Lecture 5 - Cognition and Emotion

Question 1

What is the primary function of emotional stimuli in cognition?

Answer 1

Emotional stimuli automatically grab attention and are critical for survival and reproductive success.

Question 2

What is the concept of “preparedness” in relation to emotional stimuli?

Answer 2

“Preparedness” refers to our evolved tendency to fear certain stimuli (e.g., snakes, spiders) that were threats in the natural environment, but not modern dangers (e.g., cars).

Question 3

How did Winkielman et al. (2005) demonstrate unconscious emotional influence on behavior?

Answer 3

They showed that subliminally presented emotional faces (happy vs. angry) influenced consumption behavior, willingness to pay, and drink preferences, especially when participants were thirsty.

Question 4

What type of behavior does unconscious priming (e.g., happy faces) influence, according to John Bargh’s research?

Answer 4

Unconscious priming influences behavior such as increased risk-taking, as shown in gambling behavior.

Question 5

How does emotional stimuli influence attention, memory, and decision-making?

Answer 5

Emotional stimuli can cause automatic biases in attention, enhance memory for emotionally relevant information, and affect decision-making processes.

Question 6

What is the Visual Search Task used to measure in cognitive psychology?

Answer 6

The Visual Search Task measures attentional bias by determining how quickly someone can detect a target stimulus, especially when surrounded by distractors.

Question 7

How does the Emotional Stroop Task work and what does it measure?

Answer 7

The Emotional Stroop Task requires participants to name the color of words while ignoring their content. Slower responses to emotionally relevant words suggest an attentional bias.

Question 8

What does the Dot-Probe Task measure in terms of attention?

Answer 8

The Dot-Probe Task measures selective attention by comparing response times to probes presented in the location of emotional vs. neutral stimuli.

Question 9

What is attentional bias?

Answer 9

Attentional bias is a systematic tendency to focus on certain types of stimuli (e.g., negative or threatening) over others.

Question 10

How does attentional bias manifest in individuals with anxiety disorders?

Answer 10

Individuals with anxiety show an attentional bias for threatening stimuli, responding faster to threat-related information.

Question 11

What does research suggest about attentional bias in depression?

Answer 11

Studies suggest that individuals with depression maintain attention on sad stimuli and have difficulty disengaging from negative information.

Question 12

How are attentional biases related to psychological disorders?

Answer 12

Attentional biases contribute to the development and maintenance of disorders like anxiety and depression by reinforcing negative or threatening thought patterns.

Question 13

How can understanding attentional biases be useful in clinical settings?

Answer 13

Understanding attentional biases helps design interventions to modify maladaptive cognitive patterns, aiding in the treatment of disorders like anxiety and depression.

Question 14

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional processing?

Answer 14

The prefrontal cortex is involved in early neuronal responses (100-120 ms) to emotional stimuli before identification (~170 ms).

Question 15

How does the amygdala contribute to emotional processing?

Answer 15

The amygdala increases functional connectivity between itself and the visual cortex, and amygdala lesions can abolish the bias for emotional words.

Question 16

What did Eimer and Holmes (2002) find regarding facial expression processing in the brain?

Answer 16

They found that emotional expression analysis occurs at around 120 ms, while the structural encoding of faces occurs at ~170 ms, with the N170 component linked to face processing.

Question 17

How does emotional stimuli affect competition for processing resources in the brain?

Answer 17

Emotional stimuli can bias competition for processing resources by enhancing visual cortex responses, similar to how attention enhances visual processing

Question 18

What is the path of visual information in the brain related to emotional stimuli?

Answer 18

Visual information flows from the primary visual area V1 to the temporal cortex and the amygdala, which then projects back to all visual areas, influencing processing based on the valence of the stimulus.

Question 19

What is the “weapon focus” effect in memory?

Answer 19

The weapon focus effect is when attention is drawn to a weapon during a threatening event, impairing the ability to recall other details, such as the perpetrator’s identity.

Question 20

How do emotional stimuli impact memory encoding and retrieval?

Answer 20

Emotional stimuli tend to enhance memory encoding and retrieval, with emotions like fear and desire narrowing attention and impairing recall of other details.

Question 21

What is a flashbulb memory?

Answer 21

A flashbulb memory is a highly detailed and vivid memory of the moment an emotionally significant event was first learned, such as news of a major disaster.

Question 22

How does the amygdala affect memory for emotional events?

Answer 22

The amygdala enhances memory for emotional events, with damage to the amygdala reversing the memory bias for emotional over neutral events.

Question 23

How does selective memory work in the context of mood?

Answer 23

Selective memory, such as mood-congruent memory, means people tend to recall information that matches their current emotional state (e.g., recalling sad events when feeling sad).

Question 24

How does depression influence autobiographical memory?

Answer 24

Depression can lead to over-general autobiographical memory, where individuals recall fewer specific events, potentially as a protective mechanism to avoid strong emotional responses.

Question 25

What is mood-state-dependent memory?

Answer 25

Mood-state-dependent memory occurs when recall is better if the individual is in the same mood during encoding and retrieval.

Question 26

How do antidepressants affect cognitive biases in memory and attention?

Answer 26

Antidepressants shift attention and memory biases toward positive stimuli, increasing recall of positive words and reducing recognition of negative emotional expressions.

Question 27

What is the relationship between emotional biases and anxiety and depression?

Answer 27

Anxiety tends to have a stronger attentional and interpretive bias for negative stimuli, while depression is characterized by stronger memory biases for negative information.

Question 28

What is cognitive bias modification?

Answer 28

Cognitive bias modification involves training individuals to shift their attention away from negative stimuli, which can reduce symptoms in anxiety and depression.

Question 29

How can cognitive bias modification be applied to obesity?

Answer 29

Cognitive bias modification in obesity involves training individuals to focus away from unhealthy foods and towards healthy foods, reducing brain responses to high-calorie foods and promoting weight loss.

Question 30

What is the role of appraisals in emotion regulation?

Answer 30

Appraisals start the emotion process, initiating physiological, expressive, behavioral, and other changes that make up the emotional state. They can be automatic or conscious and occur at different levels, such as primary, secondary, and reappraisal.

Question 31

What is primary appraisal in emotion regulation?

Answer 31

Primary appraisal involves assessing whether a situation is positive, negative, or irrelevant to one's well-being.

Question 32

What does secondary appraisal involve?

Answer 32

Secondary appraisal involves evaluating the resources available to cope with a situation.

Question 33

What is reappraisal in the context of emotion regulation?

Answer 33

Reappraisal involves reassessing a situation or coping strategies to modify earlier emotional responses if necessary.

Question 34

What is the difference between proactive and reactive emotion regulation strategies?

Answer 34

Proactive strategies, like reappraisal, involve preparing to interpret information differently before experiencing it, while reactive strategies, like response suppression, occur after the emotional response has started.

Question 35

How do culture and emotion regulation relate?

Answer 35

Emotion regulation strategies like expressive suppression may have different effects across cultures. For example, in Western cultures, suppression is often harmful, but in many Asian cultures, emotional control is encouraged.

Question 36

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in emotion regulation?

Answer 36

The PFC, especially the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), plays a key role in managing emotional responses, particularly by regulating the amygdala's reaction to negative stimuli.

Question 37

What happens in the brain during emotion regulation, specifically in the DLPFC and amygdala?

Answer 37

In emotion regulation, the DLPFC helps reduce the amygdala's response to negative stimuli. When emotion regulation is successful, DLPFC activation is associated with decreased amygdala activation.

Question 38

How is the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) involved in emotion regulation?

Answer 38

The ACC, particularly its ventral portion, plays a role in regulating emotional responses and overcoming interference from emotionally charged stimuli, like in tasks such as the emotional Stroop test.

Question 39

How does emotion regulation differ in depression?

Answer 39

In depression, patients show a sustained amygdala response to negative stimuli and lack the proper DLPFC activation that would normally reduce emotional responses, leading to impaired emotion regulation.

Question 40

What is selective attention in emotion regulation, and how does it relate to depression?

Answer 40

Selective attention is the ability to focus on certain stimuli while ignoring others. In depression, individuals show a bias toward negative emotional stimuli, linked to increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

Question 41

What is the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in depression?

Answer 41

In depression, the ACC shows increased activation when processing negative emotional stimuli, which is associated with a negative cognitive bias and poorer emotion regulation.

Question 42

What is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and how does it help in depression treatment?

Answer 42

TMS is a non-invasive treatment that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate or dampen specific brain areas. It has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression by targeting overactive regions like the ventral ACC.

Question 43

What did Mayberg et al.'s research on brain stimulation in depression reveal?

Answer 43

Their research found that stimulating the subgenual cingulate (BA 25) could significantly improve mood and reverse abnormal brain activity patterns in patients with severe depression.

Question 44

How does Emotional Working Memory (eWM) training help with emotion regulation?

Answer 44

eWM training improves emotion regulation by enhancing working memory, reducing emotional distress, and increasing brain activation in areas related to emotion regulation, such as the sgACC.

Question 45

What brain areas are involved in emotional working memory (eWM) training?

Answer 45

eWM training activates fronto-parietal regions (associated with working memory) and deactivates emotional regions like the amygdala and insula.

Question 46

How does brain training improve emotion regulation performance?

Answer 46

Brain training, like eWM tasks, improves performance on emotion regulation tasks, such as the emotional Stroop test, and reduces emotional distress in response to negative stimuli.

Question 47

What role does the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) play in decision-making?

Answer 47

The vmPFC is involved in emotional expression identification, decision-making, and regulating impulsive behavior. Lesions to this area can impair decision-making, cause disinhibition, and lead to difficulties in recognizing emotions in others.

Question 48

What happened to Phineas Gage after his frontal lobe injury?

Answer 48

After his frontal lobe injury, Phineas Gage experienced a dramatic change in personality, becoming rude, impulsive, and antisocial. His ability to regulate his emotions and social behavior was permanently altered.

Question 49

What does the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) assess?

Answer 49

The Iowa Gambling Task assesses decision-making by having participants choose cards from different decks with varying reward schedules. It tests the ability to adapt to risky and safe choices based on experience.

Question 50

How do patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions perform on the Iowa Gambling Task?

Answer 50

Patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions show impaired decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task. They struggle to learn from feedback and fail to choose advantageous decks.

Question 51

What is the physiological response observed in individuals with amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions during decision-making tasks?

Answer 51

Individuals with amygdala and vmPFC lesions fail to show the normal physiological arousal (skin conductance responses) when making decisions, such as in the Iowa Gambling Task, which affects their ability to anticipate the consequences of their choices.

Question 52

What is the Somatic Marker Hypothesis proposed by Damasio?

Answer 52

The Somatic Marker Hypothesis suggests that emotions guide decision-making through bodily responses (somatic markers), which influence choices based on past emotional experiences. These bodily signals help individuals avoid risky decisions.

Question 53

According to Damasio, what happens when an emotion is experienced in the context of decision-making?

Answer 53

When an emotion is experienced, the events leading up to it become associated with the emotion. This association creates a somatic marker, which helps guide future decisions by signaling the potential emotional consequences of actions.

Question 54

What does the research on brain activation during risky versus safe choices in the Iowa Gambling Task suggest?

Answer 54

Research suggests that greater activation of the prefrontal cortex is associated with better decision-making. More prefrontal cortex activation correlates with making safer decisions and winning more money.

Question 55

What are the levels of conscious knowledge in the Iowa Gambling Task based on participants' awareness of the decks?

Answer 55

The levels are: Level 0: No conscious knowledge of which decks are best. Level 1: Conscious knowledge of a preferred deck but not the outcomes of the decks. Level 2: Conscious knowledge of a preferred deck and the outcomes that support that preference.

Question 56

How do participants' conscious knowledge levels affect their performance on the Iowa Gambling Task?

Answer 56

Higher levels of conscious knowledge (especially level 2) are associated with better performance in the task, as individuals are able to make more informed decisions based on the outcomes of their choices.