Week 8: Biological psychology: biology of fear

Question 1

________ → alerts us to escape from danger

Answer 1

Fear

Question 2

_________ → directs us to attack an intruder

Answer 2

Anger

Question 3

_________ → tells us to avoid things that may cause illness

Answer 3

Disgust

Question 4

_________ is integral part of brain’s defensive mechanism that
evolved to protect animals & humans from predation
& other ecological threats.

Answer 4

Fear

Question 5

Fear can be studied through:

Answer 5

1. behaviorism mainly in controlled
   laboratory settings;
2. ethology in more naturalistic settings to
   emulate real-world choices (antipredator-survival
   behaviors; sample range of threats animals are likely
   to encounter in the wild).

Question 6

Criticism of the fear studies is that
learning studies cannot simulate range of
risky situations in nature & of adaptive
actions and decisions that animals make in
the real-world. True/False

Answer 6

True

Question 7

MANY COMMON PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ARE
‘EMOTIONAL’ DISORDERS:
* many of these are related to the brain’s ‘fear system’. True/False

Answer 7

True

Question 8

≈50% of ‘mental’ problems
(not related to substance abuse) are anxiety disorders:
* Phobias
* Panic attacks
* Post traumatic stress disorder
* Obsessive compulsive disorder
* Generalised anxiety

Question 9

Pathways connecting emotional processing system of fear
(amygdala) with the thinking brain (neocortex) are not
symmetrical

Connections from neocortex → amygdala are much
weaker than those from amygdala → neocortex

Question 9

• Most of the time the amygdala is quiet
• Amygdala is designed to detect predators
• A strong stimulus can result in:
• Piloerection (hair standing on end)
• Heart racing
• Fight/flight hormones flooding body

Question 10

HUMAN AMYGDALA CONTAINS CELLS THAT
FIRE IN RESPONSE TO:
* Expressions of fear on faces of other
humans
* Objects of fear

Question 11

Amygdala is specialised for reacting to stimuli &
triggering physiological response (i.e., emotion of
fear)
* Different to conscious feeling of fear, which arises
from slower 2nd pathway (ear→ amygdala
→higher cortex)
* Higher cortex analyses frightening stimulus in
detail (using info from many parts of brain) &
message is sent back down to amygdala

Question 12

For traumatic memory, two memory systems are
important:
* EXPLICIT (CONSCIOUS) MEMORIES:
* Mediated by hippocampus & other parts of
temporal lobe memory system and
* Blood pressure & heart rate rise, begin to sweat
& muscles tighten up
* IMPLICIT (UNCONSCIOUS) MEMORIES:
* Mediated by amgydala & neural connections

Question 13

• Fear is just one emotion
• Amygdala has 12─15 distinct regions (only 2
  clearly implicated in fear)

Question 14

IF RETURN TO SCENE OF ACCIDENT:
You remember accident:
* Where you were going, who you were with and
* memories may cause your body to respond
with ‘fear’ as a result of the accident
* Conscious memory of the accident &
physiological responses elicited reflect 2
separate memory systems operating in
parallel