cogsci 200 final review

Explain the James–Lange theory of emotion and how it accounts for the subjective feeling of emotions.

The James–Lange theory proposes that emotions arise from the perception of bodily changes. A stimulus first causes a bodily response pattern, the brain then perceives these bodily changes, and this perception produces the subjective feeling of emotion.

What are the main strengths of the James–Lange theory, and what objections did Walter Cannon raise against it?

A strength of the James–Lange theory is that it explains why emotions feel different from cold beliefs and why different emotions have distinct feelings. Walter Cannon objected that bodily responses are often too similar and too slow to account for different emotions, and that the same bodily response can occur in different emotional states.

Describe the Schachter–Singer (two-factor) theory of emotion and how it differs from the James–Lange theory.

The Schachter–Singer theory argues that emotion results from bodily arousal combined with a conscious interpretation of that arousal. Unlike James–Lange, it claims that bodily responses alone are insufficient to determine which emotion is felt.

How does the Dutton and Aron bridge study support the Schachter–Singer theory of emotion?

Men who experienced physiological arousal from a scary bridge misattributed that arousal to attraction toward a woman, demonstrating that emotion depends on both arousal and cognitive interpretation.

Explain the standard appraisal theory of emotion (Magda Arnold) and how it accounts for the origin of bodily response patterns.

Proposes that emotions begin with a conscious evaluation of the situation. This appraisal then triggers an emotion effector program that produces both the feeling and the bodily response pattern.

pros/cons of schadter-singer

Pros:

• Explains how non-specific bodily response patterns give rise to specific emotions

Cons (Magda Arnold):

• How does the bodily response pattern come about in the first place?

What are the main strengths of standard appraisal theory, and what is a key limitation of the theory?

A strength of appraisal theory is that it explains how bodily responses are generated and why emotions are context-specific. A key limitation is that people often experience emotions that conflict with their conscious beliefs, such as fear of flying despite knowing it is safe.

Describe LeDoux’s low road and high road pathways for emotion processing.

The low road is a fast, unconscious pathway from the thalamus to the amygdala, while the high road is a slower, conscious pathway from the thalamus to the sensory cortex and then to the amygdala.

What roles do the thalamus and amygdala play in emotional processing, especially fear?

The thalamus relays sensory information to other brain regions, while the amygdala plays a central role in processing emotions, especially fear, and in initiating emotional response programs.

How do studies of amygdala lesions support the idea that fear is a modular emotional system?

Amygdala lesion studies show that damage to the amygdala disrupts fear responses without eliminating other emotions, supporting the idea that fear is processed by a specialized, modular system.

What do Ekman’s facial expression studies reveal about the universality of emotions and differences between basic and higher emotions?

Ekman’s facial expression studies demonstrate that basic emotions have universal facial expressions across cultures, while higher emotions show more cultural variation, suggesting biological foundations for basic emotions.

What is the consequentialist approach to rationality?

Perform actions that maximize utility

What is the maximize objective value take for rationality? What is the issue?

Goal is to maximize value, but the framework can’t handle probabilities

What is the Maximize Expected Objective Value take for rationality? What is the issue?

Multiply value by probability, but can’t handle diminishing marginal utility and expanding beyond financial decisions

What is the Maximize Expected Utility take for rationality? What makes it better than Maximize Expected Objective value? What is the issue?

Uses a utility function to calculate subjective utility instead of objective value, and can handle diminishing marginal utility and expanding beyond financial decisions, but can’t handle discounting

What is the Maximize Discounted Expected Utility take for rationality?

Uses a gamma to calculate discount (The discounted utility of “U at

delay x” is U * gamma^x)

What does the heuristics and biases research program say about whether humans are rational?

No, especially at the automatic, intuitive level

What is representativeness heuristic? What is base-rate neglect?

Using similarity to a prototype to judge probability, ignoring prior probability information

What is conjunction fallacy?

Assuming that a combination of things is more likely than either thing individually

What is availability heuristic?

Judgements of frequency are made by ease with which examples come to mind

What is affect heuristic?

A heuristic in which complex judgements are made on the basis of quick gut reactions

What is the framing effect?

People react to a particular choice in different ways depending on how it is presented

What is the evolutionary psychology research program’s response to the heuristics and biases research program?

The mind is massively modular, and people are usually rational if the question is posed in a format that our evolved minds are expecting

What is neuroeconomics? What does it say about if humans are rational?

Unifying economics, psychology, and neuroscience to provide a general theory of human behavior; Yes humans are rational, especially at the intuitive level

What is reinforcement learning?

A PROBLEM, deciding what to do NOW to maximize future expected reward

A SET OF METHODS for solving the problem

A FIELD that is a branch of ML, AI, psych, and cognitive neuroscience

What is a reward function?

A mapping from states to quantities

What is a policy function?

Maps states to actions–the best policy is the one that maximizes sum of rewards

What is a value function?

A prediction about future reward, maps a state to a predicted future discount sum of rewards

The best action is the action that _____________________

maximizes expected cumulative future reward

What is the current estimate?

Q(st, at)

What is the actual reward received?

rt

What is what the estimate should be?

In brackets

What is the value of what we think is the best action to take at the next state?

The max function

What is the learning rate that says how “fast” to learn?

alpha

What is the function of the thalamus?

Relay sensory info from cortices to other regions

What is the function of the basal ganglia?

Processing rewards/punishments and action control

What is the function of the amygdala? 

Emotion processing, esp fear

Where is the striatum? What does it represent?

Basal ganglia, rewardingness of outcomes

What does the ventral tegmental area represent?

The prediction error signal from the Q-learning algorithm

What does the ventral medial PFC represent?

Affective gut reactions that correspond to Q values

1. What is the relevant factor in Greene’s account of moral judgment, between the bystander and footbridge trolley problems?

1. Personal force (not spatial proximity or physical contact)

1. How do patients with vmPFC damage differ from controls in their judgments of the footbridge study? Why?

1. Do not factor in personal force, whereas controls do and so do not push the guy off the bridge

1. What is one normative assumption that John Mikhail is committed to?

1. Endorses Moral Grammar

1. Compare Moral Grammar and Universal Grammar. Is the former given by Mikhail or Greene?

1. Mikhail; MG and UG are both partially innate, subject to Poverty of the Stimulus, can be described structurally (phrase structure rules vs. decision trees)

1. What makes an action permissible/impermissible according to Mikhail’s account?

1. Impermissible if harm is caused as a means to an end, permissible is harm is caused as a side effect along with (good) ends

1. What is the doctrine of double effect?

Impermissible if harm is caused as a means to an end, permissible is harm is caused as a side effect along with (good) ends, interpreted structurally in the decision tree

1. What is the “right” under utilitarianism? How does this feed into Greene’s view?

1. Maximize consequential gain, total good, irrespective of personal force and things like that

1. What sorts of moral judgments, under Greene, are less rational? What causes this irrationality?

1. Moral judgments made under ‘alarm-bell’ emotional systems, caused by (probably) evolutionary strategy around personal force, bypasses cost-benefit analysis systems

1. What parts of the brain are activated in moral dilemmas involving personal force?

1. Bilateral angular gyrus, Posterior cingulate, Medial PFC (vmPFC is part of this?)

1. What is the nature of the brain regions activated in dilemmas not involving personal force?

1. Cost-benefit analysis systems, from rational decision-making unit

1. What aspect of modular systems is apparently true of Mikhail’s construction of moral reasoning, but not Greene’s? Why is this true?

1. Inaccessibility, as MG is given as tacit knowledge, much like grammatical rules…

1. What is the difference between normative and descriptive claims?

1. Descriptive claims talk about what “is”, normative claims discuss what “ought to be” according to some norm/system of values… evaluative claims

what experiement showed striatum associated w reward

Trial-to-trial variation in striatal

activation matches the variation in trial-

to-trial rewardingness in outcomes

in patients seeing money and pressing buttons to get money

what experiment showed taht VTA associated with prediction error

higher values in VTA activity if reward for animal pressing button doesnt match predicted value

what experiment showed that vmPFC is related to q values

Iowa gambling task; subjects had 2 good decks and 2 bad decks and patients w healthy vmPFCs had gut reactions to the decks that guided response, and patients w damage did not and learned worse; shows that vmPFC is where q-values are stored