Flashcards in Lecture 35: Fear and anxiety Deck (5)
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***How do we distinguish fear from anxiety?
fear – adaptive emotional response to something. Brief, present/imminent, specific/clear threat, facilitates escape
anxiety - caused by things prolonged in nature, future focused, diffuse or poorly defined threat, promotes avoidance, caution and hyper vigilance.
2
***describe LeDoux's low vs high roads to fear
low road: a fast pathway from sensory receptor to the thalamus to the amygdala that bypasses the cortex; it enables rapid, automatic, unconscious reactions to the broad outlines of potentially dangerous stimuli
Low Road: thalamus → amygdala
the emotional stimulus would be expressed; doesn't go through cortical processing
will get autonomic response
LOW ROAD: fear conditioning cab be a rapid process that does not require conscious appraisal
VS
high road: allows for complex, contextualized processing of stimuli followed by conscious, deliberate responding; influenced by social and personal decision making processes and can reflect culture-specific emotional responses
High Road: emotional appraisal based on cortex
Thalamus → cortex → Amygdala
can either suppress or enhance fear. Why Evolutionary Adaptive? allows for quick action, such like fleeing in case predator is present
HIGH ROAD: learning about more complex stimuli (e.g. contexts) requires longer processing time and post-contidioning consolidation periods
3
***what is the neurological basis for the relapse of fear after fear extinction?
1. passage of time: spontaneous recovery
2. with a change in context: renewal effect
3. exposure to the US: reinstatement
4. CR's can be rapidly relearned: rapid re-acquisition effect
4
****what is the role of the prefrontal cortices in the expression of fear?
1. repeated presentation of US without CS results in a loss of the CR during extinction
2. maintained reduction in CR when tested again the same day
3. extinguished fear can return due change in content (renewal), re-experiencing the US (reinstatement), or the passage of time (spontaneious recovery)
mPFC PLAYS A LONG MAJOR ROLE IN THE LONG TERM MEMORY FOR EXTINCTION
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