sound that mirrors the movement of the child. In development the amount of variantion and differentiation tends to increase. If the difference is too large the connection may be lost; this is called a misattuned response.
Attunement
Well-regulated mirroring and marking
Misattunement
Dysregulation of self-experience and self-with-other experience (e.g. still face at the extreme)
Repair
The movement from misattunement to attunement
Detachement
If repair is absent repeatedly and for longer periods, then despair, detachment, hate and traumatic
moments set in and are stored in embodied memory
SEEKING
- The SEEKING system provides animals with “energy” (i.e., enthusiasm) to explore the environment. This is necessary to find mating partners as well as food to nourish both brain and body.
o Affective experience:
➢ High: interest –→ euphoria
➢ Low: disinterest/lack of motivation → anhedonia and apathy
o Possible clinical problems:
➢ High SEEKING -> manic states, drugs of abuse (e.g. cocaïne)
➢ Low SEEKING -> anhedonic, depressed, detached states
o SEEKING ≠LIKING
FEAR
- Animals have a FEAR system (along with the learning it promotes) that promotes the avoidance dangerous situations and to carefully monitor the safety of environments.
o Affective experience:
High: Flight (high SEEKING) or Freeze (low SEEKING) → terror
Low: safe (to explore) → recklessness?
o Possible clinical problems:
High FEAR -> anxiety disorders, cluster C, PTSS, etc.
Low FEAR -> psychopathy?, Risk-taking
