Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

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


See full index

PS3822 - Emotion > Wk3 - Fear Recognition > Flashcards

Wk3 - Fear Recognition Flashcards

1
Q

What part of the brain is very important in emotion?

A

Amygdala

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

What is the amygdala important for?

A

Emotional face recognition

Emotional memory

Aspects of social-signalling

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

What changes does amygdala damage cause?

A

Changes in emotional and social behaviour

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

What is an example of social-signalling?

A

Watching people’s gaze

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

Does amygdala damage cause cognitive deficits? What does this suggest?

A

No

The amygdala is specialised to emotion

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What process is the amygdala necessary for?

A

Fear recognition

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What case study provides evidence for the amygdala’s role in fear recognition?

A

S.M

Also D.R and S.E

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What condition did S.M have?

A

Bilateral destruction of the amygdala

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What was not affected by S.M’s amygdala damage?

A

IQ. S.M had normal IQ.

Preserved ability to recognise and identify faces

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What was affected by S.M’s amygdala damage?

A

S.M had a severe impairment specific for recognising fearful faces

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

Does amygdala damage affect facial recognition and facial identity?

A

No. Amygdala damage just affects fear recognition.

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

What did patients D.R and S.E contribute to our understanding of the amygdala’s role in fear recognition?

A

Patients can still understand the concept of fear, but they cannot recognise the fear emotion.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Is fear recognition a conscious or unconscious experience?

A

Can be either conscious or unconscious

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is the unconscious route of fear recognition?

A

Visual stimulus –> Superior colliculus –> Thalamus –> Amygdala

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is the conscious route of fear recognition?

A

Visual stimulus –> Thalamus –> Visual cortex –> Visual system/processing areas –> Amygdala

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is another name for the unconscious route of fear recognition?

A

The quick and dirty route

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Can we respond to a fearful stimulus before we are consciously aware of it?

A

Yes - this is a clear evolutionary advantage

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Which route of fear recognition is faster?

A

The unconscious route from a visual stimulus to the amygdala

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Which route is the visual cortex involved in?

A

The conscious route of fear recognition from a visual stimulus to the amygdala

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Why is the unconscious route faster than the conscious route of fear recognition?

A

The unconscious route bypasses the visual cortex loop. The information will go straight from the visual thalamus to the amygdala.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

How does the amygdala activate fight/flight response mode?

A

Sends messages to increase heart rate, blood pressure, and activate muscles

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

In which route is the visual stimulus blurry?

A

Unconscious route

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is another word for blurry?

A

Low-frequency

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

How does the visual image differ between the conscious and unconscious routes?

A

Conscious route = clear, detailed image because it is processed through the visual cortex

Unconscious route = blurry, low-frequency image

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are the 2 distinct processing streams?

A

Conscious - goes to the amygdala via the visual cortex

Unconscious - goes to the amygdala straight from the visual thalamus

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What are the 2 types of cells involved with the 2 visual pathways?

A

Magnocellular channels

Parvocellular channels

27
Q

What spatial frequencies are magnocellular channels sensitive to?

A

Low spatial frequencies

28
Q

What structures do magnocellular channels project to?

A

Sub-cortical structures

29
Q

What is an example of a sub-cortical structure?

A

Thalamus, Amygdala

30
Q

What spatial frequencies are parvocellular channels sensitive to?

A

High spatial frequencies

31
Q

What structures do parvocellular channels project to?

A

Cortical structures (visual cortex)

32
Q

Do parvocellular channels reach the amygdala?

33
Q

Which channels project to the amygdala?

A

Magnocellular channels

34
Q

Does a detailed image have a high or low spatial frequency?

A

High spatial frequency

35
Q

In what circumstance can we achieve amygdala activation through images with just HIGH spatial frequency?

A

If the images go through the visual cortex in the longer, conscious route of visual processing

36
Q

Do sub-cortical structures receive high spatial frequency input?

37
Q

What experiment provides evidence for differentiation of spatial frequencies in visual processing?

A

Vuilleumier et al. (2003) - experiment using broad, high, and low spatial frequency images

38
Q

What did Vuilleumier’s experiment find regarding activation in the visual cortex?

A

There was high activation in response to high spatial frequency images. This is expected because parvocellular channel input reaches cortical areas such as the visual cortex.

Some difference in response to low spatial frequency images.

No differentiation in response to fearful/neutral faces in high spatial frequency images.

39
Q

What did Vuilleumier’s experiment find regarding activation in the amygdala?

A

There was a huge difference between amygdala activation in response to the fearful and neutral faces in the low spatial frequency.

Low spatial frequency selectively moves along magnocellular channels to the amygdala.

40
Q

Where did Vuilleumier see most differential amygdala activation between fearful and neutral faces?

A

Low spatial frequency images

41
Q

In the unconscious route, how does enhanced perceptual processing of visual threatening stimuli eventually come about?

A

The amygdala appears to send information back through projections to the visual cortex, in a feedback loop

42
Q

How do we know that there is a feedback loop going on in the unconscious route in which the amygdala sends information back to the visual cortex?

A

Early ERP components show emotional modulation

43
Q

Which spatial frequency images have a normal ERP in response to fearful face stimuli?

A

Broad spatial frequency (there is only slight increase in P1 for the fearful face compared to the neutral face)

44
Q

What does a normal emotional modulation early ERP look like?

A

Sharp deflection at the P1 component. Goes up for the N2. Back for the P3 etc.

45
Q

What does fear modulation look like on an ERP graph for high spatial frequency images?

A

No modulation of P1 in response to the fearful face - the lines for the fearful and neutral face are overlayed (the same)

46
Q

What does fear modulation look like on an ERP graph for low spatial frequency images?

A

Large modulation of P1 component.

There is greater activation in response to fearful face than neutral face

We see the response happening EARLY. There is early visual processing.

47
Q

What does early visual processing on an ERP indicate?

A

There is feedback going from the amygdala back to the visual cortex which increases a really early level of visual perception

There is a response to fear before there being a response to a face in general

48
Q

What can we see from modulating the P100?

A

There is a response to fear before the person recognises that it is a face being shown

49
Q

What is the face-specific component on an ERP?

50
Q

In fear recognition, does N170 or P100 come first? What does this indicate?

A

P100 comes first. Processing of fear comes before the processing of faces.

51
Q

What causes the N170 face-specific component?

A

Activation in the fusiform gyrus

52
Q

What is the fusiform gyrus selective to?

A

Selective processing of faces

53
Q

What experiment shows us the effects of emotion on visual processing?

A

Fusiform gyrus activity and amygdala activity in attended versus unattended faces and fearful vs neutral faces

54
Q

When was fusiform gyrus activity found to be greatest?

A

Attended, fearful faces

55
Q

Which unattended faces gave greater fusiform gyrus activation?

A

Unattended fearful faces

56
Q

What part of the brain did fearful faces activate?

57
Q

Was the degree of amygdala activation modulated by attention?

58
Q

Was an effect of attention or emotion found in this study of fusiform gyrus activity?

A

There was an effect of attention. Attended faces = higher fusiform gyrus activity.

There was also an effect of emotion. Fearful faces = greater activation than neutral faces.

59
Q

Was there an interaction effect of attention and emotion on fusiform gyrus activity?

60
Q

What was found when this study of fusiform gyrus activity was repeated with patients with medial temporal lobe damage (affecting amygdala and hippocampus)

A

No difference in patients with hippocampal damage.

Patients with damaged amygdala did not show enhanced activation in the fusiform gyrus in response to fearful faces.

This confirms previous suggestions that the amygdala provides feedback to the visual cortex, thereby enhancing processing in the fusiform gyrus.

61
Q

Can emotional stimuli enhance sensory processing?

62
Q

What type of faces is visual cortical activation greater for?

A

Fearful faces

63
Q

What causes enhanced sensory processing?

A

Feedback to the visual cortex from the amygdala. Increased amount of visual processing that is going on.

64
Q

Why might we perceive something deeper if it is emotional?

A

Threatening stimulus –> amygdala feeds information back to the visual cortex –> enhances visual processing to a deeper degree –> more likely to remember the thing that is threatening in the future

PS3822 - Emotion (8 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions