Task 2 Flashcards
historical developement of the emotional brain
- Darwin
- James
- Cannon-Bard (shame rage)
- Papez circuit
- McLean (Kulver-Bucy syndrom)
- Darwin: basic emotions, animals and humans are the same
- James: emotions are experience of bodily changes in response to a stimuli (stimuli –> response –> feedback –> feeling)
- Cannon-Bard: shame rage
= decorticated cats show sudden anger attacts –> suggests cortical inhibition! - Papez circuit: (siehe Bild) –> regulation of emotional top-down response possible (yeah) BUT over-emphasis on hippocampus
- McLean: kulver-bucy syndrom
= bilateral removal of the temporal lobe –> loss of emotional reactivity, but hypersexuality and abnormal dietary changes –> teporal lobe important!
key brain region - amygdala
- scientific proof
very important!
proof: - damage leads to impairement in processing and regognizing faces
- responsible for fear conditioning
- memory consolodation right amygdala
- susceptible to top-down control
- -> emotion related processing, stress regulation, reward learning
key brain region - prefrontal cortex
subregions (think of Action)
- OFC
- vmPFC (somatic marker hypothesis)
- lPFC
- valence-asymmetry hypothesis
important for control/ inhibition! (Phineas Gage)
- top-down regulation –> biased signals to guide behavior goal-directedly
- OFC –> reward processing
- vmPFC –> pocessing somatic marker = bodily information/feelings which are associated with emotions (nausea –> disgust)
- Lateral prefrontal areas –> important for
conscious awareness - valence-asymmetry hypothesis = asymmetry of the hemispheres in expression+ perception of emotion
- -> left pfc approach related positive goals
- -> right pfc maintainance/ inhibition and withdrawal /negative)
key brain part - anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
crucial for regulation and intergation of emotional info in top-down control!
- central representation of automatic arousal
- conflict monitoring and adjustment of response
key brain part - Hypothalamus
- functions
- affective defense reaction –> alertness (HPA-axis)
- controls pituitary gland –> hormonal control (sleep, hunger, attechment…)
- involved in reward and motivation processing
- part in approach vs. avoidance behaviour
how many emotion systems do we have? (3 models)
- single
- dual
- multiple
- single system –> emotion = right hemisphere –> busted!
- dual system –> valence asymmetry; Scheirla (approach/activation and withdrawa/inhibition have different neural components); Rolls (positive = rewarding and negative = punishing); LeDoux (conscious feeling vs. bodily response)
- multiple systems –> separable regions for fear, disgust (anterior insula cortex), anger = basic emotions
terminology
fear =
anxiety =
= response to immediate threats
= response to distal and uncertain threats
both entail subj. feelings & physiological reaction!
–> old view: single system view/ one innate fear sytem
The innate fear circuit (Figures A + B)
–> LeDoux / modern view
–> in presence of threat creats both bodily response and conscious feeling
- fear = innate function of the limbic system
> AMY = fear circuit hub (Figure!!!)- Note: subcortical structures most importnant,
but cortex modulates defense reaction
- Note: subcortical structures most importnant,
- -> innate fear circuit excist but is not the only system –> Two-system approach
- 1st for behavioural/ physiolagical response (like innate fear circuit - subcrortical)
- 2nd for conscious feeling (cortex)
Limitation of earlier view as amygdala as sole fear centre
Clinical evidence
Clinical evidence:
- patients with AMY damage still experience fear
- blindsight patients show physiological fear response despite being unaware of it
- -> aparent disassociation between feeling fear and fear response
- -> AMY important for detecting and responding to immediate threats but not directly for conscious feeling
Emergence of the conscious feeling - cortex
(“2nd system”)
> global workspace theory
higher order theory
- -> conscious/subjective feeling arise from higher order cortical areas
- inputs and modulation come from AMY but not neccessary for awarness or subj. feeling
- the more awareness the more (l)PFC/PC engagement
- AMY engagement independent of awareness
> global workspace theory = wide distributed circuit in prefrontal areas (more interconnected)
higher order theory = prefrontal hub (more hierarchical)
Two system view (figure explained)
Distinguish between two circuits and two classes of responses:
- behavioural and survival circuit behavioral/physiological response - amygdala + other subcortical areas - mostly unconscious
- cognitive circuit conscious feeling - cortex
Two-system view explains…
- how we can feel fear without actual to threat exposure like rumination or worry
- why react to emotional stimuli long before having emotions
- why medication might not have been fully potent
implications for therapy
- faulty assumptions (2)
- One common circuit –> nope
- Animals and humans are similar –> not in subj. feeling
- some medication only works at the subcortical level
- some medication only reduces anxious feeling by blunting the cortical process in general (indirect)
- need maybe two medication for the two systems
- specific for specific feeling needed but difficult, usually more broad impact –> side effects
Improving treatment - Adapting
- possible therapies
- be aware of the two systems!
Possible therapies:
- CBT and exposure therapy
- subliminal extinction
- psychotherapy
- In genral: concentrate more on both systems!
> differential targeting of one system + observing the other
> awarness of differences in developement ( due to different maturation of the different systems)
Improving treatment - Tailoring
- looking at individual differences
- some patients hyper-/hypoactive subcortical regions or cortical areas –> take into consideration! in medication or cognitive reappraisal therapy
