Neuro 75: Emotional perception and regulation

Question 1

Voice v. face ques and age?

Answer 1

• children under 8/9 pay more attention to face ques

- over 8/9 pay more attention to voice ques

Question 2

Happy/sad pathway

Answer 2

• both take same pathway
• see visual que –> insula –> ventral striatum –> cingulate gyrus –> visceral response –> parietal region of cortex to tell you that the picture is sad and now you are sad

Question 3

What does the cingulate gyrus allow for w/ emotion?

Answer 3

• modulation
• the natural response is to feel whatever emotion you see, but you dont always want to do this
• ex. if you work with depressed people all day

Question 4

What happens when the happy/sad visual que gets to the insula?

Answer 4

-insula has lots of switches and depending on if its sad or happy it will flip different switches

Question 5

Threat pathway

Answer 5

-visual que –> amygdala (has switches too!) –> ventral striatum –> cingulate gyrus –> visceral response –> parietal lobe of cortex

Question 6

Disgust: where is it active? why is it useful? what organ is the emotion connected to?

Answer 6

• smells, visual stimuli, rotting animal parts etc. –> stimulate the anterior insula
• protects us from eating rotten food
• directly connected to the stomach –> causes vomiting
• emotion & expression is universal!

Question 7

Lesion in the amygdala

Answer 7

• causes impaired fear rxns -> can be increased or decreased

- decreased can be hazardous b/c decreased feeling of anxiety

Question 8

Lesions in the ventral striatum

Answer 8

-causes impaired ability to visually recognize anger, threat, happiness, sadness

Question 9

Effects of Bilateral lesions in OFC?

Answer 9

1. deficits in facial and voice expression recognition –> lead to impairments in social behavior
2. reduce ability to experience anxiety
3. increased depression (left side) & OCD (right side) & PTSD

Question 10

Effects of lesions in the temporal lobes (including the hippocampus)

Answer 10

1. heightened emotions
2. find trivial events more significant than they should be
3. preoccupation w/ philosophical or religious issues
4. egocentric and humorless

Question 11

Effects of lesions in the cingulate cortex?

Answer 11

1. deficits in the subjective emotional state (anterior)
2. impaired ability to modulate emotion
3. impaired experience of guilt
4. all cause an impairment in social behavior