week 17 - motivation and emotion

Question 1

Identify the key properties of drive states

Answer 1

Drive states generate behaviours that result in specific benefits for the body
Triggered by internal stimuli
Drive states also produce a second form of attention-narrowing: a collapsing of time-perspective toward the present. That is, they make us impatient. While this form of attention-narrowing is particularly pronounced for the outcomes and behaviours directly related to the biological function being served by the drive state at issue (e.g., “I need food now”), it applies to general concerns for the future as well.
Intense drive states tend to narrow one’s focus inwardly and to undermine altruism—or the desire to do good for others. People who are hungry, in pain, or craving drugs tend to be selfish.

Question 2

Describe biological goals accomplished by drive states

Answer 2

Most drive states motivate action to restore homeostasis using both “punishments” and “rewards.”

Question 3

Give examples of drive states

Answer 3

The body directing us to eat food to increase blood glucose levels
Popular interrogation methods involve depriving individuals of sleep, food, or water, so as to trigger intense drive states leading the subject of the interrogation to divulge information that may betray comrades, friends, and family

Question 4

outline the neurobiological basis of drive states such as hunger and arousal

Answer 4

Hunger - triggered by low glucose levels in the bloodstream
and behaviors resulting from hunger aim to restore homeostasis regarding those glucose levels. Various other internal and external cues can also cause hunger. For example, when fats are broken down in the body for energy, this initiates a chemical cue that the body should search for food (Greenberg, Smith, & Gibbs, 1990). External cues include the time of day, estimated time until the next feeding (hunger increases immediately prior to food consumption), and the sight, smell, taste, and even touch of food and food-related stimuli. Note that while hunger is a generic feeling, it has nuances that can provoke the eating of specific foods that correct for nutritional imbalances we may not even be conscious of. For example, a couple who was lost adrift at sea found they inexplicably began to crave the eyes of fish. Only later, after they had been rescued, did they learn that fish eyes are rich in vitamin C—a very important nutrient that they had been depleted of while lost in the ocean (Walker, 2014).
The hypothalamus (located in the lower, central part of the brain) plays a very important role in eating behavior. It is responsible for synthesizing and secreting various hormones. The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is concerned largely with hunger and, in fact, lesions (i.e., damage) of the LH can eliminate the desire for eating entirely—to the point that animals starve themselves to death unless kept alive by force feeding (Anand & Brobeck, 1951). Additionally, artificially stimulating the LH, using electrical currents, can generate eating behavior if food is available (Andersson, 1951).
Activation of the LH can not only increase the desirability of food but can also reduce the desirability of nonfood-related items. For example, Brendl, Markman, and Messner (2003) found that participants who were given a handful of popcorn to trigger hunger not only had higher ratings of food products, but also had lower ratings of nonfood products—compared with participants whose appetites were not similarly primed. That is, because eating had become more important, other non-food products lost some of their value.
Hunger is only part of the story of when and why we eat. A related process, satiation, refers to the decline of hunger and the eventual termination of eating behavior. Whereas the feeling of hunger gets you to start eating, the feeling of satiation gets you to stop. Perhaps surprisingly, hunger and satiation are two distinct processes, controlled by different circuits in the brain and triggered by different cues. Distinct from the LH, which plays an important role in hunger, the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) plays an important role in satiety. Though lesions of the VMH can cause an animal to overeat to the point of obesity, the relationship between the LH and the VMB is quite complicated. Rats with VMH lesions can also be quite finicky about their food (Teitelbaum, 1955).
Other brain areas, besides the LH and VMH, also play important roles in eating behavior. The sensory cortices (visual, olfactory, and taste), for example, are important in identifying food items. These areas provide informational value, however, not hedonic evaluations. That is, these areas help tell a person what is good or safe to eat, but they don’t provide the pleasure (or hedonic) sensations that actually eating the food produces. While many sensory functions are roughly stable across different psychological states, other functions, such as the detection of food-related stimuli, are enhanced when the organism is in a hungry drive state.
After identifying a food item, the brain also needs to determine its reward value, which affects the organism’s motivation to consume the food. The reward value ascribed to a particular item is, not surprisingly, sensitive to the level of hunger experienced by the organism. The hungrier you are, the greater the reward value of the food. Neurons in the areas where reward values are processed, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, fire more rapidly at the sight or taste of food when the organism is hungry relative to if it is satiated
A second drive state, especially critical to reproduction, is sexual arousal. Sexual arousal results in thoughts and behaviors related to sexual activity. As with hunger, it is generated by a large range of internal and external mechanisms that are triggered either after the extended absence of sexual activity or by the immediate presence and possibility of sexual activity (or by cues commonly associated with such possibilities). Unlike hunger, however, these mechanisms can differ substantially between males and females, indicating important evolutionary differences in the biological functions that sexual arousal serves for different sexes.
Sexual arousal and pleasure in males, for example, is strongly related to the preoptic area, a region in the anterior hypothalamus (or the front of the hypothalamus). If the preoptic area is damaged, male sexual behavior is severely impaired. For example, rats that have had prior sexual experiences will still seek out sexual partners after their preoptic area is lesioned. However, once having secured a sexual partner, rats with lesioned preoptic areas will show no further inclination to actually initiate sex.
For females, though, the preoptic area fulfills different roles, such as functions involved with eating behaviors. Instead, there is a different region of the brain, the ventromedial hypothalamus (the lower, central part) that plays a similar role for females as the preoptic area does for males. Neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus determine the excretion of estradiol, an estrogen hormone that regulates sexual receptivity (or the willingness to accept a sexual partner). In many mammals, these neurons send impulses to the periaqueductal gray (a region in the midbrain) which is responsible for defensive behaviors, such as freezing immobility, running, increases in blood pressure, and other motor responses. Typically, these defensive responses might keep the female rat from interacting with the male one. However, during sexual arousal, these defensive responses are weakened and lordosis behavior, a physical sexual posture that serves as an invitation to mate, is initiated (Kow and Pfaff, 1998). Thus, while the preoptic area encourages males to engage in sexual activity, the ventromedial hypothalamus fulfills that role for females.
Hunger is a drive state, an affective experience (something you feel, like the sensation of being tired or hungry) that motivates organisms to fulfil goals that are generally beneficial to their survival and reproduction. Like other drive states, such as thirst or sexual arousal, hunger has a profound impact on the functioning of the mind. It affects psychological processes, such as perception, attention, emotion, and motivation, and influences the behaviours that these processes generate.
For example, hunger directs individuals to eat foods that increase blood sugar levels in the body, while thirst causes individuals to drink fluids that increase water levels in the body.
Ariely and Loewenstein (2006), for example, investigated the impact of sexual arousal on the thoughts and behaviors of a sample of male undergraduates. These undergraduates were lent laptop computers that they took to their private residences, where they answered a series of questions, both in normal states and in states of high sexual arousal. Ariely and Loewenstein found that being sexually aroused made people extremely impatient for both sexual outcomes and for outcomes in other domains, such as those involving money.

Question 5

how is homeostasis maintained

Answer 5

Homeostasis is maintained via two key factors. First, the state of the system being regulated must be monitored and compared to an ideal level, or a set point. Second, there need to be mechanisms for moving the system back to this set point—that is, to restore homeostasis when deviations from it are detected. To better understand this, think of the thermostat in your own home. It detects when the current temperature in the house is different than the temperature you have it set at (i.e., the set point). Once the thermostat recognizes the difference, the heating or air conditioning turns on to bring the overall temperature back to the designated level.

Question 6

drive state

Answer 6

Drive state - Affective experiences that motivate organisms to fulfil goals that are generally beneficial to their survival and reproduction.

Question 7

homeostasis

Answer 7

Homeostasis - The tendency of an organism to maintain a stable state across all the different physiological systems in the body.

Question 8

homeostatic set point

Answer 8

Homeostatic set point - An ideal level that the system being regulated must be monitored and compared to.

Question 9

hypothalamus

Answer 9

Hypothalamus - A portion of the brain involved in a variety of functions, including the secretion of various hormones and the regulation of hunger and sexual arousal.

Question 10

lordosis

Answer 10

Lordosis - A physical sexual posture in females that serves as an invitation to mate.

Question 11

pre optic area

Answer 11

Preoptic area - A region in the anterior hypothalamus involved in generating and regulating male sexual behavior.

Question 12

reward value

Answer 12

Reward value - A neuropsychological measure of an outcome’s affective importance to an organism.

Question 13

satiation

Answer 13

Satiation - The state of being full to satisfaction and no longer desiring to take on more.

Question 14

Describe the general pattern of associations between emotional experience and well-being.

Answer 14

The intensity of emotion
The fluctuation of the emotion overtime
​​ At least three different contexts may critically affect the links between emotion and well-being: (1) the external environment in which the emotion is being experienced, (2) the other emotional responses (e.g., physiology, facial behavior) that are currently activated, and (3) the other emotions that are currently being experienced.
It appears that the experience of positive emotions follows an inverted U-shaped curve in relation to well-being: more positive emotion is linked with increased well-being, but only up to a point, after which even more positive emotion is linked with decreased well-being (Grant & Schwartz, 2011).
Overall, the available research suggests that how much emotions fluctuate does indeed matter. In general, greater fluctuations are associated with worse well-being.
After all, psychological flexibility—or the ability to adapt to changing situational demands and experience emotions accordingly—has generally demonstrated beneficial links with well-being

Question 15

Identify at least three aspects of emotion experience beyond positivity and negativity of the emotion that affect the link between emotion experience and well-being.

Answer 15

First, it neglects the intensity of the emotion: Positive and negative emotions might not have the same effect on well-being at all intensities. Second, it neglects how emotions fluctuate over time: Stable emotion experiences might have quite different effects from experiences that change a lot. Third, it neglects the context in which the emotion is experienced: The context in which we experience an emotion might profoundly affect whether the emotion is good or bad for us. So, to address the question “Which emotions should we feel?” we must answer, “It depends!” We next consider each of the three aspects of feelings, and how they influence the link between feelings and well-being.

Question 16

emotion

Answer 16

Emotion - An experiential, physiological, and behavioural response to a personally meaningful stimulus.

Question 17

emotion coherence

Answer 17

Emotion coherence - The degree to which emotional responses (subjective experience, behaviour, physiology, etc.) converge with one another.

Question 18

emotion fluctuation

Answer 18

Emotion fluctuation - The degree to which emotions vary or change in intensity over time.

Question 19

well being

Answer 19

Well-being - The experience of mental and physical health and the absence of disorder.

Question 20

define affective neuroscience

Answer 20

Define affective neuroscience.
Affective neuroscience examines how the brain creates emotional responses. Emotions are psychological phenomena that involve changes to the body (e.g., facial expression), changes in autonomic nervous system activity, feeling states (subjective responses), and urges to act in specific ways (motivations; Izard, 2010). Affective neuroscience aims to understand how matter (brain structures and chemicals) creates one of the most fascinating aspects of mind, the emotions. Affective neuroscience uses unbiased, observable measures that provide credible evidence to other sciences and laypersons on the importance of emotions. It also leads to biologically based treatments for affective disorders (e.g., depression).

Question 21

Describe neuroscience techniques used to study emotions in humans and animals.

Answer 21

The human brain and its responses, including emotions, are complex and flexible. In comparison, nonhuman animals possess simpler nervous systems and more basic emotional responses. Invasive neuroscience techniques, such as electrode implantation, lesioning, and hormone administration, can be more easily used in animals than in humans. Human neuroscience must rely primarily on noninvasive techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and on studies of individuals with brain lesions caused by accident or disease. Thus, animal research provides useful models for understanding affective processes in humans. Affective circuits found in other species, particularly social mammals such as rats, dogs, and monkeys, function similarly to human affective networks, although nonhuman animals’ brains are more basic.
In humans, emotions and their associated neural systems have additional layers of complexity and flexibility. Compared to animals, humans experience a vast variety of nuanced and sometimes conflicting emotions. Humans also respond to these emotions in complex ways, such that conscious goals, values, and other cognitions influence behaviour in addition to emotional responses. However, in this module we focus on the similarities between organisms, rather than the differences. We often use the term “organism” to refer to the individual who is experiencing an emotion or showing evidence of particular neural activations. An organism could be a rat, a monkey, or a human.

Question 22

Give examples of exogenous chemicals (e.gdrugs) that influence affective systems, and discuss their effects.

Answer 22

The neurotransmitter dopamine, produced in the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine circuits, activates these regions. It creates a sense of excitement, meaningfulness, and anticipation. These structures are also sensitive to drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines, chemicals that have similar effects to dopamine

Question 23

Discuss multiple affective functions of the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens.

Answer 23

Amygdala
Nucleus accumbens
Research on liking has focused on a small area within the nucleus accumbens and on the posterior half of the ventral pallidum. These brain regions are sensitive to opioids and endocannabinoids. Stimulation of other regions of the reward system increases wanting, but does not increase liking, and in some cases even decreases liking. The research on the distinction between desire and enjoyment contributes to the understanding of human addiction, particularly why individuals often continue to frantically pursue rewards such as cocaine, opiates, gambling, or sex, even when they no longer experience pleasure from obtaining these rewards due to habituation.

Question 24

Name several specific human emotions, and discuss their relationship to the affective systems of nonhuman animals.

Answer 24

Desire - important
When the appetitive system is aroused, the organism shows enthusiasm, interest, and curiosity. These neural circuits motivate the animal to move through its environment in search of rewards such as appetizing foods, attractive sex partners, and other pleasurable stimuli. When the appetitive system is underaroused, the organism appears depressed and helpless.
Liking - Liking has been distinguished from wanting in research on topics such as drug abuse. For example, drug addicts often desire drugs even when they know that the ones available will not provide pleasure
Fear - The role of the amygdala in fear responses has been extensively studied. Perhaps because fear is so important to survival, two pathways send signals to the amygdala from the sensory organs. When an individual sees a snake, for example, the sensory information travels from the eye to the thalamus and then to the visual cortex. Thevisual cortex sends the information on to the amygdala, provoking a fear response. However, the thalamus also quickly sends the information straight to the amygdala, so that the organism can react before consciously perceiving the snake (LeDoux, Farb, & Ruggiero, 1990). The pathway from the thalamus to the amygdala is fast but less accurate than the slower pathway from the visual cortex. Damage to the amygdala or areas of the ventral hypocampus interferes with fear conditioning in both humans and nonhuman animals (LeDoux, 1996).
Rage - Anger or rage is an arousing, unpleasant emotion that motivates organisms to approach and attack (Harmon-Jones, Harmon-Jones, & Price, 2013). Anger can be evoked through goal frustration, physical pain, or physical restraint. In territorial animals, anger is provoked by a stranger entering the organism’s home territory (Blanchard & Blanchard, 2003). The neural networks for anger and fear are near one another, but separate (Panksepp & Biven, 2012). They extend from the medial amygdala, through specific parts of the hypothalamus, and into the periaqueductal gray of the midbrain. The anger circuits are linked to the appetitive circuits, such that lack of an anticipated reward can provoke rage. In addition, when humans are angered, they show increased left frontal cortical activation, supporting the idea that anger is an approach-related emotion (Harmon-Jones et al., 2013). The neurotransmitters involved in rage are not yet well understood, but Substance P may play an important role (Panksepp & Biven, 2012). Other neurochemicals that may be involved in anger include testosterone (Peterson & Harmon-Jones, 2012) and arginine-vasopressin (Heinrichs, von Dawans, & Domes, 2009). Several chemicals inhibit the rage system, including opioids and high doses of antipsychotics, such as chlorpromazine (Panksepp & Biven, 2012).
Love - For social animals such as humans, attachment to other members of the same species produces the positive emotions of attachment: love, warm feelings, and affection. The emotions that motivate nurturing behavior (e.g., maternal care) are distinguishable from those that motivate staying close to an attachment figure in order to receive care and protection (e.g., infant attachment). Important regions for maternal nurturing include the dorsal preoptic area
These regions overlap with the areas involved in sexual desire, and are sensitive to some of the same neurotransmitters, including oxytocin, arginine-vasopressin, and endogenous opioids (endorphins and enkephalins).
Grief - The neural networks involved in infant attachment are also sensitive to separation. These regions produce the painful emotions of grief, panic, and loneliness. When infant humans or other infant mammals are separated from their mothers, they produce distress vocalisations, or crying. The attachment circuits are those that cause organisms to produce distress vocalisations when electrically stimulated.

Question 25

affect

Answer 25

Affect - An emotional process; includes moods, subjective feelings, and discrete emotions.

Question 26

amygdala

Answer 26

Amygdala - Two almond-shaped structures located in the medial temporal lobes of the brain.

Question 27

hypothalamus

Answer 27

Hypothalamus - A brain structure located below the thalamus and above the brain stem.

Question 28

neuroscience

Answer 28

Neuroscience - The study of the nervous system.

Question 29

nucleus accumbens

Answer 29

Nucleus accumbens - A region of the basal forebrain located in front of the preoptic region.

Question 30

orbital frontal cortex

Answer 30

Orbital frontal cortex - A region of the frontal lobes of the brain above the eye sockets.

Question 31

periaqueductal grey

Answer 31

Periaqueductal grey - The grey matter in the midbrain near the cerebral aqueduct.

Question 32

pre optic region

Answer 32

Preoptic region - A part of the anterior hypothalamus.

Question 33

stria terminalis

Answer 33

Stria terminalis - A band of fibres that runs along the top surface of the thalamus.

Question 34

thalamus

Answer 34

Thalamus - A structure in the midline of the brain located between the midbrain and the cerebral cortex.

Question 35

visual cortex

Answer 35

Visual cortex - The part of the brain that processes visual information, located in the back of the brain.