Emotion

Question 1

what did Jaak Panksepp say about emotion?

Answer 1

Jaak Panksepp argues that emotions emerge from hardwired neurobiological systems

Question 2

what did Lisa Feldman Barrett say about emotion?

Answer 2

Lisa Feldman Barrett argues that emotions are socially constructed

Question 3

what do most affective neuroscientists say about emotions?

Answer 3

Most affective neuroscientists agree that emotions comprise of a set of subjective, physiological and behavioural responses that are functional states - stereotyped behaviours that are made up of different components
These sets of responses arise depending on a given situation and appraisal e.g. interpretation

Question 4

explain Mauss and Robinson’s model (2009)

Answer 4

situation is appraised and then you have a set of emotions responses

Question 5

explain the kinds of emotional responses mentioned in Mauss and Robinson’s model

Answer 5

emotional experiences vary across and within individuals
- subjective experience
- peripheral/ autonomic nervous system
- central nervous system
- behaviour

Question 6

what are the main areas of the brain involved in emotion?

Answer 6

the amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)

Question 7

where is the amygdala located?

Answer 7

in the limbic system in the forebrain
bilateral - found on both hemispheres

Question 8

what is the structure of the amygdala?

Answer 8

almond shaped bundle of nuclei

Question 9

what animals have an amygdala?

Answer 9

reptiles, mammals, birds etc

Question 10

what is the function of the amygdala?

Answer 10

activates in response to emotional material
responds to salience - important information

Question 11

what did Hariri et al. (2002) find?

Answer 11

found bilateral amygdala activation to emotional faces and pictures (IAPS)

Question 12

what did Henry et al. (2007) find?

Answer 12

found greater bilateral amygdala activation to unpredictable vs predictable sounds as unpredictable sounds seem more important so it switches on

Question 13

where is the vmPFC located?

Answer 13

behind the eyes in the frontal lobe

Question 14

what animals have a vmPFC?

Answer 14

only mammals e.g. humans, rats etc

Question 15

what is the function of the vmPFC?

Answer 15

regulates emotions
activated when you want to change something
tells amygdala that a once emotion-enduring situation is not safe

Question 16

how is the vmPFC affected in people with PTSD disorders?

Answer 16

in PTSD disorders, this area of the brain is compromised as it is overworked by trying to regulate the amygdala

Question 17

what did Yang et al. (2020) find?

Answer 17

Recent meta-analysis observed vmPFC activation during active emotion regulation

Question 18

what did Etkin et al. (2011) find?

Answer 18

Recent meta-analysis found vmPFC activation patterns when updating threat to safety associations

Question 19

how is the amygdala and vmPFC connected structurally?

Answer 19

connected structurally via the uncinate fasciculus

Question 20

what areas are affected when the amygdala and vmPFC are compromised?

Answer 20

lesions
neurotransmitters
developmental windows and ageing

Question 21

explain how the case of Phineas Gage shows that his amygdala and vmPFC were compromised

Answer 21

Phineas Gage had problems with regulating emotions and everyday life functioning due to emotional outbursts and poor social functioning

Question 22

explain Motzkin et al. (2015)

Answer 22

Patients with vmPFC damage and controls were given emotional images to look at (either aversive or neutral)
Patients with vmPFC damage showed hyperactive amygdala activation to aversive images as vmPFC is not there to regulate the amygdala

Question 23

how do neurotransmitters effect emotion?

Answer 23

neurotransmitters like serotonin regulate mood

Question 24

what did Frankle et al. (2005) find?

Answer 24

low levels of serotonin in the vmPFC seen in impulsive aggressive individuals

Question 25

what did Higley et al. (1996) find?

Answer 25

low levels of serotonin related to risk taking in male monkeys the more serotonin they had in the cerebral spinal fluid, the more likely they are to survive as they do not take as many risks

Question 26

explain the development of the amygdala and vmPFC

Answer 26

the amygdala matures quicker than the vmPFC

Question 27

what did Gogtay et al. (2004) suggest?

Answer 27

as the amygdala matures quicker than the vmPFC this could explain why adolescents take more risks than adults

Question 28

what did Westive et al. (2010) find?

Answer 28

the structural connectivity of the white matter between the amygdala and the vmPFC changes with age

Question 29

explain the development of grey and white matter

Answer 29

grey matter matures quicker than white matter white matter tracts will develop up until your early 30s grey matter thins and prunes away whereas white matter thickens as you age

Question 30

explain the development of the uncinate fasciculus

Answer 30

the uncinate fasciculus thickens until age 28 then declines into older adulthood communication between the amygdala and the vmPFC can be compromised at young age and at old age which causes atrophy to occur

Question 31

define atrophy

Answer 31

harder to regulate emotions

Question 32

explain the development of the brain as a whole

Answer 32

areas of the brain are slower in older people as the brain ages

Question 33

explain what happens in patients with Alzheimer's and dementia

Answer 33

The dementia eats away at areas of the midbrain and forebrain This causes confusion and emotion

Question 34

what areas of the brain are most affected by dementia and Alzheimer's and why?

Answer 34

Hippocampus and Amygdala are close to each other and are usually the one of the first regions to go Hippocampus (involved in memory) is effected which causes memory loss Amygdala (involved in emotions) is effected which causes atrophy

Question 35

what did Phan et al. (2002) find?

Answer 35

found that lots of regions of the brain are involved in emotional experience

Question 36

what are the different ways of communicating emotions?

Answer 36

expressions suppression faking it

Question 37

explain Field et al. (1982) - expressing emotion

Answer 37

Newborn infants imitate facial expressions Have seen emotions but don't know what they mean

Question 38

explain Willingham (2009) - expressing emotion

Answer 38

Facial expressions of pain and joy while running was similar for congenitally blind, non-congenitally blind and sighted athletes Haven't seen these emotions but express them nonetheless

Question 39

explain Ekman & Friesen (1971) - expressing emotion

Answer 39

Individuals from different cultures display similar facial expressions when hearing emotive stories

Question 40

explain Olsson & Phelps (2007) - expressing emotion

Answer 40

Emotional responses may be learned through observation

Question 41

explain Semen & Garber (1996) - suppressing emotion

Answer 41

General display rules Children learn to suppress their emotions They are less likely to cry in front of peers compared to their caregivers

Question 42

explain Friesen (1972) - suppressing emotion

Answer 42

Cultural display rules between countries Early research suggests that in some populations negative emotions are more likely to be suppressed e.g. Japanese vs North Americans

Question 43

explain Matsumoto (1993) - suppressing emotion

Answer 43

Cultural display rules within countries Actually more variation in display rules due to ethnicity and culture interactions e.g. based on four different ethnic groups in the USA

Question 44

explain Ekman (1985) - faking emotion

Answer 44

Microexpressions are slight movement of facial muscles

Question 45

explain Cacioppo et al. (1986) - faking emotion

Answer 45

Microexpressions can sometimes not be seen so easily but if measured via facial electromyography they become apparent

Question 46

explain Murata et al. (2016) - faking emotion

Answer 46

Lateral frontal associated with surprise Corrugator supercilii associated with sadness (frowning), anger, fear, disgust, concentration, pain Levator labii superioris associated with disgust Zygomaticus major associated with happiness

Question 47

explain Duchenne's study

Answer 47

Duchenne coined the 'fake smile' by electrically stimulating muscles in the face to cause contraction of muscles around the mouth that become active during a smile - only engaged the zygotmaticus major muscle (mouth) but not the orbicularis ocular (eyes)

Question 48

explain Ross and Matthiessen (1998) - faking emotion

Answer 48

Damage to different regions of the brain can result in alterations in voluntary and involuntary facial movements Study into emotional and volitional facial paresis Network of brain regions control voluntary and involuntary expressions - involuntary expression is innate, voluntary expression is learnt

Question 49

what happened in patients with emotional facial paresis (Ross and Matthiessen, 1998)?

Answer 49

Emotional facial paresis (e.g. lymphoma in the left thalamus) resulted in difficulty making involuntary emotional expressions on the right side but could make voluntary expressions on both ○

Question 50

what happened in patients with Volitional facial paresis (Ross and Matthiessen, 1998)?

Answer 50

Volitional facial paresis (e.g. dead tissue in left temporal artery resulted in difficult making voluntary emotional expressions in the right but could make involuntary expressions on both)

Question 51

what did Sackheim and Gur (1978) find?

Answer 51

evidence that emotional expressions start or are stronger on the left side of the face

Question 52

explain the theory that emotional expressions start/ are stronger on the left side of the face

Answer 52

Right side of brain is more emotional than left Both hemispheres are active despite the lateralisation dominance on the left side of the face May be the opposite for left-handed people Heavily debated theory

Question 53

explain Hauser (1993)

Answer 53

successive frames from a videotype of a rhesus monkey showing a fear grimace in response to an interaction with a more dominant monkey emotion seems to be displayed on the left side first

Question 54

how are emotions recognised?

Answer 54

The amygdala responds to expressions of emotions in others

Question 55

explain how the amygdala responds to different emotions

Answer 55

Amygdala response to happiness and sadness is limited - you just feel happy. Response to anger and fear is located in the occipital cortex as anger and fear are active and high-energy emotions so the person must try to work out where this is emotion is coming from - are they angry at me, am I in danger? - involuntary (Xu et al., 2019) Conley et al. (2018)

Question 56

what is the effect of ambiguity when it comes to recognising emotion?

Answer 56

· Kim et al. (2017) · Some studies use continuum's to examine emotional intensity of facial expressions · The central nucleus of the amygdala responds in a linear way to the ambiguity of fearful facial expressions e.g. greater amygdala for higher ambiguity · Amygdala is more active towards negative surprise than positive as you need to figure out what the negative surprise is so it is activated · Wang et al. (2017) · Changed intensity of emotion in the face (Song et al., 2018)

Question 57

what is the effect of damage to the amygdala when it comes to recognising emotion?

Answer 57

· Lesions of the amygdala result in difficulty recognising emotional expressions in the self and others · Patient with bilateral amygdala lesions could pull facial expressions in the mirror but didn't recognise her own face (Adolphs et al., 1994) · Patient with lost areas of amygdala looked at mouth more whereas neurotypical control looked at eyes more (Spazio et al., 2007)

Question 58

what is the effect of tone of voice when it comes to recognising emotion?

Answer 58

· Greater activity in the right side of the frontal cortex when detecting emotion from tone of voice to find out meaning but the left and right side of frontal cortex when detecting emotion in meaning of words (George et al., 1996) · Greater activity is observed in the auditory corte and parietal cortex for emotive music as meaning of words and emotion overlap (Koelsch et al., 2018)

Question 59

explain Strauss and Moscovitch (1981) - lateralisation

Answer 59

· Participants asked to judge the emotions of Figures A and B · Most said A was sad and B was happy - bias towards left side · The stimuli for both figures are the same but the sad features for Figure A appear on the left side and for Figure B on the right side

Question 60

explain contrasting evidence against lateralisation of emotion

Answer 60

· Modern research has found very little evidence of emotion-based lateralisation in the brain - more symmetrical · Meta-analysis shows people looking at emotional images - bilateral - possibility that one side of the brain works faster than the other when recognising emotion but MRI cannot catch that image as it is too slow (Fusar-Poli et al., 2009)

Question 61

how do we experience emotion?

Answer 61

Engagement Imitation do we have to express emotion to feel it?

Question 62

explain Rutludge and Hopke (1985) - engagement when experiencing emotion

Answer 62

· Easier to see happiness in others or 'feel' happy when the relevant facial muscles for that emotion are engaged · Participants asked to put a pen across the mouth and rate pictures of people being happy or not as this action uses the same Zygomaticus muscle for smiling - people tended to rate others are more happy when doing this · Difficult to replicate

Question 63

explain Lewis and Bowler (2009) - engagement when experiencing emotion

Answer 63

· Easier to 'feel' happy when the irrelevant facial muscles for that emotion are disengaged · Hard to look surprised and hard to frown after having Botox as the muscles used for frowning are reduced so people with Botox reported feeling happier over the course of weeks because they can't engage the corrigated muscle · May be other factors that influence mood

Question 64

explain Tamietto et al. (2009) - imitation when experiencing emotion

Answer 64

· EMG on zygomaticis (smiling) and corrigated (frowning) muscles, then participants were presented with facial expressions very quickly · Patients with unilateral damage to the visual cortex saw photographs of happy or fearful faces and they engaged these muscles by smiling or frowning regardless of whether they saw the photographs consciously as the brain had seen it and reacted in the same way - it did not matter whether the photographs were presented to their sighted or blind field · Imitated other people in the image when they know they've seen the image and when they think they haven't but the brain has · Imitation may occur unconsciously - may have seen it but had no idea that you actually saw it but the brain registered and reacted to it · Mirroring of others facial expressions helps to understand how they are feeling