Stress Flashcards
Emotion Definition
Automatic and universal physical responses to sensory change
–> Bottom up
–> Limbic brain
Feeling defintion
Mental interpretations to physical sensations
–> Top-down
–> Related to neocortex and PFC
What’s the point of emotional processing?
- promotes survival, adaptive role
- quick and efficient way of assesing complex situations and coming up with actions
Interoception definition
Info processing about the inner state of the world
Exteroceptor
Info processing about an external world and data about the external environment
Which way does sensory information move?
From peripheral system to CEN and back, ongoing loop but holistic experience
Evolutionary Motivation theory and evidence?
Connects emotional processing with action readiness
–> Neuroimaging studies
emotional experiences are often accompanied by motor and sensory cortices activating
What do emotional cues do?
- predispose action
- help in social settings
Emotional expressions definition
rapid, reliable and nonverbal transmissions of socially relevant information, which allow for emotional contagion
What is emotional contagion?
Mirroring others emotions
–> similar brain patterns when feeling and seeing others feel
Primary Processing
- raw emotion
- subcortical brain areas, instinct
- stuff like hunger, thirst, pain
- quick processing
Secondary processing
- emotional learning and memory
- limbic structure
- related to environmental events, generats adaptive behaviours
- allows for learnt association, emotional response
Higher order emotional cognition
- utilizes cognitive functions to mediate emotional feelings and cog control
- cortical PFC
- where feelings are born, complex emotions
Which do we remember better: emotional or neutral content?
- emotional
- bc our brain prioritizes emotional content as flags of saliencyW
What parts of the brain are important for memory encoding and activated by emotions?
Amygdala and hippocampus
Emotional-cognition relationship
- interdependent, builds over time
- developmental mismatch plays a role here tho
Is severe stress good?
- not particularly, it strongly affects our developing and developed brain
- strong stress will limit activity in PFC
- limbic system goes hyperactive
does stress exist externally or internally?
internally –> response to something, survival mechanism
What is stress
fundamental biological mechanism activated when we face threatening capacities
What happens under severe stress
biologically, nervous system
- nervous system prepares to act quickly
- release of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortison) to raise alertness and readiness
Is stress heterogenous or homogenous?
- universal response
- but very individualized
- people have different capacities
- genetic factors also play a role
What is fight-or-flight
- universal response where amygdala sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus to activate survival mode, activating both sympathetic nervous system and adrenal-cortical system
What does the sympathetic system do?
- prepares our body for action
- uses nerve pathways to initiate reactions
- causes bursts of energy
What does the parasympathetic system do?
- calms down body after dnager has passed
- returns body to baseline after a stress response
- also responsible for ‘freeze’ response tho
What is freezing?
A parasympathetic motor inhibition for heightened perception and action preparation
Types of stress responses
- positive / protective
- tolerable
- toxic
Positive stress
- brief, appropriate increase in heart rate
- mid elevation in stress hormones
- momentarily present and active but body calms down quick
tolerable stress
- Serious, temporary (but can be long term) stress responses
- Buffered by supportive relationships
- Painful but natural
—> ie, breakup
Toxic stress
- Prolonged activation of stress response systems in the absence of protective relationships
- Not good, can have negative effects both physiologically and psychologically
What happens under chronic stress?
- hippocampal volume will decrease
- amygdala becomes larger and more reactive
- decreased PFC ability
- promotion of more anxiety and rigid thinking
2 types of stress hormones and where they’re released from
Released through adrenal gland
–> Glucocorticoids (Ex, cortisol)
–> Catecholamines (Ex, adrenaline and noradrenaline)
Impact of stress on memory
Glucocorticoids enhance the consolidation of new memories but impair the retrieval of information stored in LTM
–> lots of great info for survival but other info is completely lost
how does prolonged stress change ur learning?
Deficits in WM, behavioural flexibility and attention
Arousal and learning
Complicated relationship, we use the Yerkes-Dodson Law
–> Learning improves with increased arousal up to a certain point (sweet spot)
Yerkes-Dodson law
- No arousal = bored
[understimulated brain, underutilized PFC] - Good level arousal = good
[interested, engaged, attention] - too much arousal = panic
[stress response, amygdala takes over, underutilized PFC]
Vygotsky’s 3 Zones
- comfort zone
- stretch zone
- stress zone
Comfort zone
Very safe, more resources than demands but leads to limited learning and neuroplasticity since there’s no perceived need
stretch zone
ie, zone of proximal development
Challenges slightly exceed current abilities but they are possible for learners through support. Leads to enhanced learning and neuroplasticity
–> combies emotional safety and cognitive stretch
stress zone
too worried, more demand than resources, again leads to high anxiety, survival brain, limited learning and neuroplasticity
Types of emotional stress regulation
- bottom up
[manage physiological relations, breathing] - top-down
[use higher-cog processes to influence our emotional processing. change narratives]
Reappraisal
Reinterpreting an emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact
–> if initially negative, acknowledge feelings but find bigger picture, positives
What generates a bigger emotional response - Viewing a sad face, or hearing context and then viewing a sad face?
hearing the context and then viewing the face
Where is reapprasial most effective?
in managing top-down rather than bottom-up emotions
What is fear?
Emotional response to clear and immediate danger
–> limbic mode
–> deal w it through physiological responses
What is worry?
Cognitive processing and thinking about negative things that might happen
–> found in neocortex
–> deal with reappraisal and rationalization
What is anxiety?
The response to something that might happen
–> Mix between limbic and neocortex but more emotional
–> mix between both strategies but depends on situation specifics
How do we calm down our amygdalas?
- DONT explain
- DO use physiological inputs (breathing, running)
- DO use experiences to relearn
What is affect labelling?
Identifying emotions. Subtle TOP-DOWN regulation [simply by naming emotion, you get your cognitive abilities back]
Whats the effect of affect labelling?
It reduces the amygdala response
–> energy is rediverted to the ventrolateral PFC
Window of tolerance
Proposed by Dan Siegel
= place where u can handle stress and challenge and manage your emotions effectively
–> ocasional dips into hyper/hypo arousal but in a healthy way
Hyper Arousal
- Emotional overwhelm, panic, feeling unsafe, racing thoughts, anxiety
- flight/fight
Hypo arousal
- Numb, no feelings or energy, no thoughts, shut down, ashamed, depression
- freeze/shutdown
What affects our stress mindsets? (4)
- Nature of the stressor (duration, intensity and predictability)
- Nature of the person (orchid vs dandelion)
- Objective demands (task complexity, time pressure) vs available resources (social support, coping skills, physical ability)
- Individual mindset
What happens if we evaluate a situation as threatening?
→ Activates survival mode
→ Lower cardiovascular efficiency
→ Higher cortisol reactivity
→ Negative emotions
→ Decreased cognitive performance
What happens if we evaluate a situation as challenging?
→ Promotes learning and growth
→ Increased cardiac efficiency
→ Lower cortisol reactivity
→ Positive emotions
→ Enhanced cognitive performance
What are feedback loops in terms of stress?
Sometimes what happens is that we feel a physiological stress response, we realize this and adopt a stress mindset (mental experience) which increases physiological response etc
–> to break, recognize it and cognitive control it by acknowledging, exploring and owning it
so should we just curl up in a ball and cry?
no!! stress can be healthy as long as we have a good stress mindset and are able to move forward from trauma through adaptation
What is resilience?
the ability to achieve a successful outcome in the face of adversity. reflects brain plasticity
