W6 social and emotioal Flashcards
(24 cards)
leDoux emotions
‘emotions define our lives and wellbeing’
‘understandig of emotion is only as good as our conceptualisation of it’
meaning we dont know how to define it
What are emotions?
= multi-faceted
-transient short lived
- triggered by stimulus/event (inherent or conditioned)
= have hedonic value (subjective +or-)
- conscious and unconscious processes
Emotion functions:
- for survival
- communication
- trigger action and cognitive reponse
eg. fight or flight, attention/memory
Theories of emotion
theres 3
- discrete
- dimensional
- contructed
1 Discrete theory
- innate
- universal
- different areas in brain discrete to emotions
- dedicated neural circuits
- not as supported
2 Dimensional theory
Emotions on spectrum A to V
system of core affect
- Arousal - activation
- Valence - pleasantness (+or-)
High A, V = alert, excited
High A low V = stressed, upset
Low A high V = relaxed, calm
LOw V Low A = fatigued, sad
3 Constructed theory
= emotions are constructed
- from experiences, context, sensations
- cognitive processes
Where is Emotion + Social processing in the brain?
Amygdala ‘almond’
- subcortical structure in medial temporal lobe
- limbic system
- ‘fear’ centre in brain
2 of them, bilateral, at end of hippocampus, beside thalamus
Kluver-Bucy syndrome is
monkeys
- removed temporal lobe
- behaviour changes
- loss of fear of stimuli eg snakes
Fear conditioning in mice
–> what does amygdala lesion do?
- lesion in amygdala in mice disrupts fear conditioning not innate fear response
- learned association of stimulus + neutral stimuli
conditioning - noise to electric shock
Patient S.M
what brain lesion?
what is the area important for?
- complete bilateral amygdala damage
- impaired recognition of fear from facial expression
- didnt exhibit/report feeling fear
Amydgala is crucial in recognising/experiencing fear
Amygdala for fear and ____
- salience = threatening, rewarding, intense, unpredictable
- Amygdala also activates for positive stimuli (food/reward/gambling)
Other brain areas with amygdala involvement
- insulation (sensory,emotional info)
- orbitofrontal cortex (hedonic value)
- anterior cingulate (pain)
- ventral striatum - reward/learning
- locus coeruleus - arousal
What does Locus Coeruleous do?
- primary source of noradrenaline in brain
- bilateral
- modulates arousal, attention, emotion
brain areas work together - LC activity strengthens memories with arousa
Amygdala connectivity is
- very connected brain area
- widespread connections
- prefrontal cortex - emotion regulation
- also enhance visual cortex activity
Brain Networks fMRI
What is the salience network?
Laird 2011
- fire together = wire together
- 13 - default activity mind wandering
- discrimination of emotional face
- SN salience network - cognition + emotion
activiated with stress
SN =prioritise emotionally powerful/novel stimuli
EPN VS LPP
ERP components elicited by emotional stimuli
Early posterior negativity
- 150-250/300ms
- highly arousing pictures
- early attention/processing of emotional salient stimuli
late positive potential
- 400-600ms after emotional stimuli
- pleasant/unpleasant high arousing stimuli
- LPP reduces with emotion regulation
How quickly can we decode emotions?
emotional images in MEG scanner
- decoded valence 145ms
- arousal 175ms
–> some discrete like fear were decoded faster than disgust
Identifying emotion in others
how?
- thoughts and feelings are subjective
- humans infer others’ from behaviour
- facial expression
facial expressions:
Simulation theory
- understand others by producing their state in ourselves
- we simulate the emotions to understand them
facial muscles: - happy - zygomatic major
- angry - corrugated supercilli
viewing smiles
Situation theory
- viewing smiles products tiny changes in our face muscles
- biting a pen disrupts recognition of happiness
Recognising face/emotion
if you cant move your muscles?
Moebius Syndrome - causes facial palsy
- less efficient at recognising face exp.
- reduced engagement of amygdala
- cant mimic/simulate
THEREFORE, we need to simulate
botox stops this
Empathy and simulation
- pain activates insulate and anterior cingulate cortex
- similar when anticipating/watching
Theory of mind
Shurz 2014 found:
- that other people have mental states that may differ from our own and state of world
- is there a ‘core’ theory for all tasks?
- Shurz - core network for Theory of mind (below)
theory of mind tasks - 2 areas mPFC, Temporo-parietal junction
