Quiz 5: Anatomy of Emotion

When 5-year-old Alasia got her immunizations to start school, she cried because the shots were painful. Now, every time she sees a nurse or doctor, she gets scared and starts to cry. The shot is an unconditioned stimulus (US) that elicits pain; the nurse and the doctor were neutral stimuli that became conditioned stimuli (CS) that now elicits fear. Which part of Alasia’s brain allows her to associate the CS with the US? 

a. Hippocampus   b. Prefrontal Cortex   c. Hypothalamus   d. Amygdala 

When Alasia is 8 years old, her mother has a baby, and the family spends a couple of days at the hospital. During this time, Alasia does not show any signs of fear when around the nurses and doctors. Thanks to her developing … , she extinguished the CS to US relationship between nurses/doctors and painful shots. 

a. amygdala   b. prefrontal cortex   c. hypothalamus   d. cingulate cortex 

Even though Alasia has extinguished the conditioned fear responses to medical staff, she still has a strong episodic memory of that fatal doctor visit where they gave her all the shots. Which part of Alasia’s brain is likely responsible for the memory of the event?

a. hippocampus b. prefrontal cortex c. hypothalamus d. cingulate cortex

The amygdala is comprised of several different nuclei. Which one is responsible for determining the motivational or emotional significance of incoming sensory information?

a. lateral nucleus b. central nucleus c. basolateral nucleus d. ventral nucleus

Which part of the amygdala is responsible for selecting emotion-related behaviors? 

a. lateral nucleus   b. central nucleus   c. basolateral nucleus   d. ventral nucleus 

Which nucleus in the amygdala is responsible for communicating information back to memory areas?

a. lateral nucleus   b. central nucleus   c. basolateral nucleus   d. ventral nucleus 

The teenage years are an affective rollercoaster for many because of high levels of fluctuating hormones controlled by the 

a. hippocampus   b. prefrontal cortex   c. hypothalamus   d. cingulate cortex 

You are having the worst day ever, but you are trying to keep it together so you can get through class. Your … will help you monitor the appropriateness of your outward behavior for meeting your goals. 

a. hippocampus   b. amygdala   c. hypothalamus   d. cingulate cortex 

Lee et al. examined hemispheric differences in positive and negative emotions. Which neuroscience research technique did they use? 

fMRI to study brain activation while viewing emotional photos. 

What were the findings of Lee et al.?

They found that positive emotions are linked to the left hemisphere and negative emotions are linked to the right hemisphere (valence model). Also confirmed specific areas/regions. 

Identify one limitation of Lee et al. study and explain why it is a problem. 

The use of IAPS photos, because everyone has their own subjective experiences and may react to the photos differently which might affects results. 

The locationist and constructionist approaches agree that activity in the brain gives rise to emotion. Explain how the approaches differ.

The locationist approach says that emotions come from specific brain regions while the constructionist approach says that emotions come from general brain systems that interact and work together, not one specific region.

The research shows that the insula is more active when we feel disgust but is not exclusively active for disgust. Instead, it’s activity is correlated with interception, or bodily awareness. These data support the … approach.

Constructionist