Week 12: Emotions Flashcards
What are the 3 components of emotions?
1) Cognition (“this is a dangerous situation”)
2) Action (“run”)
3) Feelings (“I feel frightened”)
What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?
Event –> Appraisal (cognitive) –> Action (behavioural aspect, including physiology) –> Emotional feeling
(eg. frightening situation –> appraise as dangerous –> heart rate increase, run faster etc. –> interpret as fear)
Why is the James-Lange theory of emotion counterintuitive?
common sense view: event –> feeling (fear) –> action (run away; autonomic responses)
What is the nature of physiological responses after appraisal of the event?
Can’t control it consciously (fight-or-flight response) autonomic responses
Quick changes
Why are the feelings associated with emotions not straightforward?
We attach specific feelings to a specific cognitive context
What is an evidence in support of James-Lange theory of emotions?
Patient S.M - damage to amygdala
Can appraise events accurately and body physiology responds appropriately, but does not feel the emotion
What are 3 pieces of evidence to support James-Lange theory that physiological arousal is important for emotions?
1) People with pure autonomic failure claim that they can feel emotions, but less strongly
2) People with brain damage that prevents voluntary facial movement and expression, have trouble recognising others’ emotional expressions.
3) Forcing a physiological response can produce an emotion.
What is the limbic system?
Limbic system is often understood as any area involved in emotional regulation. May not even be a real system; debatable. The limbic system is a network of forebrain areas, surrounding the thalamus, that are involved in emotional processing. It includes amygdala, hippocampus and cingulate cortex etc.
What is the most important structure of the limbic system?
Amygdala - involved in emotional regulation (but also involved in other things not related to emotional regulation)
Which brain structure is often associated with disgust?
Insula in the primary auditory cortex
Why do some neuroscientists consider the limbic system obsolete? (3)
1) no evidence that the limbic system functions as an integrated system in the mediation of emotion
2) efforts to define the limbic system has failed
3) The limbic areas are not the only areas of the brain that influence the hypothalamus
The left hemisphere is associated with the ________ system and the right hemisphere is associated with ______ system.
left: Behavioural activation system (BAS) - low arousal emotions like happiness
right: Behavioural inhibition system (BIS) - high arousal emotions like anger
What is the adaptive value of emotions?
Emotions seems like a way for our bodies to react to stimuli without having to assess it
What influences our moral decisions?
Emotions can influence our decisions in ways that we may not be conscious of. But emotions alone do not determine these decisions. We impose certain rules on our decisions.
The inability to experience emotions is associated with damage of the ______.
prefrontal cortex.
Nothing angered him. He was never very sad, even about his own brain damage. Nothing gave him much pleasure. Can’t use his emotions to make rational decisions.
