Emotion and Health

1. Emotion and Health

2. Emotions colorize, energize, and motivate behavior Emotion is “an increase or decrease in physiological activity that is accompanied by feelings that are characteristic of the emotion and often accompanied by a characteristic behavior or facial expression.”

3. Emotions correlate with relative increases or decreases in activity of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, as well as correlates that involves the muscular system Facial feedback demo http://itc.gsw.edu/faculty/gfisk/anim/autonomicns.swf

4. James-Lange theory of emotion physiological arousal comes first, which then triggers an emotion which emotion gets triggered depends on the pattern of physiological arousal Different areas of the brain do seem to specialize in certain emotions The presence if “mirror neurons” may explain how others emotions induce our own Schacter-Singer Cognitive theory which emotion is felt depends on the person’s perception of the situation physiological arousal only serves to intensify the emotion experienced Dutton and Aron (1974) Many factors influence the experience of emotion: neurochemistry, which brain areas are activated, perception of the situation & culture & contextual factors…

5. Dutton and Aron (1974) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0aMEkGlcQE

6. The Limbic System: Biological Basis of Emotions? hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala Emotional responses Fight or flight reaction Hormone secretions Conversion of short-term memories into long-term memories Motivation (the 4 F’s) Pain reflex Mood fluctuations But other structures participate and Limbic system structures do other Things too

7. Brain-emotion associations Amygdala = fear Insular Cortex & Basal Ganglia = disgust http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGDKlCTzyyg

8. The prefrontal cortex The frontal lobe mediates higher order cognitive processes The frontal lobe may be analogous to the super ego The limbic system may be analogous to the id If connections between them are severed, the id is “set free” Rational decision making Impaired by the LOSS of emotion For normal people, emotional consequences drive or motivate rational decisions Phineas Gage (Becharaet al., 1999)

9. Amygdala: fear & anxiety Fear is a feeling of disquiet that begins rapidly in the presence of danger and dissipates quickly once the threat is removed. It is generally adaptive. Anxiety: uneasiness over the anticipation of less specific or predictable threats. It lasts longer than fear and can also be adaptive. What effect do amygdala lesions have on behavior? What effect does electrical stimulation of theamygdala have on behavior? The amygdala has receptors for benzodiazepines and opiates… pharmaco-behavioral evidence?

10. Amygdala: Memory Flashbulb memories Ledoux: NE blockers Rewards & Punishments Mediated through amygdalar responses Implications for sociopaths? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsiGLqBuVxs

11. Stress, Immunity and Health Acute stress has minimal effect on health and may even boost immunity Chronic stress can have large negative effects on health immune system impairment, cancer, CHD cort & the hippocampus > brain damage In what way might personality moderate the effect of stress on health?

12. PAIN: Sensory Affective evaluative experience Through hypnosis, can separate the physical sensation from the emotional component – Changes relative activity in the somatosensory and anterior cingulate cortex

13. aggression Animals: predatory, offensive, defensive Humans: reactive & proactive aggression Testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, serotonin, oxytocin… all implicated Different neural pathways have been associated with different types of aggression