Psych 314 Ch 3: Motivated and Emotional Brain

Wanting (needing something) and liking (experiencing pleasure) typically go hand-in-hand and complement one another. But, the two motivational experiences can diverge apart from one another, and that is typically what happens during:

Addiction

Right Prefrontal Lobe

Associated with negative emotions. leads to avoidance motivation. more active in neurotic people.

Left Prefrontal Lobe

Associated with positive emotions. leads to approach motivation. more active in extraverted people.

Frontal Lobes

Centers of cognitive control, serving to anticipate the future and plan for it. CORTICAL

Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Higher level control over environmental responses. Resolves conflict between choices. Prioritizes attention and cognitive resources. CORTICAL

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

Integrates our feelings for things in our environment and allows us to make quick decisions. CORTICOL

Insula

Involved in understanding our body and "gut feelings." CORTICAL

_____________ is the so-called bonding hormone that typically motivates the "tend and befriend" coping response. This hormone raises levels of trust in others.

Oxytocin

Orbitofrontal Cortex

Processes information about rewards that help you establish preferences and make choices. CORTICAL

basal ganglia

Provide movement and action with motivation and an emotional punch. SUBCORTICAL

Prefrontal Cortex

Receives input from subcortical areas, experiences conscious awareness of emotions and chooses how to respond to them. CORTICAL

Hypothalamus

Regulates body temperature, hunger, thirst, and sexual behavior. Stimulates ANS to produce fight-or-flight. Causes release of cortisol and oxytocin through the pituitary gland. SUBCORTICAL

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Regulates control over urges and risks. Makes emotionally informed decisions. Helps us be more selfless. CORTICAL

Reticular Formation

Sends sensory information and controls arousal. SUBCORTICAL

Which statement best describes the functioning of the human brain?

The cortical and subcortical brain regions are two interacting systems that are sometimes in competition and conflict with one another

The _______ is the brain's information-processing conflict detector.

anterior cingulate cortex

The _____________ monitors motivational conflicts. It resolves emotional and decision-making conflicts by recruiting other cortical brain structures for executive control over basic urges and emotions.

anterior cingulate cortex

If a rat had a lesioned (surgically removed) amygdala and was then placed in the same room with a cat, what would the rat's behavior likely be? The rat would likely:

appear tame, neutral, perhaps even playful

Anterior Insula

awareness of emotions and of intrinsic rewards. ability to experience empathy. CORTICAL

___________ is the so-called stress hormone that is typically released from the adrenal gland to prepare the body for a social-evaluative threat, such as public speaking.

cortisol

Amygdala

detects, learns, and responds to either threats or rewards in your environment sends more messages to other areas than it receives. SUBCORTICAL

According to the textbook, the current gold standard for technology that allows us to look for technology that allows us to look deeply inside the brain to monitor activity during a motivational or emotional state is the:

fMRI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

If a person took a personality inventory and scored high on the BAS (Behavior Activating Style) and low on the BIS (Behavior Inhibition System) scales, what sort of personality would you expect from this person?

happy but not neurotic

The _________ controls the autonomic nervous system, hence the body's fight-or-flight system (from sympathetic and parasympathetic activation).

hypothalamus

The _______________ is a small brain structure that comprises less than 1% of the total volume of the brain. Despite its small size, it is a motivational giant associated with motivations such as hunger and thirst.

hypothalamus

Which of the following brain structures is most responsive to natural rewards in the regulation of eating, drinking, and mating. It also regulates both the endocrine system and the autonomy nervous system?

hypothalamus

The _______ monitors bodily states (e.g., changes in pain, temperature, heart rate) to produce "gut-felt" feelings.

insular cortex

The __________ is involved in processing both one's own feelings (e.g., intrinsic motivation) as well as the feelings and emotions of other people (e.g., empathy).

insular cortex

The _____________ is involved in processing both one's own feelings (e.g., intrinsic motivation) as well as the feelings and emotions of other people (e.g., empathy).

insular cortex

Which of the following brain structures is most closely associated with the subjective experiences of "Yes, I like this, I want to."?

left prefrontal cerebral cortex

Given the following scenario, what brain structure would be expected to be highly active? The person looks at a menu, trying to decide which item to order. As she considers the options listed in front of her, her awareness of her past experiences with the various items informs her decision to choose option A over option B.

orbitofrontal cortex

The __________ stores and processes reward-related value information of environmental objects and events to formulate preferences and to make choices between options.

orbitofrontal cortex

People with relatively high activity in their left prefrontal lobes ("left-side asymmetry") show a relatively strong sensitivity to:

potential signals of reward and positive emotionality

Which of the following structures is most closely associated with the subjective experiences of "No, I don't want to do this"?

right prefrontal cerebral cortex

Many antidepressants work by making which of the following more readily available?

serotonin

The _______ brain is associated with urges and impulses and with emotion-rich motivations such as hunger, thirst, anger, fear, anxiety, pleasure, desire, reward, and wanting.

subcortical

______________ is associated with high competition, status-seeking, and sexual motivation. It is most strongly related to status-seeking behavior after social status has been questioned or threatened.

testosterone