Emotional States Flashcards
(28 cards)
What are the two components of an emotional state?
Emotion
Feeling
Emotion: Definition
Refers the the PHYSIOLOGICAL state (increased HR, respiration, sweating, etc)
Emotion: When do they occur?
Occurs unconsciously when the brain detects certain challenging situations or emotionally competent stimuli.
(Stimuli can become emotionally competent through associative learning)
Emotion: What systems are involved in the response?
Cognitive
Endocrine
Autonomic
Musculoskeletal
Feeling: Definition
Refers to the cognitive state. It is the conscious experience of cognitive and somatic responses
What is the goal of theories of emotional states?
To explain the relationship between the physiological and the cognitive components.
What was the evolution of theory
1) in the beginning, they said physiologic changes happened first and feelings happened second
2) then, they thought that sensory info was coming into the brain, and going to separate areas causing both parts to happen at the same time
3) theory has evolved to the idea that emotion is likely to be initiated before feelings (physiology first, feeling second)
What is the current big picture concept of what an emotional state is?
They are the outcome of a dynamic, ongoing interaction (perhaps at the level of the amygdala) of peripheral factors (emotions) mediated by the hypothalamus and central factors (feelings) mediated by the cortex.
Amygdala is the major player i coordinating the 2 components.
Peripheral expression of emotion
What are the components of the physiological expression of emotion? Give an example.
involves both visceral motor (physiological) changes, and stereotyped somatic motor responses (emotional behaviors), particularly movement of the facial muscles
Eg: when an animal is angry, its HR and BP go up, pupils dilate, and hairs on its back stand (physiological changes), which it arches its back, extends it claws, lashes its tail, and snarls (somatic motor activation)
What is the anatomical substrate associated with the physiological expression of emotional states?
Hypothalamus
What does the hypothalamus do to regulate the physiological expression of emotional states?
Coordinates the visceral and somatic motor components of the physiological components of emotional states.
Hypothalamus is in charge of the ANS
Where does the hypothalamus get input from?
Somatic and visceral senses and forebrain
Where do the projections of the hypothalamus go?
Projects to the reticular formation, which feeds into both the autonomic and somatic effector systems in the brainstem and spinal cord. This region also receives direct projections from the ventral-medial forebrain
What is the function of the physiological expression of emotion?
Prepares the body for action
Communicates our emotional states to other people (this is considered an executive function - social behavior)
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
What is a feeling?
The conscious reflection of the unconscious appraisal of a situation as being harmful or beneficial.
Cortical processing of emotionally significant stimuli results in the conscious experience of and emotional state.
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
What anatomical substrates does feeling involve?
How do we know?
Cerebral cortex - Limbic system structures including:
Prefrontal cortex
Cingulate Guyrus
Insular cortex
When the cingulate gyrus is removed, the patient has the appropriate physical response to pain but does not experience pain as an unpleasant experience.
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
Where do the anatomical substrates get input from?
Somatic and visceral senses and the amygdala
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
Where do the anatomical substrates project to?
Amygdala, hypothalamus, and brainstem
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
How do feelings arise?
They arise as a consequence of a more general capacity for self-awareness, entailing both the conscious experience of implicit emotional processing (from the amygdala-neocortical circuitry - physiology) and explicit processing of semantically based thought (from the hippocampal-neocortical circuitry - memory)
Cognitive State - Cortical Representation of Feeling
What is the purpose of feelings?
Cortex is providing a means by which memory and imagination (not just external stimuli) can evoke feelings
Enables us to use emotional information in cognitive processing
Provides the means by which conscious thought can suppress reflex emotional responses
Amygdala
Where is it located?
Internal to the uncus of the temporal cortex, rostral to the hippocampus
Amygdala
What are the three functional and anatomical subdivisions?
Groups of subnuclei:
Medial
Basolateral
Central
Amygdala
Where to each of the functional divisions project to?
Most connections are RECIPROCAL
Medial - olfactory bulb and olfactory cortex
Basal Lateral - thalamus, prefrontal, cigulate, and parahippocampal cortices, associational cortex of the temporal lobe, ventral basal ganglia
Central- hypothalamus and related brainstem nuclei
Amygdala
What is the functions?
Coordinate the physiologic and cognitive states of emotional states
Mediates learned and unlearned emotional responses (classical conditioning); this has been explored with fear conditioning in animals
Mediates neural processes that invest sensory experience with emotional significance (like reading a person’s facial expression)
Influences the selection and initiation of drive related behaviors aimed at obtaining rewards and avoiding punishments
