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.
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
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 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
