Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Cog neuro (y2s2) > Week 6 Lecture 6 - the social and emotional brain pt 1 > Flashcards

Week 6 Lecture 6 - the social and emotional brain pt 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is emotion?

A
  • a state associated with stimuli that are rewarding (i.e. that one works to obtain) or punishing (i.e. that one works to avoid)
  • These stimuli often have inherent survival value, but they can also be learned (= conditioning)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What does emotion play a crucial role in?

A
  • guiding social behaviour
  • Emotional brain required in social situations (social decision making)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Name 6 theories of emotion

A
  • Darwin
  • Basic emotions theory (Ekman)
  • James-Lange theory
  • Cannon-Bard theory
  • Somatic Marker Hypothesis (Damasio)
  • Theory of constructed emotions (Barret)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Which theories of emotion emphasise expression/behaviour?

A
  • Darwin
  • Basic emotions theory (Ekman)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Which theories of emotion emphasise the role of bodily changes?

A
  • James-Lange theory
  • Cannon-Bard theory
  • Somatic Marker Hypothesis (Damasio)
  • Theory of constructed emotions (Barret)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Which theories of emotion emphasise subjective nature?

A
  • Theory of constructed emotions (Barret)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is Darwin’s theory of emotion?

A
  • Many species of animals communicate emotions through changes in posture, facial expression and nonverbal sounds (e.g. sighs, laughs, moans, growls etc.)

Emotional expressions are innate and
biologically determined:

  • Observation of his own children
  • Corresponding with people in isolated cultures around the world
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is the Basic emotions theory (Ekman)?

A

Basic emotions are associated with:
- distinctive facial expressions
- voice intonation
- body movement (e.g., gestures)
- distinct neural substrates

  • Each emotion has evolved to deal with different survival problems & occurs automatically
  • UNIVERSAL -they are mostly culture-independent
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are the 6 basic emotions outlined by Ekman?

A
  • Sadness
  • Happiness
  • Disgust
  • Surprise
  • Anger
  • Fear
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What study provides support for the basic emotions theory?

A

Question 1: Do members of isolated tribe in New Guinea recognise facial expressions of emotion produced by
Westerners?
- Results: people in the New Guinea tribe could recognise western emotional expressions

Question 2: Can Western people recognize emotion expressions of different cultures?
- Results: Westerners could recognise these expressions

Conclusions: the expression of emotions are unlearned as they are the same in cultures that have not been exposed to each other

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?

A

Emotion producing situations elicit:

  1. physiological responses - Trembling, sweating, heart pounding
  2. certain behaviours - Run away, feel queasy
  3. Feedback from the organs and muscles involved in these responses constitutes how we feel emotion

= our own emotional feelings are based on what we find ourselves doing

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

What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion?

A

Thalamus sends simultaneous signals to:

  • the cortex (conscious experience) - I’m afraid
  • autonomic nervous system (arousal) - I begin to tremble
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is the Somatic Marker Hypothesis?

A
  • Bodily states are the basis of emotions and decisions as physical reactions can
    cause emotional reactions
  • A threatening stimulus –> the brain will instinctively generate a physiological
    response, e.g., accelerated heartbeat
  • Physiological changes in the body trigger interoceptive signals to be sent to the
    brain
  • This representation of interoceptive signals is termed a somatic marker, which
    describes body signals that mark the emotional value of stimuli and events
  • Somatic markers are experienced as emotions and ‘gut feelings’, a non-conscious biasing signal that facilitates decision-making, particularly in ambiguous situations
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the theory of constructed emotions?

A
  • Distinct bodily states are not associated
    with distinct emotions

Bodily changes influence core affect:
* Pleasant – unpleasant
* High arousal (activation) – low arousal (deactivation)

  • There aren’t distinct emotional categories –-> the emotions we feel are
    constructed based on the current situation and on our previous experiences
  • Current emotions we feel depends on:
  • Core affect
  • Memory of previous similar situations
  • Theory of mind
  • Language
  • Assumed control over the situation and emotions
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

How does BET and TCE differ in terms of innate facial expressions?

A
  • BET: facial expressions are innate for basic emotion categories
  • TCE: all emotions are constructed, thus facial expressions can’t be innate either
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

How does BET and TCE differ in terms of constructed emotions?

A
  • BET– some emotions might be constructed
    E.g. some emotions might be composed of two or more emotions: guilt = joy + fear
  • TCE – all emotions are constructed
17
Q

What is the amygdala?

A
  • A small mass of grey matter in the tip of left and right temporal lobes
  • Receives a great deal of sensory input
  • Fear centre?
  • Important for learning and storing the emotional value of stimuli
18
Q

How did a study involving animals suggest that the amygdala is involved in fear?

A

Amygdala lesion before learning:
- Animal do not learn the conditioned response

Amygdala lesion after learning:
- Animal forgets the conditioned response = objects lose their learned emotional value

  • Role in memory: learning and storing conditioned fear response
  • But normal fear evoking stimuli still elicit fear response: role in learned fear response
19
Q

What did a study involving humans learning to associate visual cue with an electric shock do and find?

A
  • Measures: fMRI + skin conductance response
  • Amygdala activation (fMRI) during the learning process
  • Amygdala activation correlated with skin conductance response
20
Q

What evidence is there for a double dissociation between amygdala and hippocampus?

A

Patients with amygdala damage:
- No conditioned skin conductance response
- Can recall association

Patients with hippocampal damage (amnesia):
- Skin conductance response present
- Cannot recall association

Association is stored in:
- amygdala (conditioned fear response)
- hippocampus (declarative memory)

21
Q

Give 2 examples of studies that implicate the amygdala in the recognition of fear

A
  • Bilateral amygdala damage impairs fear
    expression recognition in faces (Adolphs et al., 1994)

fMRI study (Morris et al., 1996):
- Presented with faces – male-female classification
- Fearful faces – left amygdala activity
- Happy faces – different brain areas activated

22
Q

What studies suggest that the amygdala can activate without conscious awareness?

A
  • Fast and slow routes to the amygdala (Le Doux, 1996)

Ohman & Soares, 1994:
- Images of spiders and snakes are presented to participants with spider or
snake phobias subliminally
- Participants did not report seeing the
images
- But SCR was measured – emotional response to images

Tamietto et al., 2012:
- fMRI – amygdala activated by fearful facial expression in patients with visual
cortex damage

23
Q

What evidence suggests that the amygdala is a part of a wider fear network?

A

Amygdala activity leads to enhanced activity (Morris et al., 1998) in other brain areas:
- In the visual cortex activity
- in regions such as hypothalamus and anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex
- Affects autonomic system to generate fight or flight response

= Fear circuit with amygdala as a hub, not as a fear centre

24
Q

Apart from fear, what is the amygdala’s wider role in emotion?

A
  • Amygdala is involved in learning
    positive associations (e.g. certain food
    is hidden under a certain shape)
  • Amygdala activation to pleasant and
    unpleasant, but not to neutral smells
25
Q

What is the insula?

A
  • An island of cortex lying bilaterally underneath the temporal lobes

It is implicated in the creation of bodily feelings associated with emotions:
- Disgust
- Interoception

26
Q

How is the insula related to disgust?

A
  • Insula lesions affects disgust perception (Calder et al., 2000)

Insula activation if (Wicker et al. 2003):
- Feeling disgusted
- Seeing someone else disgusted

  • Moral disgust also activates insula (Moll et al., 2005)
27
Q

How is the insula related to interoception?

A

Interoception:
- monitoring the internal state of the body - interoceptive signals from receptors in skin, muscles, organs are sent to the brain (insula) along the spinal cord
- This bodily monitoring process can be
conscious (e.g. pain) and unconscious

Bodily changes play an important role in
emotions according to several theories:
- James-Lange theory, Somatic Marker Hypothesis, Theory of Constructed Emotion

28
Q

What is the orbitofrontal cortex?

A

Computing the current value of a stimulus:
- How rewarding the stimulus is within the current context
- Important for social interactions, new learning and regulation of emotions

29
Q

What evidence suggests that the orbitofrontal cortex is linked to reward and punishment?

A

PET study (Small et al, 2001):
- Initially chocolate was rewarding, and participants wanted to have it –> activity in the medial regions of the OFC = pleasant, reward
- Then chocolate became less pleasant, and participants were less motivated to
eat it –> activity in the lateral regions of the OFC = unpleasant, punishment

Social stimuli:
- Lateral orbitofrontal cortex activity when instead of an expected smile participants are presented with an angry face (Kringelbach & Rolls, 2003)

30
Q

What is the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC)?

A
  • The anterior cingulate cortex lies above the corpus callosum on the medial surface of each hemisphere
  • Dorsal region implicated in executive functions
  • Ventral region implicated in emotional processing
31
Q

How is the ACC related to response evaluation?

A
  • motivation
  • determining the cost and benefit of actions
  • Value of a response – whether an action will result in reward and punishment
32
Q

How is the ACC related to bodily response?

A

Processing bodily signals that characterize emotions:
- Output of bodily responses (insula-input)
- Lesion interrupts skin conductance response, changes in blood pressure and
hearth rate

Regulating feelings of pain:
- fMRI activity in ACC for physically painful stimuli
- Activity in ACC for watching somebody else in pain = responds to perception of
pain in others

33
Q

How is the ACC related to pain?

A

Regulating feelings of pain (Singer et al., 2004):
- Physical pain –> Experiencing a mild electric shock
- Social pain –> Seeing a loved one in pain also activates ACC (and )
= ACC responds to perception of pain in
others

  • ACC responds to perception of pain in
    others
  • But the response can be affected by
    cognitive processes
  • Pain sensitive activity is modulated if
    the other person is perceived to
    “deserve” the pain
34
Q

How is the ACC related to social pain?

A

Social pain – being excluded socially
(Eisenberger et al., 2003)

  • fMRI study: Virtual tossing ball game
  • 3 conditions: inclusion, exclusion and
    justified exclusion
  • ACC activity correlates with subjective
    distress
35
Q

What is the ventral striatum?

A

Part of the basal ganglia:
- Dorsal striatum - sensorimotor properties –> involved in habit formation
- Ventral striatum - specialised in emotions

Reward-based learning loop: ‘the limbic
circuit’:
- Dopaminergic system
- Linked to compulsive behaviours, such as
substance abuse

36
Q

What evidence suggests that the ventral striatum is linked to reward?

A

Monetary reward:
- fMRI –> Task with great monetary reward = greater activity in VS (Knutson et al., 2001)

Social reward:
- Activity is greater when monetary reward is obtained via cooperation with another human compared to non-cooperation or computer (Rilling et al., 2002)

Predicted vs actual reward:
- It is not simple reward coding
- Activity is greater when reward is better than expected

37
Q

What is the social motivation hypothesis?

A
  • deficits in representing the reward value of social stimuli
  • children with ASD do not actively attend to the social environment because they do not find it intrinsically rewarding, leading to reduced cortical specialization

Deficits in social reward processing –>
Reduced seeking and liking of social interactions –>
ultimately manifesting as global deficits in social functioning

BUT: mixed evidence (meta-analysis: Bottini, 2018)

Cog neuro (y2s2) (11 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions