Emotions

Subjective Feeling

personal/ emotional expression

difficult- impossible to study in animals

when coloring warmth/ coldness associated with different emotions, results were the same cross culturally

Expressive behavior

body language/ facial expressions

observable in animals but can’t tell how they relate to human emotions

Physiological responses

raised body temperature, shaking

can be studied in animals

6 basic emotions

sad, happy, angry, fear, disgust, surprise

+contempt, embarrassment

Duchenne

electrocuted people’s faces to determine how muscles produce expressions (we have 40)

learned expression does not equal subjective feeling

Duchenne smile

voluntary AND involuntary muscles

Zygomatic major

voluntary muscle used when smiling

raising mouth, motor cortex

Orbicularis Oculi

involuntary muscles used when smiling

cheeks/ crows feet, cranial nerve

Physiological Measures of Emotions

electrodermal (sweat), cardiovascular (heart rate, bp, respiratory), change in voice patterns, brain activity through fMRI, computer software/ AI to measure expression

James- Lange Theory of Emotion

physiological emotions lead to fear, only makes sense for strong emotions

but different people have different reactions to the same stimuli and physiological responses and people with spinal transection injuries can still experience emotions

Cannon Bard Theory of Emotion

emotion and physiological response occur at the same time

Limbic System

cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus

Hypothalamus

emotion expression, physiological responsesH

Hippocampus

memory

Thalamus

sends stimuli where they belong to evoke an emotion

Cingulate

emotional/ subjective expression

Neocortex

emotional coloring (emotions’ effects on our perception (rose colored glassees))

Prefrontal cortex

cognitive and executive functions, impulse control, why we have a big forehead

damage doesn’t affect ability to process info but it does affect personality and impulse control

Juvenile Regression

different parts of brain lights up + misinterpretation of emotion bc pfc isn’t fully developed

pfc damage turns the person into a teen

Amygdala

instinctive safety

in temporal lobe

almond shaped

Kluver- Bucy Syndrome

results from bilateral lesions of the medial temporal lobe

results in poor visual recognition, hypersexuality, decreased fear and aggression

Patient SM

calcium in amygdala lead to the cells being destroyed meaning she couldn’t express fear

Corticomedial nucleus of amygdala

connects with olfactory bulb/ cortex

Basolateral nucleus of amygdala

receives input from sensory cortices, critical for fear learning/ synaptic plasticity

Central nucleus of amygdala

output, connects with brainstem/ hypothalamus/ viscerosensory areas

Associative learning/ classical conditioning

rats in the shock box start to freeze after just hearing the tone bc of strengthened connections btw amygdala neurons

tone was usually followed by shock

Amygdala hyperactivity

exaggerated fear learning, increased epinephrine increases fear learning even more

Epinephrine receptor blockers

reduce symptoms of stress

Walter Hess

electrical stimulation of ventromedial hypothalamus can induce aggression in cats

Sympathetic ANS

flight or flight, rapid, driven by norepinephrine

pupils dilate, deep/quick breathing, increase heart rate, sweating, shaking

hypothalamus activates ans —> stimulates adrenal medulla —> releases catecholamines/ hormones

Endocrine/ HPA Axis

takes longer, longer lasting

provides energy to power muscles through glucose liberation, enhance immune function

hypothalamus —> releases crh —> stimulates anterior pituitary—> releases acth hormone —> drive outer part of adrenal gland —> releases cortisol —> raises glucose levels