chapter 1-6 socioemotional development

QRS complex

Q= beginning of the contraction R= peak of electrical activity S= recovery

Amygdala and neocortex

Activity in the prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex has been linked to appraisal processes and both regions modulate activity within the amygdala

philospher's and emotion

-Buddha and aritsotle thought emotions clouded better judgment

James Lange theory

-Carl Lange + William James -emotional feelings are based directly on the way the body reacts to certain situations -Event--> physiological change & behaviour--> feeling -I am running away from the bear... oh shit I must be scared! -believes that sensation from the muscles & internal organs is necessary for the full experience of emotion (decrease in sensation=decrease in emotion) -shades of emotions are equated to profile of changes in the body

expressions in different cultures

-Greece and Turkey--> typically indicate 'Yes' by tilting their heads back -Sri Lanka--> express I understand' by shaking their head back and forth

Paul Ekmans Minangkabau physiological study

-Indonesian men VS US men -physiological responses of 62 men, elicited emotions with facial expressions -similar responses in the two samples -magnitude of responses during the facial expression task was small in M men than USA

James-lange theory and insular cortex

-James Lange theory posits that the feeling aspect of emotion depends of perception of changes throughout the body -as that theory predicts, people who preform better on interception tasks (insula) and who show strong insular activity during these tasks tend to report stronger subject experiences of negative emotion -those with damage to it report feeling less empathy when seeing others in distress

critics of James Lange

-You would not run away from a bear if it was in a cage? -James said that the cause of your running away is not really of the bear itself but your perception and interpretation of the situation

FACS (facial action coding system)

-behavioural observation method used to record which facial muscles contract and for how long and how intensely -certain patterns of muscle contraction are likely to occur when people say they feel a particular emotion -adds up/measures action units -limited by: -people trying to mask or fake an emotion -time intensive (subtle movements)

Urbach Wiethe disease

-calcium accumulates in the amygdala and damages it -paitent SM -fearless -recalls anger but not fear to dangerous situations

normal cortisol effects

-cycilic -high after waking in the morning and then slowly declines through the afternoon and evening -soem cortisol response to a stressful experience during the day is healthy -children who have been severely abused or who experienced chronic stress as a child have a lack of cortisol response

purpose of basic emotions

-each basic emotion is thought to serve a distinct adaptive function -serve to coordinate the individual aspects of emotion- appraisals and other cognitions, physiological changes, subjective feelings and behaviours--> coherent package of responses helping you respond effectively -reflection of distinctions among naturally occurring categories of human physiological experience

sex horomones on emotion

-estrogen fluctations in women lead to mood swings in puberty -testosterone leads to aggressive behaviours but cortisol in most cases tends to decrease it -high ratios of testosterone to cortisol= aggression and risky behaviour and increased arousal of sympathetic NS

how people cognitive processing things in a good mood vs bad mood

-good mood--> rely on heuristics, shortcuts, convinced by both strong and weak arguments -bad mood--> cuatious and critical, convinced by strong arguments

ventromedial prefrontal cortex

-has a role in risk assessment or inhabitation -those with brain damage to this area from head trauma take riskier decisions in gambling than those without damage

dimensions of the evaluative space model

-high--> low positive affect -high--> low negative affect -engagement-->disengagement -pleasantness-->unpleasantness example: strong engagement + high positive affect= aroused

physiological aspects of positive emotions

-little physiological effect in comparison to fear, anger and disgust -people have different autonomic responses to various types of positive experience -positive emotions can elicit a variety of responses, depending on the nature of the positive experience and its intensity

Charles Darwin on Emotional Expression

-observed physical behaviours of animals -the expression of the emotions in man and animals -believed expressions of emotions probably evolved because they conferred some kind of survival or reproductive advantage on individuals who displayed them -facial expressions were inherited from primate ancestors they should be the same in all human cultures

Schater Singer experiement

-one group of participants are injected with epinephrine (half were warned about its effects and the other half were not) -the other half get placebo -half were put into a euphoria condition, and the other half were put into anger situation -then asked to report their level of happiness -based on the study they found: 1) people's interpretation of their arousal in terms of specific feelings is slightly, but not strongly, influence by the situation 2) telling people to expect arousal detaches the link between peoples emotional feelings and the situation

common sense view of emotion

-opposite of James Lange Event--> feeling--> behaviour

Lazarus cire relational themes made up as primary and secondary appraisal

-primary appraisals determine one's emotional response, whereas secondary appraisals are more important for coping and emotional regulation -they determine how intensely an emotion is experienced as well as how one responds behaviourally to the situation

physiological issues with prolonged stress

-severe stress can activate the immune system producing many of the same symptoms as an illness (listless, sleepy, feverish), this is over brief periods -prolonged stress weakens immune system, making you more susceptible to illness -cortisol causes breakdown of bodies proteins -direct effects on the brain caused damage to hippocampal neurons -cortisol causes shrinkage of dendrite and loss of synapses -impairs functioning of prefrontal cortex -strengthens function of amygdala, stratum and part of the basal ganglia (uninhibited impulses)

the prototype approach

-some researchers have proposed that we think of emotions in terms of prototypes -some things can be 'imperfect' examples of emotion -do not necessarily need a final definition

James Lange theory clarified

-the feeling aspect of an emotion is the perception of the body's actions and physiological arousal event--> cognition/appraisal-->physiological changes and behaviour -> feeling

what is emotion

-we can never directly observe emotions we can only infer them -some define emotions as being functional (useful), in effecting the world around us (example: feeling fear--> try and escape) -every emotion is a reaction to a stimulus (this distinguishes emotions from drives) however some say that you can feel an emotion that is not elicited by a certain situation

speed of emotional appraisals

-when viewing pictures of pleasant or unpleasant scenes, the cells in the prefrontal cortex responded within 120 ms and showed a different pattern of activity in response to happy faces and pleasant pictures than in response to frightened faces and unplesant pictures -this quick response is consistent with the idea that cognitive appraisals precede the reactions of the body which take a bit longer

key differences in Seyle's and McEwan's definitions of stress

1) S definition includes all kinds of life changes, even pleasant ones, M is limited to threatening ones 2) S defined in terms of the body's reaction to change in a person's life whereas M defined it in terms of the event 3) M's definition emphasizes that stress depends on how a person interprets the event, not just the event itself

the two regions of the nuclease accumbens (microcircuits)

1) appetitive motivations, promoting movement toward a sign of likely reward (wanting) 2) enjoying or liking reward that is being consumed (subjective experience of liking) **they communicate through opiod neurotransmitters instead of dopamine 3) learning to predict future rewards and punishments -fire in response to unpredicted outcomes, detecting errors in predicition and updating expectations for the future

the two dimensions of the circumplex model

1) arousal (aroused--> sleepy) 2) pleasantness (pleased-->frustrated) example: high arousal + high pleasantness= excitement low arousal + low pleasantness= miserable

the three elements of secondary appraisal

1) assessment of who are what is responsible for causing the situation (blame or credit) 2) an assessment of the amount and type of control one has over the situation (coping potential) 3) the extent to which one expects the situations to change (future expectations)

basic emotional theories on emotional expression

1) basic emotions theory= human nature provides a template for the expression of each emotion, similar for humans all over the world 2) component processing model= human nature does provide a 'code' for emotional expression, but rather than emotional categories, it codes for more specific aspects of emotional appraisal such as novelty, pleasantness, control, expectedness etc 3) psychological construction models= facial expressions are likely to communicate the valence of emotion reliability across cultures and perhaps the arousal or activation levels -other aspects of emotional expression are much more likely to be learned from the social environment and will vary a lot from persons and situations

proposal that emotions includes what four aspects?

1) cognitive evaluation (or appraisal) -what the stimulus means to us 3) feelings (subjective changes) 2) physiological changes (autonomic and neural arousal) 3) behaviours

similarities of the evaluative space and circumplex model

1) emphasize feeling aspect of emotion 2) agree that emotional feelings are best described in terms of continuous rather than discrete dimensions 3) emphasize that feelings are mainly defined in terms of valence (positive and negative) and degree of arousal and activation

meta analysis on autonomic specificity

1) happiness generally produces less arousal than anger, fear, sadness or disgust 2) heart rate accelerates more during anger fear and sadness than disgust 3) compared to fear, anger produces higher blood pressure, smaller increases in rate rate and stroke volume, and greater finger pulse volume and temperature

physiological measurements of emotion

1) heart rate -most common -electrocardiogram (ecg) -QRS complex (contract, relax) -measured in: a) beats/min (not good for detecting brief changes) b) interbeat interval (time in milliseconds between each R peak) 2) blood pressure (systole/diastole) 3) finger temp (symp=reduced blood=colder) 4) respiration rate (measures rate and depth) 5) pupil diametre 6) electrodermal acitivity 7) cardiac pre ejection phase 8) respiratory sinus arithmia 9) saliva

two ways in which emotions can be adaptive

1) helping the individual survive and thrive 2) facilitating the relationships on which humans (and many other species) depend

differences between the component process model and the basic emotions

1) in the component process model various instances of the same general emotion will look different if the underlying appraisals are not the same 2) appraisal dimensions can combine in a variety of ways producing emotional responses that do not fit cleanly into a basic emotion category

key appraisal dimensions for component process model

1) novelty 2) pleasentness 3) expectedness 4) certainty 5) goal conduciveness 6) need for change 7) controllability *theory sees emotional events as being real and predictable but determined by the combined effects of each individual appraisal dimension rather than the predetermined package corresponding to a basic emotion category

Issues with Paul Edman's universal study of emotions

1) photos were carefully posed to be strong examples of the six expressions, such photos lead to high recognition accuracy (not high ecological validity) 2) the matching procedure utilized likely produced an overestimate of people's accuracy -this can be resolved by using free labeling instead of having all options out on display at once, however this can lead to unexpected answers (e.g.: labeling it as 'horror' instead of 'fear') 3) in real life we do not just base peoples emotions on static movement (we also look for things like posture, trembling, eye blinks, speed of walking, hand gestures, tone of voice etc.) 4) researchers photos have gaze directly at camera however some emotions (like fear) eyes might be averted else where

adaptive functions of emotions:

1) provide an overall evaluation of the environment as good, bad or somewhere in between (the cognitions/conscious) 2) approach or avoidance motivation, someone who fails to avoid threats would not manage to pass genes to subsequent gen. (motivation/behaviour) 3) information processing aspect of the brain,emotions as superordinate neural programs

three methods of measuring emotion

1) self reports (feelings) 2) physiological measurements 3) behaviours

gene based characteristic is functional if

1) the characteristic increases the probability that you will survive long enough to reproduce 2) characteristic increases probability that you will have more offspring than the next guy and these offspring will survive and reproduce 3) increases the probability that your relatives will survive and have more offspring

criteria of being a basic emotion

1) universal among humans 2) people should have a distinct built in way of expressing it (facial expression, tone of voice etc) 3) should be evident in early life 4) each basic emotion should be physiologically distinct

Magda Arnold

Arnold's theory prioritizes cognitive appraisal as the defining feature of emotional experience ad the cause of emotional behaviour -cognitive appraisal is the emotion

general adaptation syndrome

Hans Seyle's term for the body's reaction to any threat three steps: 1) alarm 2) resistance 3) exhaustion -eventually used the term 'stress' to define this syndrome

secondary appraisal

In Lazarus's theory, the individual's appraisal of his or her ability to cope with the situation, including who caused the situation, how much control one has over the situation, and the extent to which the situation is expected to change

primary appraisal

In richard lazarus's theory, the way in which some event in relevant to the individual's needs and well-being

Richard Lazarus

More closely aligned with Willam James on theories of appraisal than Magda -argued that appraisal causes emotion but is not the emotion, emotions include physiological, motivational and behavioural responses as well

core relation theme

a basic, prototypical type of problem or benefit that people can encounter in their transactions with the environment

adaption

a beneficial, genetically based characteristic that has become species typical as a result of natural selection

alarm

a brief period of high arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, readying the body for vigorous activity -epinephrine release and cortisol

hormone

a chemical produced by an endocrine gland and released into the bloodstream, which effect on one or more organs elsewhere in the body

appraisal dimensions

a common set of questions used to evaluate the meaning of every stimulus or situation we encounter; appraisal profiles, rather than individual themes, are associated with specific emotions

by-product

a genetically based characteristic that is neutral but is that result of a mutation that also causes some beneficial trait and becomes species typical as that mutation spreads though the population

oxytocin

a hormone and neurotransmitter that facilitates bonding and may increase attention to social cues -increases feelings of love that are already present -in some cases it increases feelings of trust

superordinate neural program

a hypothesized neural "program" that coordinated the activities of many smaller programs, activating those that will be useful for the function of the program and inhibiting those that will interfere

behavioural activation system

a hypothesized system of neural structures thought to support approach towards opportunities and important resources example: food/material resources, sexual partners, babies and other kin

behavioural inhibition system

a hypothesized system of neural structures thought to support avoidance of threats example: predators, toxic food, environmental hazards

reverse inference

a logical fallacy in which evidence that Predictor A causes outcome B is taken to mean that if B is present, A must be as well. This often happens in psychology when A is a psychological process and B is a biological one

free labeling

a method in which participants see a facial expression and come up with their own label for the emotion rather than choosing one from a predefined set of options

core affect

a model for describing the feeling aspect of emotion, emphasizing dimensions or pleasantness and arousal

circumplex model

a model in which emotional feelings form a circle, emotions close to each other on the circle are similar or likely to be experience at the same time -James Russel -emphasis on the feeling aspect of emotion (not cognitive, physiological, or behavioural)

evaluation space model

a model of attitudes, proposing that evaluations of some target's goodness and badness are independent rather than opposites -something can be good and bad at the same time -positive and negative affect should be independent dimensions of feeling rather than opposite ends of a single dimension

serotonin

a neurotransmitter involved in many sensory, cognitive and emotional processes -many receptors which regulate things such as nausea, memory, appetite control, sleep and other behaviours -depression= inadequate serotonin activity (SSRI's) -has been linked to aggressive behaviours and anger (LOW LEVELS)

B-endorphin

a neurotransmitter that serves as a natural pain killer -runners high, pleasant activity -aids with pain even with that of social loss and rejection

direct replication

a new study that uses the same methods as a previous study to see whether the original findings are repeated

Kulver-Bucy syndrome

a pattern of emotional changes accompanying removal of both anterior lobes, including the amygdale -would approach harmful stimuli People with it: -show no arousal to unpleasant photos -cannot rank faces as being trustworthy on untrustworthy

fear conditioning

a procedure in which one learns that a new stimulus, such as a tone or colour, predicts an electrical shock or other aversive event Amygdala damage- -lesion in rat, showed weaker freezing response and less increase in blood pressure after hearing danger tone

Mobius syndrome

a rare, congenital condition in which people are physically unable to smile

insula/ insular cortex

a region of the cortex tucked between the temporal and parietal lobes, important for perception of visceral sensations -appears to mediate wariness of one's internal physical state and is strongly activated during disgust and fear

limbic system

a set of neural structures originally proposed by Paul MacLean as the emotion network of the brain

autonomic nervous system

a set of neurons by which the peripheral nervous system influences the visceral organs -both input and output functions -two major branches= sympathetic and parasympathetic

duchenne smile

a smile that includes contraction of the orbicularis couli muscles surrounding the eyes, as well as raised lip corners

challenge

a state in which one's coping resources are appraised as adequate for dealing with the threat posed by a situation; associated with increased cardiac activity, but reduced vascular resistance -challenge appraisals and physiology have been found to predict higher exam performance and better academic outcomes(than threat)

meta-analysis

a statistical technique that combines the results of many different studies into a single analysis

hypothalamus

a structure located just above the bran stem and below the thalamus, directs the pituitary gland and regulates variables such as body temperature, hunger and thirst -reacts to a frightening sight by increasing heart rate and sweating in preparation for possible fight or flight activities -after prolonged physical stress, hypothalamus trigges the pituitary's release of cortisol which increases blood sugar and speeds up metabolism

ventral tagmental area

a structure of the brain's reward circuit, and a key input to the nucleus accumbens

nucleus accumbens

a structure that receives information relating to reared, focuses attention, and energizes behaviours that might lead to reward -this and the ventral tag mental area are part of a neural circuit that appears important for anticipating rewards -these areas directly or indirectly increase release of dopamine in the nuclease accumbens -dopamine activity appears necessary foramina's to approach stimuli that signal a reward is coming -not necessary for all aspects of reward (example: damage will not prevent eating or reward learning) -some cells in it respond to punishment as well as reward -primary input is the ventral tag mental area

amygdala

a structure within the brain's temporal lobe important for evaluating emotional information, especially threatening information, and for enhancing emotional memories -send info to the pons and other areas controlling the startle reflex , and it exchanges information back and forth with the thalamus and cerebral cortex -fear area of brain -although it becomes active in response to emotional stimuli in general, it response tends to be strongest and most consistent indicating danger and eliciting fear (but not limited to or necceasary for exciting fear)

conceptual replication

a study that attempts to support the theoretical implications of a pervious study's findings but using slightly different methods

facial action coding systen (FACS)

a system for coding specific muscles that contracts in a persons's facial expression

affect infusion model

a theoretical model explaining several ways in which affective valence influences judgement and decision making (emotional feelings influence our judgements and decisions) -emotional feelings prompt us to ask why we are feeling that way, this draws our attention toward features of the environment that are congruent with our mood and evokes mood-congruent thoughts and mems. -alters how people process information from the world around them

cardiac preejeciton period

a time in the milliseconds between the beginning of ventricular contraction and the explosion of blood into the aorta -measure of sympathetic activation -increases number of beats/min but also makes the heart beat more forcefully -speeding up contraction of the ventricles -the period between the two shortens with increasing sympathetic activation

evolution and modern theories of emotion

all agree that at least some aspects of emotion are functional adaptations part of human nature disagree which aspects of emotion are the product of our evolutionary heritage and how those aspects are adaptive

cortisol

an adrenal gland hormone that enhances metabolism and increases the availability of fuels in the body -increases blood pressure (retains sodium and fluids increasing amount of blood plasma)

cingulate cortex

an area that surrounds part of the corpus callous near the centre of the brain, important for a variety of cognitive, memory, and emotional functions

mere exposure effect

an effect in which people develop liking or fondness towards targets only because of being exposed to them a large number of times -can occur even when stimuli has been presented subliminally, show that the effect does not depend on conscious awareness or memory

undoing effect of positive emotion

an effect where positive emotions facilitate recovery from from sympathetic arousal associated with negative emotion

stress (McEwan's defintion)

an event of events that are interpreted as threatening to an individual and which elicit physiological and behavioural responses

Robert Zajonc

argues that preferences need no inferences -that at least some kinds of emotional responses do not require appraisals at all -the mere exposure effect

parasympathetic nervous system

branch of the nervous system that increase maintenance and functions conserving energy for later use and facilitating digestion, growth and reproduction

basic/discrete emotions

categories of emotional experiences such as fear, anger and sadness, thought to have evolved in response to specific kinds of threats and opportunities faced by human ancestor -most similar to James-lange, describing emotions as instinctive and adaptive, behavioural responses to stimuli in the environment and placing less of an emphasis on subjective feeling

electrodermal activity

changes in the ability of the skin to conduct electricity -detects the increased sweat gland activity resulting specifically from sympathetic activation -uses very small electric current

the core affect/psychological construction model of emotion

clear descendants of Schacter-Singer theory -share an assumption that physiological arousal is too general and undifferentiated to distinguish consistently among basic emotions -both argue that people rely on information from the situation along with language specific conceptual knowledge to categorize emotional feelings and decide which behaviours are likely and appropraite

appraisal

cognitive evaluations of what a stimulus or situation means for ones goals concerns and well being -ongoing relationships with the environment -our evaluation of whether a given stimulus is a source of benefit or harm -cognitive appraisals may lead to behaviours and feelings, but sometimes the feelings may influence future appraisals too

locked in syndrome

condition in which people lose almost all output from the brain to both the muscles and autonomic nervous system, although they continue to receive sensations

piloerection

contraction of smooth muscls around the base of hairs, making them stand up, caused bu sympathetic nervous system activation

threat

contrasted with challenge, a state in which the threat posed by a situation is appraised as exceeding one's ability to cope; associated with increased cardiac activity and overall vascular constriction

demand characteristics

cues in a research study that reveal what the experimenters hope to find, participants may knowningly or unconsciously comply with these wishes

display rules

cultural norms about when and with whom it is appropriate to display certain kinds of emotional expressions

lesion

damage to a part of the brain

gesture

deliberate head and hand movements that convert semantic content and are often culture specific

phylogeny

description of relationships among different species (or in this case, emotions) in terms of shared evolutionary history and branching from a common ancestor -Nesse and Ellsworth have proposed that we should think of emotions not only as evolved responses to our ancestors environments but also as having a phylogeny or evolutionary tree of their own example: primordial emotions of excitement and apprehension would have differentiated into responses to distinct kinds of opportunities and threats -reflect a 'fine tuning' of ancient emotional responses based on new abilities to appraise multiple aspects of the environment at once

damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex

display flat emotions coupled with poor impulsive decision making -express less empathy -show less ability to interpret people's facial expressions and experience less sense of guilt after hurting someone

physiological constructionists

do not assume that the experience of physical arousal is necessary for people to try and label their emotions

Paul ekman's study on physiological variability in emotions

elecited emotions by 1) posing facial expressions of each emotion and muscle by muscle instructions 2) reliving strong emotional memories -measured heart rate, finger temp, skin conductance and muscle tension -found that the six emotions showed different and consistent results for heart rate and finger temp -at least anger, fear and disgust can be differentiated in terms of autonomic effects

emotional response coherence

extent to which self-reports of emotion, physiological changes, and simple behaviours (such as facial expressions) are correlated with each other -self reports of emotion and sympathetic arousal only weakly predicted each other and were sometimes inversely related

ecological validity

extent to which what happens in a study reflects what really happens in everyday life

post hoc theory

generating a theoretical explanation for information that is already known, rather than using the theory for generating a new hypothesis in advance

what parts of the brain are activated when people are in a good or bad mood?

good mood--> tend to show greater activation (EEG) of the left frontal cortex -approach is instinctively linked to the evaluation of stimuli as positive negative mood--> activation of right frontal cortex

frontotemporal lobar degeneration or dementia

gradual deterioration of the frontal and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex, producing variable effects that sometimes include greatly impaired social behaviours (e.g. Phineaus Gage) -a prominent early effect is serious impairment of social behaviour -have much trouble interpreting other peoples emotional expressions such as facial expression and tone of voice or body posture -show lack of empathy, embarrassment or discerning for others emotions

dialect

group differences in accent and vocabulary within a language (in this case facial expression of emotion), such that people from different groups can understand each other but still find it easier to understand in-group rather than out-group members

emotion blend

in basic/discrete emotions theory, the simultaneous experience of more than one emotion

action unit

in the Facial Action coding system, the number and name assigned to the visible effects of contracting a specific facial muscle

pure autonomic failure

medical condition in which the autonomic nervous system ceases to influence the body -feel emotions less intensely

Zimbardo Wobbly Bridge Experiment

men on a higher more unsturdy bridge attributed their arousal to being sexually attracted to the female experimenter -they were more likely to call her after than those who met her on a more study bridge

EEG

method in which a researcher attaches electrodes to someone's scalp and measures momentary changes in the electrical activity under each electrode -amazing temporal resolution -but only good at recording neurones near the scalp -not good spatial resolution

hormones

molecules that carry instructions from the brain to other bodily organs by way of the blood supply

charles darwin on emotion

noted that expression of many animals and small children in emotional situations are similar to those of adult humans, and he proposed that emotional expressions are part of our evolutionary heritage

dopamine

one of the brain's neurotransmitters, important for appetitive behaviours and positive mood, among other functions -slow but has long lasting effects -highly active after unpredicted award -decreased activity after predicted award fails to appear -serves to increase attention and facilitate learning about how to get some reward

interoception

perception of the body itself, especially its interior

systolic blood pressure

pressure exerted by blood against the arteries while the heart is contracting

psychological construction

process by which people develop mental concepts lining different aspects of emotion to each other and to exciting situations; and alternate explanation for emotion categories used in the basic/discrete emotion theory -believe that this process starts when we first learn a particular emotion word from a parent or other caregiver -association of words to experiences--> emergence of a prototype -Lisa Barrett

evoked potentials or ERP's

rapid changes in the EEG single in response to a particular stimuli

experience sampling

research method in which participants are asked to report on their experience at random intervals throughout the day

fMRI

research method that measures brain activity based on changes in O2 uptake from the blood -good spatial resolution -poor ecological validity

PET scan

researcher injects a chemical such as radioactively labeled glucose and then uses a device that measures the radioactivity emanating from various areas -areas that take up glucose show the highest level of radioactivity

optogenetics

researcher uses a specially manipulated virus to insert light sensitive proteins not the membrane of certain neurons, and then implants a thin optical fibre into the brain to shine light and thereby control the activity of just one type of neuron, in just on brain area

error related negativity

researchers can detect a distinctive change in the electrical potiental at electrodes over the frontal lobes about 100 milliseconds after that person makes a mistake on some task

cytokines

small portions that contribute to the immune process by regulating inflammation at the site of an injury and by communicating to the brain to initiate appropriate responses by the brain --cytokine over stimulation can cause the brain to initiate certain adaptive responses such as fever, sleepiness, inactivity, decreased appetite and sex drive, also cytokines cause prolonged inflammation increasing the risk of psychological depression

peristalsis

smooth muscle contractions that move food through the digestive system, caused by parasympathetic nervous system activation

lajya

the Orissa Hindu emotion combining aspects of embarrassment and shame, includes biting ones tongue, a display not commonly observed in the states

biculturalisim

the ability to alternate between membership in one culture and membership in another

interbeat interval

the average time in milliseconds between heartbeats

homeostasis

the body's regulation of temperature, blood pressure, blood chemistry, hydration and other variables keeping them within a healthy range

central nervous system

the brain and spinal chord

respiratory sinus arrhythmia

the change in heart rate associated with breathing in versus out, used as a measure of parasympathetic nervous system activation -the extent of the difference in heart rate between inhalation and exhalation indicates how strongly the parasympathetic system is trying to slow the heart down at any given time

neurotransmitters

the chemicals that neurones use to communicate with one another

autonomic specificity

the extent to which each emotion has a distinct recognizable pattern of autonomic nervous system response -many studies found small differences but also much similarity across emotions

sympathetic nervous system

the fight or flight response branch of the autonomic nervous system which prepares the body for rigorous activity -vasoconstriction of the smooth muscles surrounding -artiers leading to the stomach, intestines and gentials are tightened wheras arteries learning to large muscles and brain dilate (more blood), however constrict hands feet and skin to avoid blood loss -dialtion of pupils (helpful for visual attention(

sympathetic nervous system

the fight-flight branch of the autonomic nervous system that readies the body for intense physical activity

exhaustion

the final stage of reaction to a prolonged stressor, characterized by weakness, fatigue, loss of appetite and interest

endocrine system

the hormones and glands that produce them

hypothalamus pituitary adernal axis

the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland -stress leads to the secretion of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal gland -cortisol elevates blood sugar and increases metabolism

facial feedback hypothesis

the hypothesis that a posed facial expression of emotion can help generate an emotional feeling

component process model

the idea that emotions reflect the intersection of several appraisal dimensions that can be combined in different ways -cognitive appraisal aspect is seen as being very important

stress (Selye's definition)

the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made on it. Any major alternation in your life stresses you by changing you in some way like bending metal. Changing in any direction (pleasant or unpleasant) stresses you and changing back stresses you also -he tortured the rats by accident increasing stress of both experimental and control groups and found that after the experiment they all had high rates of cancer -he found the same reaction in any negative situation (cold, hot, pain, fear inducing stimuli etc)

diastolic blood pressure

the pressure exerted by blood against the arteries while its not contracting

natural selection

the process by which problematic genetic mutations are removed for the population, where as beneficial mutations spread through the population because of the mutations effect on reproduction

prefrontal cortex

the region forward of the motor areas of the frontal cortex, associated with self regulation, memory, effortful cognition, and some emotion related processes -restrains amygdala during the appraisal process -reduces emotional intensity -after damage to prefrontal cortex or to its connections with the amygdala unwise decisions are commonly the result (Phineays Gage) -damage to it results in decision making issues -imagining your emotional outcomes is an essential basis for making good decisions

reliability

the repeatability of the results of some measurement, expressed as a correlation between one score and another

parasympathetic nervous system

the rest and digest branch of the autonomic nervous system, which diverts resources to maintenance and growth activities -insulin secretion increases storage of energy in fatty tissues and liver -in almost all situations do not effect blood vessels directly (except in aiding with digestion) -aids facilitation of sex -people with higher resting parasympathetic activation tend to be better than average at regulating emotions -report more positive affect in day to day life -slower heart rate allows you to better focus on others

resistance

the stage of prolonged but moderate arousal in response to some stressor -adrenal cortex continues secreting cortisol enabling body to be ready for response at any time

environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA)

the time and place in the past when an adaptation spread through the population as a result of natural selection example: liking the taste of fatty and sugary foods was adaptive in the EEA in which this characteristic evolved, but it may be harmful in modern, resource rich societies

cognitive neoassociationistic (CNA) model of anger

theory that anger and reactive aggression are enhanced by any unpleasant event or aversive condition

how can people have such different emotional reactions to the same situation, and the same emotional response to completely different situations?

there must be some psychological processes between perception of the eliciting stimulus and the emotional reactions -APPRAISAL (what elicits an emotional response is not the objective stimulus, but out subjective interpretation of what the stimulus means for our goals, concerns and well-being)

Amygdala and emotional memory

those with damage do not show emotional facilitation of memory, remembering at the everyday content approximately as well as the emotional items -fMRI activation indicates that the amygdala is activated while viewing emotional stimuli and predicts later memory of those stimuli: 1) directs attention towards stimuli with emotional implications such as the expression eyes show 2) facilitates activity in the hippocampus *tags particular emotional memories as having strong emotional significance and instigates processes that enhance these memories for future reference

James-Lange theory

view that emotions (especially the feeling aspects of emotions) are the labels we give to the way the body reacts to certain situations

Schacter-Singer theory

view that physiological arousal is essential for determining how strong an emotional feeling will be, but does not identify the emotion, you identify which emotion you feel on the basis of all the information you have about the situation -the main difference between one emotion and another is the cognitive appraisal, not the physiological aspect

Cannon Bard theory

view that the cognitive/appraisal, feelings, and physiological/behavioural aspects of emotion are independent of each other, although they may all be elicited by the same event -cognitions independent of body responses

intrapersonal functions of emotion

ways in which emotions directly benefit the reproductive fitness of an individual experiencing the emotion example: fear is functional because it helps save the life of a frightened person facilitating that person's escape from a predator or some other physical threat -situation eliciting the emotion poses a problem for the individuals fitness

social functions of emotions

ways in which emotions support committed, interdependent, and complex relationships among people that in turn help us to survive and pass along our genes -example: love--> helps build a sense of commitment in our important relationships so that we're prepared to help each other out the next time a group effort it needed -sometime in the future your survival may depend on the relationships that emotional displats supported and emotional commitment to mates and offspring helps increase the chance that our genes will make it successfully into future generations

validity

whether a test measures what is claims to measure

vocal bursts

worldess vocalizations such as ah or mmmm, intended to express a particular emotion