Stress Cognitive Emotional regulation (N/A) Flashcards
Hypothalamus function
1) Regulates homeostasis and metabolism
2) Regulate stress responses
3) The hypothalamus tells the body what to do
What are the 2 paths of stress responses?
- Autonomic control –> sympathetic activation
- Endocrine control —> HPA axis
describe the scheme and give the details if possible
Hierarchy of homeostatic controls
Hierarchy of homeostatic controls:
* Internal organs self-regulate
* Get higher control from hypothalamus
But… who tells the hypothalamus what to do?
* “Higher brain areas” involved in cognition and emotion
Know your ABCs. What ABC stands for?
In order to effectively maintain and enhance our own lives through successful interaction with others, we rely on these three basic and interrelated human capacities:
1) Affect
* The “feeling”
* Involves feelings of valence (extent to which an emotion is positive or negative) and arousal
* “Feelings” are subjective (based on or influenced by personal feelings or opinions). Can’t truly explain your feelings to others.
2) Behavior
* The “doing”
* Refers to the actual behavior that occurs
* Behavior is observable. Behaviors can be measured.
(Including physiological “behavior” like increased heart rates or cortisol levels).
3) Cognitive
* The “thinking”
* Thoughts, beliefs, and interpretations
* Requires attention, perception, and memory
* Thoughts and beliefs can be explained to others.
Stages of Cognitive and Emotional Regulation
1) What’s happening?
Sensation, Perception, Cognition
2) Is it dangerous?
Primary appraisal
3) How should I react?
Secondary Appraisal
4) Am I doing ok? What should I do/feel/think next?
Coping Behaviors
Primary (emotional) appraisal?
Types of primary appraisals?
- Immediate and first appraisal (1-st reaction: is this a threat? - fear)
- Influenced by personal relevance, cognitive beliefs, and behavioral commitments (goals)
- Biased towards searching for threatening information.
- Types of primary appraisals: Threat, Challenge, Benign, or Irrelevant
Secondary (emotional) appraisal?
questions to ask?
- Follows the primary appraisal (reaction to another reaction) or Re-interpretation of emotion (Your reaction to your reaction)
- Involves cognitive evaluations of initial emotion and attempts to regulate emotional reactions
- How to respond to or how to cope with the situation?
- What will be required? What resources are available?
- Can the stressor be minimized or avoided?
What role Secondary appraisals play?
Fronto-limbic connections?
Secondary appraisals may adjust the balance of “mental” vs “visceral” components. Both dorsal and ventral are involved in secondary appraisals.
In the brain….
Fronto-limbic connections: Meta-analysis found….
1) Dorsal PFC and ACC. – emotion appraisal and expression
* Mental or cognitive aspect of emotion
2) Ventral PFC and ACC – emotion regulation
* Visceral or “gut” aspects of emotions
Danger is in the Eye of the Beholder
* Emotional Appraisals
1) How we interpret a situation will govern how we respond emotionally
* Appraisals of danger will lead to fear
* Appraisals of fun and safety will lead to happiness
2) But, appraisals differ between individuals
* What you find stressful, may not be stressful to others
* What you find enjoyable, may not be enjoyable to others
3) Appraisals are often described as the cognitive component of our emotions
* What we “think” about the situation, will influence how we “feel” about it
* Both, our thoughts and feelings will influence what we “do” about it
Physical stress? Valence of stressor?
1) Requires activation and physiological arousal to meet physical demands
- Cannot run or lift a heavy weight without increasing physiological arousal
2) Physical stressors involve psychological aspects
3) The valence of the stressor may be positive, negative, or neutral
- Whether you’re running for fun, or running for your life
- Either requires increased physiological arousal
Psychological stress? Valence of stressor?
1) Does not require activation to meet physical demands
- Taking an exam is stressful, but you can do it sitting on your butt
2) However, psychological stressors can still cause physiological arousal
3) More aversive (negative valence) stressors produce feelings of threat
4) More pleasant (positive valence) stressors produce feelings of challenge
Categories of Emotional Appraisals
1) Threat (Distress)
2) Challenge (Eustress) - positive stress response
3) Benign or Irrelevant (it can be stressful to you, but not others)
Threat (Distress)? Valence? Brain area?
- Stressor is dangerous or overwhelming
- Requires activation, negative valence (aversive)
- Sympathetic activation with large increase in cortisol (HPA axis)
2) Challenge (Eustress)? Valence? Brain area?
positive stress response
* Stressor may be engaging or rewarding
* Requires activation, positive valence (appetitive)
* Sympathetic activation with minor increase in cortisol
Benign or Irrelevant?
it can be stressful to you, but not others
* Benign = “Stressor” is not stressful. May be harmless or even pleasant.
* Irrelevant = “Stressor” does not apply to you, even if it’s aversive to others.
* Does not require activation.
* Parasympathetic nervous system. Return to homeostasis.
Classical conditioning?
- A stimulus that was initially neutral, gets paired with a stimulus that evokes an emotional response.
- Later the stimulus that was neutral, now evokes that some emotional response.
Classical conditioning does not require conscious awareness
* Individuals with severe amnesia can still learn from classical conditioning.
* Can be conditioned while asleep.
* Damage to hippocampus does not interfere with classical conditioning.
Conscious vs. Unconscious Memories? Which brain areas?
Hippocampus:
* Vital for Declarative Memory (Explicit Memory) - one of two categories of long-term memory.
* Memories that can be consciously recalled.
Connections to PVN of hypothalamus decrease HPA axis.
* Negative feedback when detecting cortisol.
Amygdala (can remember things separate from hippocampus):
* Best known for processing emotions
* But…can also create “emotional memories”
* Can create long-term implicit memories (Via classical conditioning), which can remain unconscious: Classical conditioning is implicit memory - The Amygdala (not the hippocampus) is required for classical conditioning
Appraisals and Re-appraisals
1) Primary and Secondary appraisals vary between individuals
* How would you react to finding out your (or your partner) was pregnant? (Terrified? Joyful?)
* Depends on who you are, where you’re at in your life, and the resources you have available
2) Primary and Secondary appraisals can differ in valence
* The person initially terrified about a pregnancy may begin to see it positively, especially if they have family and friends who are supportive
* The person initially joyful may begin feeling anxious as they realize how much will be required
3) Emotion regulation involves altering appraisals of a situation
* Most forms of psychotherapy involve teaching methods of re-appraisal
Example Appraisals (optional)
An upcoming exam:
1) Beliefs and commitments
“Grades are important. I want good grades”
2) Primary Appraisal
Threat: “I’m not prepared. I don’t understand this stuff.”
Challenge: “I feel prepared. I think I got it.”
Benign or Irrelevant: “I’m auditing this class.” (access resources)
3) Secondary Appraisal
How to respond. What’s required? What resources are available?
4) Coping behavior
Problem-focused coping: “I’ll start studying early. All the notes and videos are online.”
Emotion-focused coping: “Studying sucks. I’ll worry about it later. Check out this TikTok dance”
5) Psychological and Biological responses
”I’m coping well. I got this”. Sympathetic activation for Challenge
“I’m not coping well. I feel overwhelmed”. Fight-or-flight response. HPA axis for long-term stress.
6) Cycle of appraisal repeats until stressor is removed
“Exam is over. I guess it wasn’t that bad”
What’s LeDoux’s model? LeDoux’s Low vs. high road to fear (brain areas?)
1) LeDoux’s Model of Fear Processing
* Amygdala can generate fear response consciously and
unconsciously.
2) Low road:
* Amygdala responds to sensory info without input from frontal lobes.
* Reaction to sensory information.
- Sensory info sent from thalamus directly to amygdala
- Fast, unconscious processing
- Quickly shifts attention to dangerous stimuli
3) High road:
* Amygdala responds to sensory info after it was processed by frontal lobes.
* Reactions to conscious perceptions.
- Sensory info first processed by cortex, then sent to amygdala
- Slower, conscious processing
- Allows for an emotional appraisal of the situation
What are the main parts of the Limbic System?
The “Emotional brain”
Note: there is no consensus about all the parts of the limbic system
But… the main areas:
* Amygdala
* Hippocampus
* Hypothalamus (declarative and explicit memories)
* Thalamus
* Cingulate Cortex (cortex underneath outer cortex)
What are the Coping Strategies?
1) Problem-Focused coping
2) Emotion-Focused coping
Problem-focused coping?
- Coping based on trying to solve the problem causing stress
- Involves trying to understand the problem, devise a strategy to deal with it.
- Pros: May ”solve” the problem. Lessen, minimize, or avoid future stress.
- Cons: May be initially costly in time, energy, and resources.
Emotion-focused coping?
- Coping based on dealing with the emotional feeling of stress.
- Involves trying to limit the emotional reaction.
- May involve avoidance, denial, acceptance, venting, or blame.
- Pros: Initially less costly.
- Cons: The problem isn’t solved. Drains coping resources over the long-term.
Important Limbic Areas?
Hippocampus:
1) Vital for Declarative Memory (Explicit Memory)
* Memories that can be consciously recalled
2) Connections to PVN of hypothalamus decrease HPA axis
* Negative feedback when detecting cortisol
Amygdala (can remember things separate from hippocampus):
1) Vital for processing emotions and emotional memories
2) Can create long-term implicit memories (Via classical conditioning)
3) ”Emotional memories’ may be learned at an unconscious level.
4) Connections to PVN of hypothalamus increase HPA axis.
“Extended Amygdala”:
1) Amygdala plus…
2) Nucleus accumbens – reward motivations
3) BNST (bed nucleus of stria terminalis) - involved in stress, fear, mood, sexual response (A junction point between amygdala,hippocampus,hypothalamus,and brainstem nuclei)
Amygdala Nucleii?
1) Central nuclei of the amygdala (CeA):
* Critical for regulating the expression of fear
* Including facial expressions (in primates)
* Can initiate sympathetic activation
2) Basolateral nuclei of the amygdala (BLA):
* Critical for classical conditioning
* Associating neutral stimuli with emotional stimuli or context
Amygdala connections to other brain areas
1) Frontal-limbic connections
* Amygdala has direct connections to the frontal lobe
* Amygdala connected to all parts of the “limbic system”
2) Thalamic and hypothalamic connections
* Amygdala directly connected to the thalamus and hypothalamus
3) Brainstem connections
* Amygdala directly connected to brainstem regions
Cortical Areas involved in Appraisals
Prefrontal Cortex:
1) Dorsolateral (DLPFC)
* Conscious awareness. Control of working memory
2) Medial (MPFC)
* Associations between emotions and context
* In humans, self-relevant info
3) Ventromedial (VMPFC)
* Associated with “gut feelings”
4) Orbital (OPFC)
* Associated with emotional decision making.
Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC):
1) Detects conflicts
2) Involved in decision making
dorsal vs ventral areas of PFC and ACC
Meta-analysis found…
1) More dorsal areas of PFC and ACC associated with emotional appraisals and expression
* Evaluations of good vs. bad, challenge vs. threat
* Feelings of happy, sad, fear, etc…
* “Mental” affect
2) More ventral areas of PFC and ACC associated with emotion regulation
* Selecting behavioral responses
* Suppressing undesired behaviors
* “Gut” affect
The stress “circuit” of the brain: CRF Feedback System
- Network of brain areas activated by stress
- Coordinated activity using CRF as a neurotransmitter
- Prefrontal cortex and “extended” amygdala regulate hypothalamus
- Hypothalamic outputs “monitored” by areas in the upper brainstem
- Brainstem areas feedback to the hypothalamus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex
The stress “circuit” of the brain: Aminergic Nuclei
- Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) —> dopamine
- Raphe Nuclei —> serotonin
- Locus Ceruleus —-> norepinephrine
- Receives (or monitors) outputs from the hypothalamus
- Sends feedback back to the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex
The Three Amigos?
1) Ventral Tegmental Area
2) Raphe Nuclei
3) Locus Ceruleus
Ventral Tegmental Area
- Major source of dopamine
- Associated with attention, motivation, and reward
- Addictive behavior associated with this system
Raphe Nuclei
- Major source of serotonin
- Functions as a mood regulation system
- Disruption of this system associated with mood disorders like anxiety and depression
Locus Ceruleus
- Main source of norepinephrine in the CNS
- Functions as a “global arousal system”
- Most active when behaviorally active, awake, and alert
- Inactive while asleep
CRF Feedback system
1) Feedback from aminergic nuclei in the brainstem
* Each area is a key source of specific neurotransmitters
2) Influences motivation, mood, and attention
3) Ventral tegmental area (dopamine)
* Influences motivation and reward
4) Raphe Nucleus (serotonin)
* Influences and stabilizes mood
5) Locus ceruleus (norepinephrine)
* Influences attention and awareness
Affect?
- The “feeling”.
- Involves feelings of valence (appetitive vs. aversive) and arousal.
- Activation (High = sympathetic, Low = parasympathetic).
- Psychology – may be implicit, involuntary, non-conscious.
- “Feelings” are subjective. Can’t truly explain your feelings to others.
- Neuroanatomy – “Limbic” areas (extended amygdala).
Behavior?
- The “doing”.
- Refers to the actual behavior that occurs.
- Behavior is observable. Behaviors can be measured.
(Including physiological “behavior” like increased heart rates or cortisol levels). - Interaction of affective and cognitive processes.
- Neuroanatomy – connections thru basal ganglia (involved in voluntary motor movements).
Cognition?
- The “thinking”.
- Thoughts, beliefs, and interpretations.
- Requires attention, perception, and memory.
- Thoughts and beliefs can be explained to others.
- Psychology – explicit, voluntary, conscious.
- Neuroanatomy – Prefrontal cortex (PFC).
