The emotion System (Two lectures) Flashcards
What are emotions?
- Many definitions
- Mental experiences with high intensity, automatic response, subjectively experiences, behavioural changes, a strong feeling, a physiological change etc.
Folk/Common sense Theory of Emotion
Automatic reactions are caused by the emotion
Stimulus (Bang!) > Perception/interpretation (Danger) > Particular emotion experiences (Fear) > Specific pattern of autonomic arousal (hear races etc)
“I’m so scared my heart races”
James- Lange Theory
Automatic reactions trigger feelings
Stimulus > perception/interpretation > Specific pattern of autonomic arousal > Particular emotion experienced
” I feel fear because my heart raced”
Canon-Bard Theory
Simultaneous automatic reaction and feeling
Simultaneous feeling and autonomic reaction
Stimulus > Perception/interpretation > Autonomic arousal and particular emotion experienced occurs at the same time
Shacter-Singer Two-factor theory of emotion
Cognitive attribution of emotion to arousal
***We use context to cognitively attribute specific emotions to arousal
stimulus > Perception/interpretation > specific pattern of autonomic arousal > cognitive appraisal of current context
Internal experience
Feeling happy, anxious, sad
External experience
Smiling, fidgeting, shouting
Emotions: Connection to motivation
Emotions drive behaviours
e.g.
- Anger –> Aggression
- Happiness –> Sociability
Physical sensations associated with emotions are a result of….
The activation of the autonomic nervous system
Sympathetic nervous system
Prepares body for action
Fight-or-flight
Parasympathetic Nervous system
Prepared the body to rest and recuperate
rest-and-digest
Where is emotion in the brain?
The limbic system is a group of brain structures that are crucial for regulating emotions
Amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus
Emotion in the brain - Name structures and what they are responsible for
Amygdala: fear, processing emotions
Hypothalamus: Physical response to emotions
Hippocampus: Preserves and retrieves memories
Are all emotions in the Limbic System?
No
Limbic system plays a role in the formulation of neural chemicals and memories
However, emotions arise from complex interactions across multiple neural networks in the brain
Is empathy an emotion?
Not necessarily, however it dictates our emotional behaviour
empathy = emotional response
Cognitive empathy
Understanding others emotions
affective empathy
Sharing others’ emotions
___________ have less activation in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex
Psychopaths
Is there a set of core emotions?
- Darwin suggested that expressions of emotions are universal among people
- Nonhuman primates have distinct facial expressions eg. Chimpanzee smiling
- Even mice make distinct emotion-related face expressions
Evolutionary purpose of core emotions
- Help in survival and social communication
- Fear = threat detection
- Disgust = Avoidance of toxins
Are we good at identifying emotions?
No
some expressions are universal, some are not
Plutchik’s Wheel of emotion
Eight basic emotions arrayed as four pairs of opposite emotions
Lower and higher intensity forms of each basic emotions
Core set of emotions: Overview
- Biologically hardwired, help us survive
- Amygdala and ANS regulate emotional response
- Animals show emotional expressions, suggest deep evolutionary roots
- Guide behaviour and decision-making
- while theories differ, core emotions likely form the foundation for all feelings
Definition of stress (Seyle, 1956)
Rate of all wear and tear caused by life
Modern researchers see stress as a multi-dimensional process ) can be good and bad) involving:
- Stressful stimuli
- Stress-producing system (cognitive assessment)
- Physiological and behavioural response
Brain’s role in stress
- central in detecting and responding to stress
- Hypothalamus plays a key role in regulating stress responses
Allostasis
Brain adjusts the body’s physiological state in response to stressors
The Stress Response Stages
- Alarm reaction - Immediate response to stress
- HPA Axis Activation - Longer-term stress response
- Adaptation - adjusting to ongoing stressors
Alarm reaction
First stage of Stress response, Includes:
a) Activation of sympathetic nervous system
b) Release of epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal medulla
HPA Axis activation
Second stage of stress response, includes:
a) Hypothalamus stimulates the anterior pituitary
b) ACTH triggers the adrenal cortex to release cortisol
Epinephrine & Norepinephrine
Released by the adrenal; medulla, these hormones increase heart rate and prepare the body for immediate action
Cortisol
a steroid hormone released by the adrenal cortex
Helps regulate metabolism and immune responses but damaging in excess
ACTH
Adrenocorticotropic hormone
Signals the adrenal glands to produce cortisol
Glucocorticoid receptors
Found in the brain, regulate cortisol levels and influence memory and learning
Long-Term Effects of Stress on the Brain
- Increased cortisol levels, impacting memory and learning
- Structural changes in the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex
- Increased risk of anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline
Stressed vs Unstressed brain
Stressed has weaker control of thoughts, emotions, and actions, less ability for info to travel globally (restricted)
How can we manage stress effectively?
Mindfulness
Short term vs long-term stress
Short-term stress can be adaptive, but chronic stress has significant health applications
Emotion: Spontaneous or Conscious?
It is both, there are both automatic, spontaneous, and conscious parts of our emotions
Kalat’s Biological Psychology
Emotions include cognitions, actions, and feelings
Startle Reflex
A truly automatic response
- When we hear a loud noise, we often jump
- No higher/cognitive areas involved –> level of automaticity
- Happens within 5-10ms
- Increased if in anxious state
- Decreased if in relaxed/positive state
Are all emotions automatic?
Clearly not
Direct thalamus –> amygdala pathway provides instant fear response
Instant, is very fast and automatic, still slower than reflexive startle
Thalamus –> Visual Cortex –> Amygdala pathway
Secondary pathway
supplies more differentiated information
Pathway carries information believed to reach
Three Routes of Emotional Information
Speed/accuracy trade off –> all start at the same time, though take longer as you go on to reach the destination
- Reflexive
- Automatic/Low-road
- Conscious
Information flow: Reflexive
Sensory receptors –> pons
Information flow: Automatic/low-road
Sensory receptors –> Thalamus –> amygdala
Information flow: Conscious
Thalamus –> Visual cortex –> amygdala
Positive vs. Negative Emotions
- While those broad definitions appear true, it is also true that positive and negative emotions aren’t exactly the same
- Amygdala - often associated with negative emotions
- Nucleus succumbens - Reward, drugs, addiction (Positive emotions)
- Dopamine - positive
The Effects of Unbalanced Positive Emotions: Too much
- Impulsive
- reward-oriented
- As if wearing horse-blinders
- Manic
The Effects of Unbalanced Positive Emotions: Too little
- Unmotivated
- Apathetic
The Effects of Unbalanced Negative Emotions: Too much
- Anxiety/ depressive disorders
- Chronic stress
- “frozen in indecision”
The Effects of Unbalanced Negative Emotions: Too little
- Bad choices
- Repeated mistakes
- Antisocial behaviour
What is the “right” amount of emotion?
Too little = Apathetic, unguided
Moderate is best!!
Too much = over anxious, impulsive
Stress
Reaction to harm or threat
Stressors
Stimuli that cause stress
Chronic Psychological stress
Most clearly linked to ill health
Stress & Hippocampus
- Hippocampus has many glucocorticoid receptors
Following stress:
- Dendrites of pyrimidal cells are shorter and less branched
- Acute release of cortisol - healthy, it is the chronic release of too much that becomes a problem
Important part of the Stress response sytem
Amygdala has a straight connection to the beginning
Stress Response
Adrenal Gland releases cortisol
hypothalamus responds to level of cortisol (Releases CRH)
Which interacts with pituitary gland (releases ACTH)
Which again interacts with adrenal gland and cortisol
Immune function of emotion system
Fight foreign agents, bacteria
Pain function of emotion system
Protect against immediate external agents
Anxiety function of emotion system
To protect against non-immediate external agents
Effects of stress on immune functions depends on…
Type of stress
- Acute stressors - improve immune function
- Chronic stressors - impair immune functions
Cytokines
Cause inflammation and fever
Example of stress triggering stress hormone
Women awaiting surgery who were certain they did not have breast cancer have milder stress than others
Stress leads to an immune response - Study
- Rats receive tail shock and have their temperature read before, during, and after the procedure
- Remarkably, the tail shock leads the rat to show signs of fever
- Also showed elevated white blood cell counts
