Neuroscience of emotions Flashcards
(34 cards)
What are the three main levels of emotions?
Physiological arousal
(What changes in the body when we feel an emotion)
• Anatomical level
• Hormonal level
Expressive behaviour
(Looking at how we express the emotion with behaviour e.g., smiling)
• Behavioural level
Conscious experience
(Can be consciously aware of our emotional state)
• Cognitive level
What did Darwin believe about emotions?
Darwin argued that expressing emotions are important for an evolutionary advantage, some emotions are helpful in protecting our body from dangerous situations. – These emotions are likely to have been transmitted from evolution, they are similar emotions that animals have like the “fight or flight response.
What is the purpose of the neurophysiological changes that we encounter?
The neurophysiological changes that we encounter associated to behaviour prepare our body to interact with the external environment. Negative and Positive emotions can help us interact with the external environment. Negative emotions can protect us and allow us to move away and the Positive one might encourage us to move towards something (see emotions section)
What is the biological purpose of emotions?
- Signalling function (that we might take action)
- Provide strong impulse to take action
- Promote unique, stereotypical patterns of physiological change and behaviour
What are the six main emotions?
Happy, Sad, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Disgust
Name some negative and positive emotions and how they can be useful?
Negative: Fear, Anger, Grief, Hate
• Useful as motivation for moving away from what one doesn’t want
Positive: Surprise, Empathy, Caring, Joy
• Useful as motivation for moving towards what one does want
What are the two key controversies regarding emotions in neuroscience?
Does physiological arousal precede or follow your emotional experience? Does cognition (thinking) precede or follow emotion (feeling)?
E.g., (During the clip from the Shining where Johnny is using an axe to break the door down and Wendy is screaming)
Does Wendy’s heart pound because she is afraid, or is Wendy afraid because she feels her heart pounding?
What are the different theories of emotional responses?
Folk psychology
James-Lange theory
Cannon-Bard theory
What is the folk psychology theory of emotional responses?
Feeling triggers autonomic reaction. For example, when you are happy there is a change in your physiological response. There is a linear link between emotion and physiological response.
Informal observation suggested that emotions cause the body to react
When you become happy –> Your heart starts beating faster
What is the James-Lange theory of emotional responses?
Autonomic reaction triggers feeling. This is almost the other way around: the bodily response is first and it evokes the emotional experience.
James-Lange argued that the bodily response evokes the emotional experience
What is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotional responses?
Simultaneous feeling and autonomic reaction. The brain integrates both types of information at the same time to provide an appropriate response.
Cannon-Bard insisted that the brain must interpret the situation to decide which emotion is appropriate
Which theory of emotional response is right?
Neither theory is entirely correct
The James Lange theory is that there is emotional expression (physiological changes) and then there is the emotional experience (e.g., fear).
The traditional view has been that we have an emotional experience (fear) and then the emotional expression (physiological changes)
The Cannon-Bard theory suggests that the two occurrences happen at the same time
What is the main criticism of the James-Lange theory?
Emotions induced by stimuli that cannot elicit a peripheral, visceral response is one of the main criticisms of the James-Lange theory. – you can still perceive an emotion without having a strong physiological response e.g., when you feel a bit happy you don’t have a strong physiological response that could be causing it.
Patients with a spinal cord transection (injury that doesn’t allow them to have physiological responses) can still experience emotions
What criticism is there on the traditional view of emotional responses?
The traditional view has been that we have an emotional experience (fear) and then the emotional expression (physiological changes).
Visceral responses can often induce an emotional state in the absence of any obvious eliciting stimuli. E.g., you can feel happy without it being triggered from a direct stimulus.
Must cognition precede emotion?
Do we need to have a conscious awareness before experiencing an emotion
Some emotional reactions may occur without conscious thinking. So, it’s likely to be a more complicated interaction between behaviour, cognition and emotion. It could be a three-way interaction between the high-level systems and physiological responses, they may interact to produce the right bodily response and the right recognition of the emotion. Sometimes an emotion will happen without any conscious experience of cognitive thinking about it.
What are the two dimensions of emotion?
Valence (positive or negative) and the Intensity of the arousal.
E.g., Joy creates high arousal and has a positive valence.
Relaxation creates low arousal and has a positive valence.
Sadness creates low arousal and has a negative valence.
Fear and Anger creates high arousal and has a negative valence.
What controls the arousal of our emotions?
Autonomic Nervous System (part of our central nervous system)
It controls the arousal!
It allows us to maintain a balanced environment for our organs.
It is part of the nervous system responsible for control of the bodily functions not consciously directed: breathing, heartbeat, and digestive processes.
What is epinephrine?
A hormone that increases heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels in times of emergency. (This hormone is released in order to change the body physiology, when there is something dangerous in the environment)
What are the two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system and what do they do?
The two main divisions of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic). They work in perfect balance, if one is activated the other is deactivated. The sympathetic division is arousing and prepares us for a response whereas the parasympathetic division is calming.
What are the similarities and differences between different emotions?
Similarities
• Physiological responses related to the emotions of fear, anger, love are very similar (you cannot clearly tell someone’s emotions from their physiological responses)
• Excitement and fear involve a similar physiological arousal
Differences
• Different brain responses to different emotions (at the level of the brain there is some degree of specificity, different emotions activate different brain areas and there’s different levels of activation)
How does a polygraph work?
Machine used in attempts to detect lies Measures physiological responses: • perspiration • cardiovascular changes • breathing changes
Control-Question Technique
ANS responses to answers to innocuous questions (Is your mother’s name Betty?) are compared to those of target questions (Did you steal the money?)
Whats the difference between perception and expression?
Perception – recognise other’s emotions or recognise that a certain emotion is related to a physiological change in the body.
Expression – Emotions are expressed on the face, by the body, and by the intonation of voice.
What areas of the brain produce happiness/pleasure when stimulated?
Which hormone is involved?
The Septum (Nucleus Accumbens) is one of the areas that is related to feelings of happiness and pleasure. Stimulation to this area makes people feel very happy/pleasure.
The hormone involved in pleasure is Dopamine (A diffuse system that impacts many different brain areas, related to the Substantia Nigra and Nucleus Accumbens).
How do brain lesions to the cortex affect emotions?
Decorticate (without cortex) animal models have shown unusual aggression to the slightest provocation.