KHA303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Blood Pressure, Periaqueductal Gray, Explicit Knowledge
3 Jul 2018
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Cognitive neuroscience week 9: Emotion
Early accounts:
- Value in terms of survival
- Relates to a schematic representations
External stimuli or internal representation:
- Spider vs. upcoming event
Changes in multiple systems:
- Experience of emotion: the feeling
oSubjective feeling
- Behavioural element
oRunning away when scared
oFighting or fleeing
- Physiological:
oDry mouth, sweating
- Interested in the order of these constructs: which comes first
Different to mood:
- Emotion:
oIn response to something, there is a known reasons
oMore transient
- Mood:
oMore enduring
Learned or Unlearned responses:
Involves appraisal of stimuli in terms of current goals
- Motivations
- Current goals
- Depend on different neural systems:
oOr similar neural systems to a different extent
Two different ways of defining emotions:
- Ekam: innate, universal, short-lasting
- Ethnographical research in cultures
- Other emotions:
oJealousy, family love
oAre more enduring
oNot universal facial expressions
oThe result of complex cultural factors
Universal emotions:
- Happiness
- Sadness
- Disgust
- Surprised
- Fear
- Anger
- Other important emotions:
oPride, guilt, embarrassment
oSighted vs. blind Olympians: looked at their reactions when they won
Chest out, arms open, smile etc.
Looked at
Similar expressions in two groups
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Studying blind people is useful because they have not learnt
this from others and cultural practices
Might explain lack of fist pumping
Other type of definition:
- Reactions that vary along a continuum
- Valence: positive or negative
- Arousal: intensity of response
- Standardized series of pictures with same colours, intensities etc.
oMushrooms
- Approach/withdrawal
oThe goals they motivate
oApproach emotions: happiness, anger
oWithdrawal: fear and disgust
oThese emotions can be conflicting
Wanting to do something but having concerns about the event
too
Theories of emotion generation:
- how emotions are generated
- James Lange:
oPerception of bear physiological reactions feeling of fear
behavioural response
- Cannon Bard:
oPerception of bear:
o feeling of fear
o physiological reactions
ooccurs in parallel
- Appraisal theory:
oPerception cognitive appraisal response
- Singer-Schacter:
oPerception and the physiological reaction then the cognitive appraisal
of these reactions, and then the emotion
- Constructivist:
oEmotions are human made and are structured from our culture
- Evolutionary
oHard wired programs that are developed in order for survival
- LeDoux’s high road and low road to emotion:
oParticularly fear
oHard wired system as well as a cognitive system
Neural systems in Emotional processing: the limbic system
- Papez circuit:
oLimbic means ring
oStructures make a ring around the corpus callosum
oHypothalamus, anterior thalamus, cingulate gyrus, and hippocampus
Hippocampus not as important but still play a role
oOther areas previously not mentioned now known to be crucial
Insula
oEmotion not a unitary concepts described by one circuit
Depends on the circumstance and the person, and the task
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Not specific areas for emotion
Not as simple as unitary one limbic system
oAreas of interest:
Amygdala:
Lots of research particularly with fear
Involved in perception
Relevant to current and long term goals
Encoding stimuli within the context of goal and
motivations
Sensitive to detecting and triggering responses to
arousing stimuli
Very bias to fearful stimuli
Thalamus:
Lots of different links and pathways to other areas and
pathways
Hypothalamus
Responsible for physiological responses
By activation of nervous and hormonal responses to
emotion
Activates fight or flight response
Also activates and regulate stress hormones
oThrough interaction of the pituitary glands
Cortisol and adrenaline
Prefrontal cortex:
Important for regulation of emotion
Orbitofrontal cortex:
oSeems to play role in anger and regret
oAnd in emotional decision making
Anterior cingulate cortex:
Emotion
Interface between emotion, cogntion and action
Considering costs and benefits of those actions
Rhostal path beneath the ACC
More posterior or dorsal regions are more involved in
the cognitive aspects
Ventral striatum:
Basal ganglia
Within this is the nucleus accumbens
oReward circuit
oDopamine projections from ventral tegmental in
the midbrain
oSignaling reward
oParticularly when reward is less or greater than
expected
oStimuli that are rewarding in some way
Insula:
Cortex
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Experience of emotion: the feeling: subjective feeling. Behavioural element: running away when scared, fighting or fleeing. Interested in the order of these constructs: which comes first. Emotion: in response to something, there is a known reasons, more transient. Involves appraisal of stimuli in terms of current goals. Depend on different neural systems: or similar neural systems to a different extent. Other emotions: jealousy, family love, are more enduring, not universal facial expressions, the result of complex cultural factors. Fear: pride, guilt, embarrassment, sighted vs. blind olympians: looked at their reactions when they won. Studying blind people is useful because they have not learnt this from others and cultural practices. Standardized series of pictures with same colours, intensities etc: mushrooms. Approach/withdrawal: the goals they motivate, approach emotions: happiness, anger, withdrawal: fear and disgust, these emotions can be conflicting. Wanting to do something but having concerns about the event too. Theories of emotion generation: how emotions are generated.
