Task 5 - limbic system Flashcards

1
Q

emotions vs feelings

A
  • automatic, largely unconscious behavioral and cognitive responses
  • > triggered when brain detects positive/negative charged significant stimulus

-feelings: conscious perception of emotional states

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Physiological changes

A
  • changes in activity of the visceral motor (autonomic) system
  • increase/decrease in heart rate, cutaneous blood flow (blushing or turning pale), piloerection, sweating, gastrointestinal motility
  • > changes in sympathateic, parasymoathetic and enteric components of visceral system
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

visceral motor system

A
  • controls involuntary functions mediated by the activity of smooth muscle fibers, cardiac muscle fibers, and glands
  • 2 divisions: the sympathetic and parasympathetic subsystems
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

sympathetic division of visceral motor system

A

-mobilizes the body’s resources (metabolic and others) for dealing with challenges of one sort or another

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

parasympathetic division of visceral motor system

A

-predominates during states of relative quiescence, so that energy sources previously expended can be restored

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

responses of autonomic nervous system are specific

A
  • different patterns of activation characterise different situations their associated emotional states
  • each pattern of facial muscle activity (instructed) causes different visceral motor activity

->responses are stronger the closer the facial expression resembles an actual emotional expression (then also accompanied by subjective experience)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

2 systems of integration of emotional behaviour

A

-2 distinct systems:

1) Volitional movement:
- classical motor areas of voluntary somatic motor control
- cortex + brainstem
- basal ganglia, cerebellum

2) Emotional expression:
- from medial + ventral forebrain -> terminate on visceral motor centers in reticular formation + somatic motor neuron pools (also receive info from volitional centres)
- > runs in parallel to volitional motor system

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Facial expression fake vs real

A

Fake:

  • voluntary contraction of facial muscles
  • pyramidal smile: driven by motor cortex which communicates with brainstem + spinal cord via pyramidal tract

real:

  • spontaneous emotional smile (Duchenne smile)
  • motivated by motor areas in anterior cingulate gyrus
  • access facial muscles via muli-synaptic extrapyramidal pathways through reticular formation

-> depending on which one is lesioned, you can either not produce an actual or a fake smile

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Limbic system

A
  • orbital and medial PFC
  • ventral party of basal ganglia
  • mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus
  • amygdala
  • parahippocampal gyrus
  • cingulate cortex
  • hypothalamus
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Amygdala location

A
  • complex mass of grey matter buried in anterior-medial temporal lobe
  • rostral to hippocampus
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Amygdala - 3 major subdivisions and functions

A

1) medial group of nuclei
2) basal-lateral group
3) central group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Klüver - Bucy syndrome

A
  • abnormal behavior seen in monkeys after removal of much of limbic system (medial temporal lobe, amygdala included)
  • didn’t show fear in response to aversive stimuli anymore
  • first reasoning: interruption of pathways explained by Papez
  • later: demonstrated that removal of Amygdala alone was enough
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

-Downer removed amygdala on only one side

A
  • amygdala gets somatic sensory info from both sides of the body
  • BUT klüver-bucy symptoms only seen when monkeys saw with eye on side of the lesion
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

LeDoux conditioned fear experiments

A

-Medial geniculate nucleus in hypothalamus necessary for development of conditioned fear response (of a tone)

  • responses were elicited when connections of auditory cortex to MGN were severed
  • > there has to be a direct pathway
  • if MGN to Amygdala was also severed -> no fear response anymore
  • > amygdala establishes associations between neutral stimuli and stimuli with reinforcement value
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Basal-lateral Amygdala

A
  • major connections with PFC and hippocampus

- memory

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

central and anterior Amygdala

A

-major connections with hypothalamus
brainstem

  • > important role in expression of emotional behaviour
  • > by influencing activity in both somatic and visceral motor efferent systems
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Connection Amygdala cortex

function

A
  • to modulate attention, perception, memory and decision making
  • amygdala influences selection and initiation of behaviors aimed at obtaining rewards and avoiding punishment
  • accounts for subjective feelings of emotional states as they need cognitive self-awareness
18
Q

amygdala and orbital + medial frontal lobes

A
  • associate info from sensory modalities and integrate those
  • influence content retrieved from memory and help shape mental response plans parallel to amygdala
  • amygdala -> thalamus -> orbital and medial frontal lobes
19
Q

endocrine system

A

-responsible for secretion and regulation of hormones into the bloodstream that affect bodily tissues and brain

20
Q

Early theories - William James’s peripheral feedback theory

A
  • emotional stimuli processed in sensory systems
  • > transmitted to motor cortex
  • > produce emotional responses in body
  • > feedback signals to cortex (info about body responses)
  • > cortical processing of this sensory feedback is the ‘feeling’
21
Q

Early theories - Cannon-Bard central theory

A
  • emotions explained by processes within CNS
  • sensory info to thalamus
  • > to hypothalamus and cerebral cortex
  • > hypothalamus evaluates emotional qualities of stimulus -> connections to spinal cord and brainstem -> gives rise to emotional response

-> from thalamus also to cortex -> conscious feelings

22
Q

early theories - Papez circuit

A
  • extended canon-bard theory
  • added cingulate cortex (receives hypothalamic output and creates feelings)
  • output of hypothalamus -> anterior thalamus -> cingulate
  • output of cingulate -> hippocampus -> hypothalamus
23
Q

very basic function thalamus

A
  • relay station for sensory info (sight, hearing, taste, touch)
  • > emotions are contingent on things you see/hear etc.
24
Q

very basic function hypothalamus

A
  • regulating autonomous NS (fight ,flight, freeze)
  • hunger, thirst, sleep, sex
  • > activation leads to motivational states (leading to eating, drinking etc)
25
Q

non-limbic arousal (reticular)

A
  • evoked by stimulating ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) in brainstem
  • leads to arousal we experience when we encounter a novel/unexpected stimulus
  • orienting response to novelty
  • habituation with repeated stimulation
  • input of mixed sensory nature
26
Q

Limbic system arousal

A
  • accompanied by increases in motivation and strong negative/positive affect
  • negative effect = central grey area (=pariaqueductal grey)
  • positive affect = VTA (ends dopaminergic neural projections to both the limbic and cortical areas )
  • resistant tp habituation
  • input: dominated by visceral sensory structures (=limbic areas)

-

27
Q

Anxiety disorders

A
  • stress response when central nucleus of amygdala is active
  • > hyperactivity of Amygdala
  • > diminished activity of hippocampus
  • > both receive highly processed info from the neocortex
28
Q

Stress response

A
  • characterized by:
    1. Avoidance behavior
    2. Increased vigilance (Wachsamkeit) and arousal
    3. Activation of the sympathetic division of the ANS
    4. Release of cortisol from the adrenal glands
29
Q

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and stress

A
  • HPA regulates secretion of cortisol from adrenal gland in response to stress
  • paraventricular nucleus of Hypothalamus releases CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone)
  • > arrives at anterior pituitary gland
  • > releases ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone)
  • > travels to adrenal gland above kidney
  • > cortisol release
30
Q

When CRH is overexpressed in genetically engineered mice…

A

…animals display increased anxiety-like behavior

31
Q

regulation of the HPA axis by amygdala

A
  • sensory info enters basolateral amygdala
  • > central nucleus becomes active
  • > activates paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus
32
Q

regulation of HPA axis by hippocampus

A
  • hippocampus contains glucocorticoid receptors -> respond to cortisol released from adrenal gland (in response to ACTH)
  • > inhibits CRH release when circulating cortisol levels get too high
33
Q

Affective Disorders - short description

A
  • mood disorders
  • major depression
  • bipolar disorder
34
Q

Affective disorder - monoamine hypothesis

A
  • mood is tied to levels of released monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain
  • depression is consequence of deficit in one of these diffuse modulatory systems

evidence against it: antidepressants take a long time to work

35
Q

Affective disorder - diathesis-stress hypothesis

A
  • HPA-axis is main sight for genetic and environmental influences -> converge to cause mood disorders
  • diathesis: term for predisposition for a certain disease

-must be a genetic predisposition or early childhood abuse/neglect -> you won’t develop enough receptors

36
Q

cat experiment canon bart

A
  • removed different parts of cortex
  • if hypothalamus removed from brainstem -> no shamrage (emotional response)

-if forebrain desected -> still connection between hypothalamus and brainstem -> normal shamrage

37
Q

LTP amygdala

38
Q

Nieuwenhuys model

A
-2 circuits :
1 more around amygdala 
-> emotion 
1 more around hippocampus 
-> memory 
  • hypothalamus: autonomous motor system, instinctive movements, creates motivational states
  • hippocampus: memory
  • extended amygdala: motivational states, emotions
  • role of olfaction
39
Q

lateral amygdala

A

-input from sensory info from hypothalamus and cortex

40
Q

default mode network

A
  • trennung von freund -> man denkt immer dran (aktives default mode network)
  • > wenn man sich ablenkt (default node network schaltet sich aus)
  • hippocampal dienceohalic circuit -> episodic memory, spatial orientation (in papez circuit, cingulate cortex )
  • temporo amygdala orbitofrontal network (inhibiton, monitoring,