PSYCH 130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Thalamus, Anxiety Disorder, Visual Cortex
Document Summary
Functional: anxiety: apprehension about a future threat, fear: response to an immediate threat, arguably our species" greatest psychological asset in the battle for, activates characteristic pattern of behavior survival. Freeze (immobility: activates characteristic patterns of peripheral physiological response. Increases in heart rate, increases in sweating, decreases in peripheral blood flow: can become debilitating (too much, too little) (cid:498)u-shaped(cid:499) curve. High levels of anxiety are detrimental to performance: communication of danger to conspecifics. Visual information retina thalamus fast track [pre-conscious, automatic] amygdala [midbrain] activate brain stem emotional circuitry: slow track [conscious, deliberate] visual cortex [neocortex] analysis of meaning and response. Marked and disproportionate fear consistently triggered by specific objects or situations. The object or situation is avoided or else endured with intense anxiety. Symptoms persist for at least 6 months. Most specific phobias cluster around a few feared objects and situations. High comorbidity of specific phobias (if you have one you probably have several: social anxiety disorder.
