Arousal, urges, drive, and emotion

Question 1

What is arousal?

Answer 1

the act of being awake or asleep

Question 2

What are 2 ways to monitor arousal?

Answer 2

1. EEG (e.g sleep)

2. Galvanic skin response (GSR) measures electrical resistance of skin or sweat used in polygraph

Question 3

What causes an urge to eat?

Answer 3

1. When glycogen is converted into glucose and there is a rise in blood glucose
2. Detection of nutrients in digestive juices
3. Small intestine releases CCK

Question 4

What centres are related to the control of eating?

Answer 4

“On” - lateral hypothalamus (lesion = aphagia)

“Off” - ventromedial hypothalamus (lesion = hyperphagia)

Question 5

What evidence contradicts the “on/off” hypothesis?

Answer 5

1. When rats are injected with neuropeptide Y (which has an effect outside the hypothalamus) also causes them to overeat
2. Rats with ventromedial lesions do get obese but stop overeating, and also shows different effects

Question 6

What is the Drive Reduction theory by Hull (1940s)

Answer 6

That a need drives a behaviour to reduce the need and we are content when drive = 0.
However: Optimal arousal is above 0 (we seek rewards)

Question 7

What is the James-Lange theory of emotion?

Answer 7

sensory systems -> response -> awareness

however: artifically induced changes rarely produce emotion

Question 8

What is the Schachter & Singer model of emotion?

Answer 8

sensory systems -> response -> interpretation of awareness (cause)

Question 9

What are the consequences of damage to the amygdala?

Answer 9

• reduced emotional intensity to suprise & fear
• idea of personal space reduced
• can recognise emotions, however, hard to recognise fear without looking directly at the eyes

Question 10

What cortex has been related to disgust? By who?

Answer 10

Insula cortex - Phillips et al. 1997

Question 11

What are the 6 “basic” emotions?

Answer 11

fear, surprise, disgust, anger, happy, sad

Question 12

How are facial expressions classified?

Answer 12

in terms of activation units (facial muscles involved)

Question 13

How do patients with right motor cortical damage and Parkinson’s differ in smiles?

Answer 13

Patients with motor cortical damage cannot smile when instructed (social) but smile spontaneously. Parkinson’s is the reverse

Question 14

What was Duchenne’s conclusion?

Answer 14

• Voluntary smile starts in left motor areas

- Spotaneous smile starts in the basal ganglia

Question 15

What is the Plutchnick model of emotion?

Answer 15

Emotions are evolutionary adaptive behaviours

Question 16

What is the social-evolutionary model of emotion?

Answer 16

Evolved from social environmental pressures, with a higher order control system to select socially appropriate emotions

Question 17

What is the constructionist model of emotion (Auerill)?

Answer 17

Emotions are purely social constructs, no animal basis and anger can only be understood in an inter-personal context

Question 18

What is the moderate social constructionist model?

Answer 18

• Different components underlying an emotion are dynamically combined and evaluated
• Emotions driven by feedback from autonomic responses