Week 4 H10

Question 1

What is social cognition and why is it essential?

Answer 1

Social cognition is the ability to perceive socially relevant information, understand thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others, and respond appropriately. It is essential for humans to function in the complex prosocial society we live in.

Question 2

How are emotions defined in terms of neuroscience and what are their primary purposes?

Answer 2

In neuroscience, emotions are brain processes that make survival possible by signaling survival-relevant information and initiating adequate behavioral reactions, such as increasing adrenaline, blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tonus.

Question 3

Basic/primary emotions are…….

Answer 3

innate and experienced the same by all humans across cultures.

Question 4

Complex/social emotions are

Answer 4

cognitive evaluation is involved, examples are shame, jealousy and pride.

Question 5

Match the following terms with their descriptions:

1Lange
2Cannon and Bard
3LeDoux: Low road
4LeDoux: High road
a. Emotions arise from the unconscious interpretation of a physiological response.
b. Bodily sensations and feelings arise independently from each other.
c. Quick, unconscious, subcortical processing directly to the amygdala.
d. Slower processing from the thalamus to cortical areas (prefrontal cortex).

Answer 5

1-a, 2-b, 3-c, 4-d

Question 6

What is the Somatic Marker theory and how does it relate to emotions guiding behavior?

Answer 6

The Somatic Marker theory posits that bodily reactions, termed ‘gut feelings,’ are part of an emotional decision-making process. These physical sensations provide guidance in complex decisions based on past emotional experiences.

Question 8

Which brain structures guide Basic/primary emotions?

Answer 8

The amygdala, insula, and basal ganglia guide them.

Question 9

Which part of the brain guides Complex/social emotions?

Answer 9

The prefrontal cortex guides them.

Question 11

What brain structures play a role in facial emotional information?

Answer 11

The fusiform gyrus is involved in facial recognition, while the amygdala, insula, and sulcus temporalis superior help recognize emotional facial expressions.

Question 12

Is this statement true or false?
Humans have a preference for biological motion, enabling them to discern whether a movement was made by a living entity.

Answer 12

true

Question 13

How does cognitive empathy differ from affective empathy?

Answer 13

Affective empathy is about sharing the emotional state of others. In contrast, cognitive empathy is about understanding the feelings of others, akin to Theory of Mind (ToM).

Question 15

What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?

Answer 15

ToM is the ability to discern one’s mental state from that of others. It involves understanding intentions, predicting thoughts, and assessing feelings, intentions, and needs of others.

Question 16

Match the stages of ToM development with their descriptions:

1Joint attention
2First-order beliefs
3Second-order beliefs
a. Ability to estimate what another person thinks about the thoughts of a third party.
b. Understanding that others can think differently, and estimating what they think.
c. Awareness that another person’s attention can differ from our own.

Answer 16

Answer Key:
1-c, 2-b, 3-a

Question 17

Is this statement true or false?
Cognitive reappraisal is a more effective emotion regulation strategy than suppression or distraction.

Answer 17

true

Question 18

Is this statement true or false?
The amygdala is more active when a person demonstrates poor emotion regulation.

Answer 18

True (Explanation: Adequate emotion regulation is associated with increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, and decreased activity in subcortical areas such as the amygdala.)

Question 19

What are the three components of the socio-cognitive integration of abilities (SOCIAL) model?

Answer 19

1Attentional processes and executive functions (regulation of behavior in social situations).
2Communication skills (linguistic and non-linguistic functions that enable social interactions).
3Socio-emotional functions (perception, interpretation, moral reasoning).

Question 20

Where in the brain is activity found, suggesting trade-offs when there’s high personal involvement in moral reasoning?

Answer 20

Activity is found in the medial frontal cortex, cingulate gyrus, and amygdala.

Question 21

What mediates the relationship between the three components of the socio-cognitive integration of abilities (SOCIAL) model?

Answer 21

The relationship between the three components is mediated by brain development, personality, temperament (internal factors), and culture and SES (external factors).

Question 23

Which brain structure automatically screens information for social and affective relevance, such as emotional facial expressions and gaze direction?

Answer 23

Amygdala

Question 25

True or False? Damage to the fusiform gyrus affects one’s ability to process the specific features of faces crucial for determining identity.

Answer 25

true

Question 26

Which brain structure is involved in perceiving and modulating bodily sensations and recognizing emotional facial expressions?

Answer 26

insula

Question 29

Which parts of the prefrontal cortex has connections to the amygdala and is involved in top-down regulation of emotional responses?

Answer 29

Medial orbitofrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Question 30

What network becomes active when there is no interaction with the environment and is involved in self-relevant processes?

Answer 30

Default mode network (DMN)

Question 31

What role does the Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex play in social information processing?

Answer 31

It links new social information to existing knowledge and representations about social norms and reflects on one’s own social behavior.

Question 32

What is the function of the Temporo-parietal junction in social cognition?

Answer 32

It’s involved in retrieving temporary feelings and intentions.

Question 33

True or False: Lesions in the cerebellum can lead to cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome characterized by difficulties in recognizing and regulating emotions.

Answer 33

true

Question 34

What is the association between the cerebellum and mentalizing?

Answer 34

Mentalizing is also associated with the cerebellum, which concerns social processes that require a high capacity for abstraction.

Question 35

Question: What is the term for difficulties in experiencing, recognizing, and expressing one’s emotions?

Answer 35

Alexithymia

Question 37

Which brain region plays a pivotal role in emotion regulation and is connected to alexithymia?

Answer 37

The anterior part of the cingulate cortex.

Question 38

Impairments in understanding socially relevant information are particularly seen in which mental disorder, leading to reduced understanding of false beliefs and sarcasm?

Answer 38

Schizophrenia

Question 42

Which condition is linked to impairments in understanding and applying social rules, as demonstrated in the Social Norms Questionnaire?

Answer 42

Frontotemporal dementia.

Question 45

Which cognitive function deals with understanding the feelings of others and which are its related brain regions?

Answer 45

Cognitive empathy it is linked with ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

Question 46

In terms of cognitive understanding of others’ thoughts and intentions, which term is used and which brain regions are associated with it?

Answer 46

The term is Cognitive ToM, and it is associated with the temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex.

Question 47

List four brain regions associated with Affective empathy.

Answer 47

Anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and amygdala.