Week 2: Chapter 20 - Emotion and the social brain Flashcards
How can brain damage affect emotional behavior?
Even minor damage can subtly alter personality and emotional expression, often without overt signs.
How does Damasio describe emotion?
As a cognitive process that guides both unconscious and conscious decision-making.
What does “unconscious” mean in neuropsychology (vs. Freudian theory)?
It refers to nonconscious brain processes, not repressed thoughts—like Helmholtz’s unconscious inference.
How is emotion defined in neuropsychology?
As the cognitive interpretation of internal subjective feelings, often inferred from behavior (affect).
What are the two main dimensions of emotion?
• Pleasant vs. Unpleasant
• Arousing vs. Non-arousing
What is psychophysiology in the context of emotion?
Bodily changes via the autonomic and central nervous systems (e.g., heart rate, hormone levels).
What is distinctive motor behavior in emotion?
Facial expressions, posture, and tone that convey emotion, sometimes more accurately than words.
What is self-reported cognition in emotion?
Subjective emotional experience, typically measured through self-report (e.g., feeling loved or scared).
What is unconscious behavior in emotion?
Nonconscious emotional processing, like “gut feelings” or intuitive decisions based on subtle cues.
How do frontal lobe patients differ in emotional intuition?
They lack adaptive gut instincts, often making irrational decisions in ambiguous situations.
What did Charles Darwin propose in his 1872 book?
Emotional expression is shaped by evolution and shows cross-species parallels.
When did emotion research regain scientific interest after Darwin?
In the 20th century, especially the 1920s, through physiological and anatomical studies.
What emotional behaviors did Friedrich Goltz observe in decorticated animals?
Rage behavior despite the absence of cortex.
What did Philip Bard discover about emotional responses?
The diencephalon (thalamus & hypothalamus) is critical for emotional expression.
How do the hypothalamus and thalamus contribute to emotion?
They generate autonomic and emotional responses, while the cortex modulates them into conscious experiences.
Who proposed the first neuroanatomical model of emotion?
James Papez in 1937.
What did Papez believe about limbic structures and emotion?
The limbic system generates raw emotion; the neocortex interprets it into subjective experience.
How did Papez’s model align with Freudian theory?
It linked instinctive drives with cognitive control, like Freud’s ideas on the unconscious and ego.
What brain structures are removed in Klüver–Bucy syndrome?
The anterior temporal lobes, including the amygdala and inferior temporal cortex.
What are symptoms of Klüver–Bucy syndrome?
• Loss of fear & flat affect
• Hypersexuality
• Indiscriminate eating
• Oral exploration
• Visual agnosia
• Hypermetamorphosis (attention to irrelevant stimuli)
What does Klüver–Bucy syndrome reveal about emotional processing?
Both the amygdala and temporal cortex are required for emotional regulation.
Who introduced the idea that frontal-lobe damage reduced anxiety in primates?
Carlyle Jacobsen.
What did Egas Moniz develop based on this observation?
The frontal lobotomy, a form of psychosurgery.
What did later research show about frontal lobe damage?
It causes severe social and emotional dysfunction, proving the frontal cortex is vital for emotional control.
How is emotional behavior organized in the brain?
Through multiple, interconnected brain circuits, not a single region.
What brain areas form the central limbic circuit for emotion?
• Amygdala
• Hippocampus
• Prefrontal cortex
• Hypothalamus
• Anterior thalamus
• Cingulate cortex
How are these areas interconnected?
Amygdala/hippocampus/PFC → Hypothalamus → Anterior thalamus → Cingulate cortex → back to amygdala, hippocampus, PFC
What are the main emotional roles of the prefrontal cortex (especially OFC and ventromedial areas)?
• Representing reward/punishment
• Learning emotion associations
• Tracking subjective pleasure (e.g., hunger/satiety)
According to Berridge & Kringelbach (2013), what is the role of the mid-anterior OFC?
Processing pleasure experiences (e.g., food, music, sex).
What does the medial orbital PFC do?
Predicts reward value rather than generating pleasure itself.
What are the three main subdivisions of the amygdala?
• Corticomedial
• Basolateral
• Central
What kind of input does the amygdala receive?
Multisensory input from visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, and olfactory systems.
What happens when the amygdala is bilaterally damaged?
Loss of fear and emotional reactivity (as seen in Klüver–Bucy syndrome).
What is the primary function of the amygdala in emotional processing?
Rapidly identifies and evaluates emotional stimuli, especially threats.
What have monkey studies shown about amygdala neurons?
They respond selectively to rewarding or punishing stimuli, helping assess emotional value (hedonic tone).
What is the central idea of appraisal theories?
Emotions arise from how we evaluate internal and external events, which trigger physiological and brain state changes.
What was William James’s contribution to emotion theory?
He argued that emotions are a result of physiological changes, not their cause (e.g., we feel afraid because we tremble).
What is Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis?
Emotion-related bodily changes (somatic markers) guide decision-making and link external events to internal states.
What types of changes are somatic markers?
Motor behavior, facial expression, autonomic activity, hormone release, brain modulation.
What evidence supports the somatic marker hypothesis?
People with spinal cord injuries report reduced emotional intensity, proportional to the injury level.
How does frontal lobe damage affect emotional decision-making?
It leads to blunted emotional responses and poor social/personal decisions, despite intact intellect.
What role do unconscious processes play in emotion?
Many emotional influences are outside awareness, shaping behavior through intuition or gut feeling.
What emotion did Joseph LeDoux use to model brain–behavior relationships?
Fear
What is the evolutionary role of fear, according to LeDoux?
It’s an instinctive survival mechanism found across species, later integrated into conscious experience.
What are the two fear circuits described by LeDoux?
- Genetically programmed threat circuits
- Learned associations via fear conditioning
What brain structure is essential for fear conditioning?
The amygdala
What does damage to the amygdala impair?
Both learned and automatic fear responses
How is context involved in fear learning?
The hippocampus processes contextual information, such as location-based threats.
What role does the prefrontal cortex play in fear?
Modulates and regulates fear, influencing higher cognition and suppressing excessive fear (e.g., in PTSD).
Does the amygdala respond only to fear?
No, it also responds to positive emotions and assesses emotional salience broadly.
What does cognitive asymmetry theory propose about emotional processing?
Emotional functions are lateralized across the hemispheres.
What did Kurt Goldstein observe in 1939?
• Left hemisphere lesions → catastrophic reactions (fear, depression)
• Right hemisphere lesions → emotional indifference
What did Gainotti’s (1969) study find?
• 62% of left-lesion patients → catastrophic reactions
• 38% of right-lesion patients → indifference reactions
What explains catastrophic reactions being linked to aphasia?
Right hemisphere dominance in emotion expression becomes unopposed when left hemisphere is damaged.
What are the complementary emotional roles of each hemisphere?
• Right hemisphere: automatic, raw emotion
• Left hemisphere: cognitive interpretation and language-based control
How does Gazzaniga’s “interpreter” model relate to emotion?
The left hemisphere builds logical inferences and conceptualizes emotion, while the right hemisphere reacts emotionally without verbal reasoning.
What is cerebral asymmetry in emotional processing?
The idea that the left and right hemispheres play complementary roles in producing and interpreting emotions.
Which theories integrate emotion with cognition and brain asymmetry?
Theories by Damasio and LeDoux, among others.
What emotional effect is common after left-frontal-lobe lesions?
Flattened mood and a depressive appearance, especially in stroke patients with language deficits.
How do anterior lesions affect facial expression?
They reduce both spontaneous and posed expressions more than temporal lobe damage.
How does speech output differ by hemisphere?
• Right-frontal damage → Increased talkativeness
• Left-frontal damage → Reduced speech
What is prosody, and where is it lateralized?
The emotional tone of voice, largely right-hemisphere dominant.
What is aprosodia?
Loss of emotional tone in speech due to right-hemisphere lesions.
What are the two types of aprosodia (Ross’s model)?
• Motor aprosodia → right Broca’s homolog
• Sensory aprosodia → right Wernicke’s homolog
What did Ross & Monnot’s Aprosodia Battery reveal?
• Both hemispheres contribute to prosody
• Right damage causes more severe deficits
• Prosody declines with age
What types of emotional misinterpretation are seen after right-hemisphere lesions?
Difficulty with tone of voice, facial expression, humor, and social cues.
What did Borod et al. (2000) find about right-frontal-lobe damage?
Impaired humor comprehension, reduced laughter, and distorted humor.
How are facial expressions affected by right temporal/frontal lesions?
Patients fail to match facial expressions to appropriate social contexts.
Is there strong hemispheric asymmetry in recognizing facial expressions?
No, both hemispheres contribute—right for face recognition, left for contextual interpretation.
What emotion is the amygdala specialized for?
Fear—it’s critical for detecting and interpreting fearful expressions.
What emotion activates the insula?
Disgust, especially in relation to taste.
What brain areas are disrupted in recognizing negative emotions?
• Unilateral frontal lesions
• Right temporal/parietal lesions
What did Phillips et al. (1997) find in fMRI research?
• Fearful faces → activate amygdala
• Disgusted faces → activate insula
What is temporal-lobe personality?
A behavioral syndrome found in patients with temporal-lobe epilepsy, marked by distinct traits.
What traits are common in temporal-lobe personality?
Increased anger, sadness, religiosity, and preoccupation with existential themes.
How do left and right temporal lesions differ behaviorally?
• Right-TL → more obsessional behavior
• Left-TL → more existential concern
Who identified and studied temporal-lobe personality?
Bear and Fedio (1977) using behavioral rating scales.
What are six effects of orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate lesions in monkeys?
- Reduced social interaction
- Loss of social dominance
- Inappropriate social behavior
- Altered social preferences
- Reduced facial expressions
- Reduced vocalizations
What do these findings suggest about the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)?
It plays a central role in social behavior and emotional regulation.
What deficits are common after frontal or temporal lesions in humans?
• Impaired facial expression production
• Impaired social speech
• Difficulty recognizing emotional expressions
• Poor social judgment/personality changes
What does insula damage impair?
Empathy and pain perception, particularly in recognizing pain in others.
What are the effects of bilateral vmPFC lesions?
• Impaired social conduct, emotion regulation, and decision-making
What is acquired sociopathy, and what causes it?
Severe social behavioral disruption due to right vmPFC lesions (Tranel et al.).
What are the four major social neural networks?
- Amygdala Network – detects social/emotional cues (amygdala, OFC, temporal cortex)
- Mentalizing Network – theory of mind (STS, anterior temporal cortex)
- Empathy Network – feeling with others (insula, cingulate cortex)
- Mirror/Simulation/Action–Perception Network – imitation and action understanding (parietal + premotor cortex)
What subcortical structures support emotion and motivation in social behavior?
Nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, hypothalamus, ventral tegmentum
What did Castelli et al. (2000) show using animated triangles?
Social cognition regions activate even with abstract stimuli, including mPFC, STS, fusiform gyrus.
What are the two frontal-lobe networks involved in self-awareness?
- Right frontoparietal network (mirror neuron system)
- Medial frontal (cortical midline) network
What hemisphere dominates self-recognition?
The right hemisphere
What activates when we see our own face/voice (Uddin et al.)?
Right frontal and parietal areas, including the inferior frontal gyrus
What brain area is involved in mental state representation of self and others?
Medial frontal cortex (Lieberman & Mitchell)
How do the two self-networks interact?
They integrate sensorimotor and cognitive data for complex self–other representations.
How can expectation influence pain?
Increases perceived pain via the cingulate cortex (Sawamoto et al., 2000)
What are the two strategies used in reappraisal experiments (Ochsner & Gross)?
• Increase intensity (personalize the stimulus)
• Decrease intensity (adopt a third-person view)
What brain regions support emotional regulation?
Prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex
