Biopsychology of Emotion: The Role of Fear

• This chapter explores the biopsychology of emotion, stress, and health, initially presenting a historical overview of emotion's biopsychology, then focusing on fear.
• Biopsychological research concentrates on fear due to its easy inference across species, its role in avoiding threats, and its connection to chronic stress.
• The chapter concludes by discussing the brain structures associated with human emotion, and how stress elevates susceptibility to illness.
• It Introduces the biopsychology of emotion through early discoveries, emphasizing the autonomic nervous system's involvement in emotional experiences and facial expressions.

Early Landmarks in Biopsychological Investigation of Emotion

• Provides a chronological exploration of six significant milestones in the biopsychological study of emotion, starting w/ the case of Phineas Gage in 1848.

The Mind-Blowing Case of Phineas Gage

• In 1848, Phineas Gage, a 25-year-old railroad construction foreman, was injured when gunpowder exploded, sending a tamping iron through his head.
• Gage survived, but his personality changed drastically. He became irreverent, impulsive, and unreliable, leading to job loss and an itinerant life.
• After death and burial beside the tamping iron, neurologist John Harlow exhumed Gage’s body and iron for study.
• In 1994, Damasio et al. used computer reconstruction to analyze Gage's skull, revealing damage to both medial prefrontal lobes, areas critical for planning, decision-making, and emotion.

Darwin’s Theory of the Evolution of Emotion

• In 1872, Darwin published "The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals," arguing for universal emotional responses across species.
• Darwin posited that emotional expressions evolved like behaviors and aimed to understand them by comparing them across different species.
• Darwin's theory of emotional expression evolution has three ideas:
  • Expressions stem from behaviors indicating an animal's future actions.
  • Beneficial signals evolve to improve communication, sometimes losing original function.
  • Opposite messages are conveyed through opposite movements, known as the principle of antithesis.
• Darwin's theory explains the evolution of threat displays, starting as combat preparations, later evolving into effective intimidation tactics.
• Aggression and submission are signaled oppositely, demonstrated by gulls pointing or averting beaks, and primates staring or averting gazes.

James-Lange and Cannon-Bard Theories

• The first theory of emotion was independently proposed by James and Lange in approx 1884.
• The James-Lange theory: Emotion-inducing stimuli are processed by the cortex, triggering visceral organ changes via the autonomic nervous system and skeletal muscle changes via the somatic nervous system; autonomic and somatic responses then cause emotional experience in the brain.
• Theory effectively reversed the commonsense understanding, suggesting physical responses cause emotion, not vice versa.
• Cannon suggested an alternative around and after 1915, later promoted by Bard.
• Cannon-Bard theory contends that emotional stimuli have two independent effects: stimulating emotional feeling in the brain and emotional expression via the autonomic and somatic nervous systems.
• In contrast to the James-Lange theory, sees emotional experience and expression as parallel processes without direct causation.
• James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories differ on the role of feedback from autonomic and somatic nervous systems in emotional experience.
• James-Lange theory emotion depends on feedback; Cannon-Bard theory emotional experience is independent from such feedback.
• Both theories are inaccurate. Autonomic and somatic feedback human patients with broken necks are still capable of experiencing emotions, and autonomic and somatic responses to stimuli do influence emotional experience.
• Modern biopsychological view: perception of emotion-inducing stimuli, autonomic and somatic responses, and emotional experience all influence each other

Sham Rage

• In the late 1920s, Bard found that decorticate cats (cats without a cortex) display exaggerated aggression to minimal stimuli, known as sham rage.
• The hypothalamus, not the cortex, is critical for expressing aggressive responses; The cortex serves to inhibit and direct these responses.

Limbic System and Emotion

• In 1937, Papez proposed that emotional expression is controlled by interconnected nuclei and tracts surrounding the thalamus.
• Key structures of the circuit: the amygdala, mammillary body, hippocampus, fornix, cingulate cortex, septum, olfactory bulb, & hypothalamus.
• Emotional states result from interactions within this circuit and their impact on the hypothalamus and cortex.
• Papez's theory was expanded by Paul MacLean in 1952 to become the limbic system theory of emotion.

Klüver-Bucy dsyndrome

• In 1939, Klüver and Bucy described syndrome from anterior temporal lobes removal in monkeys.
• The syndrome includes consumption of almost anything edible, increased sexual activity, repetitive investigation of objects, investigation with the mouth, and lack of fear.
• Most primate symptoms are attributed to amygdala damage; plays a major role in research on emotion.
• The syndrome has been observed in humans and several animal species.

Emotions and the Autonomic Nervous System

• Research investigates the degree of specific ANS patterns linked to distinct emotions and the use of ANS measures in lie detection (polygraphy).

Emotional Specificy of the Autonomic Nervous System

• James-Lange theory emotional stimuli create different ANS patterns. Distinct emotions arise from these varying patterns.
• Cannon-Bard theory claims there is a pattern of sympathetic activation for all emotions, preparing bodily action. Experimental evidence finds that the specificity of ANS reactions is in between total specificity & total generality; Not all emotions share ANS activity, but no emotion has distinct ANS pattern.

Polygraphy

• Polygraphy uses ANS indices of emotion to determine if a person/s answers in interrogation are being truthful. Polygraph tests when administered by examiners can add to normal procedures, but can be fallible.
• The main issue in evaluating effectiveness is the challenge of determining guilt or innocence in real-life situations.
• Polygraphy are commonly use the mock-crime procedure, which is where Volunteers participate in a mock crime then subjected to test by an examiner unaware of their guilt or innocence".
• Control-question technique: The physiological response to target questions compared to control questions.
• Question example include "Have you ever been in jail before". The concept is lying involves sympathetic activation. Reviews use in real-lie is about 55% or about the same as guessing.
• Polygraphy detects ANS activity, not lies; less accurate in real life due to likely emotional reactions to relevant questions from all suspects.
• The guilty-knowledge technique assesses reaction to crime details known only to the guilty, avoiding lie detection.
• In a study, volunteers stole from an office. 88% of mock criminals were correctly identified by electrodermal activity; all innocents judged not guilty.

Emotions and Facial Expression

• Ekman and colleagues analyzed photographs of people experiencing real emotions in the 1960s.
• They found that to show surprise, models should pull brows up to wrinkle their forehead and open their eyes to show white above the iris, drop their jaw.

Universality of Facial Expression

• Early studies show cultural similarity in creating and identifying the emotional significance of facial expressions.
• Findings confirmed by studying isolated New Guinea tribe members; had little interaction with outside world.

Primary Facial Expression

• Ekman and Friesen: 6 primary expressions are surprise, anger, sadness, disgust, fear, and happiness.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

• Facial expressions influence emotions.
• One test: Volunteers assigned happy face when exposed to emotional stimulus and angry face when exposed to emotional stimulus. The emotional states correlated.
• Meta-analysis: facial feedback effect; effects smaller than initially believed

Voluntary Control of Facial Expression

• Voluntary control enables suppression of true expressions and substitution of false ones; the latter can be difficult to fool an expert.
• True emotions show micro expressions: brief facial expressions; break through false one.
• Skilled observers find the differences between genuine and false expressions.
• Duchenne noted genuine smiles contract orbicularis oculi around the eye and zygomaticus major pulling lip corners up; Orbicularis oculi is involuntary. Deliberate smiles lack the component. Named "Duchenne" smile.

Facial Expressions: Current Perspectives

• The availability of modern video recordings has qualified Ekman's original theory of facial expressions.
• The six primary emotions rarely occur in pure form.
• Body Cues matter in expressing motions
• It's now clear there are distinct differences in primary facial expressions between people form the west and from Eastern Asia.
• Current Perspective: facial expressions aren't as universal as we once thought.

Fear, Defense, and Aggression

• Research is focused on emotions like fear and defensive behaviors.
• Fear: the emotional reaction to threat; motivates defensive behaviors.
• Defensive : behaviors intended to protect from threat.
• Aggressive: threaten or harm.
• Study illustrates can over come problems of vague concepts by basing their research by describing behaviours.

Types of Aggressive and Defensive Behaviors

• Research by Blanchard and Blanchard use a colony intruder model of aggression and defense in rats.
• Alpha male chases and bites intruder; when intruder stops running and faces alpha male the alpha male shifts orientation.
• Pellis’ (1988) study of cats interacting with mice began that way, and led to improved understanding. Some killed efficiently; others were defensive.
• Each interaction with mice can be understood by locating the interactions on a scale from aggressiveness to defensiveness.
• By reducing defensiveness with anti anxiety drugs, some cats moved down the scale towards more aggressive behaviours.
• Aggressive and defensive behaviors based on topography, elicit situation, apparent function: categories used by researchers. The aggressive and defensive behaviors led to discovery of the target site concept: Animal behaviors are often design to target spots on another. E.g., lateral attack in rats for defending rats back.
• Discovery: behaviours now occur is a necessary way to identify the neural basis. Delineation is required prior to neural circuits. One thought: lateral septum inhibits aggression because lesions made it difficult to handle; in the fact no not start.

Aggression and Testosterone

• Social aggression more common with males can be explained with organizational and activational effects of testosterone.
• Neonatal studies show that castration of mice eliminate ability to activate social aggression, while others saw reduction.
• There are major conclusions that can be made from what is known:
  • social aggregation; major is avoided.
  • Species: has no aggregation, sometime reduces.
  • The correlation can indicate aggression behavior increasing testosterone.
• The relation with testosterone and aggregation is because engagement and aggregation occurs themselves, while testing increase test levels in college students Klinesmith,
• Brain is not used as the best source of information: Blood level as testosterone is used, brain is not in most areas
• Aggression is in testosterone: does not increase that puberty level but aggressive does not have this be eliminated.

Neural mechanism and fear.

• Much of it is conditioning: presenting to the stimuli which often occurs after several stimuli from the presentation.
• Example often hears tone and then receives a mild shock: after parings respond and can be associated or sympathetic.
• LeDoux mechanism for conditioning: the forms of auditory conditioning that can occur Kim, & Jung, 2018; Ledoux, 2014).

Amygdala and Fear conditioning.

• Lesions of the amygadala and auditory pathways. Fear conditioned but bilateral lesions didn't: indicated the nuclei signal is not necessary for but but the nuclei in the cortex is needed.
• Pathways proved to be the nucleus to the signals from the brain. The imput from the area to sensory systems. From the amygdala several signal from the brain structure carries emotion Dampney, 2015). The periaqueductal (See Kin, Et tal, 2015) while the pathways can illicit the sympatheric

Contextual Fear conditioning (See Chang and grace, 2015).

The fact that simple sounds doesn't mean the cordtex is conditioned in those conditiions: However the cortical rate is capble of mediation and the conditioning of simplie if damaged conditioning.

• The circuit in brain the affect the condidtion on stimuli: the sound from the geniculate of thaimus to reach directly or not to the cortex.

Contextual Fear conditioning and the hippocampus

• Stimuli are encountered to be triggered to receive fear: it's reasonable to accept the conditioning involved Bilateral hippocompal Lesions blocke what caused the effect.

Amygdala Complex and Fear Conditioning

• The amygdala complex consist of a doesn other regions where the nuclei in its subnuecli are divided.Each differ in the same way: In that and Tye, 2015). the demonstratration that that this is what allows conditioning,storage (See Duvarci Pare, 2014. Janak the area is involved in the the acquisition. Both the prefrontal and the hippicampus help effect the medial and cortex It thought to act out of of these functions in Tye, 2015; See Kim

Neural Mechanisms of Human Emotion Current Perspectives

• Brain imaging studies have shaped current understanding: amygdalae & medial prefrontal cortex play roles in perception & experience of human emotion.
• Findings:
  • Emotional situations increase cerebral activity across brain. Emotional stimuli also activate brain areas for other processes.
  • No brain structure is tied to a single emotion. Same stimuli activate different areas across people.

Stress and Health

• This is a response to the physical harm the responses such as "Selye" will be activated the response and change a lot. .Short change mobilzing it while Long term it creates bad responses it is chronic that mostly involves it. The components the responses The Adrenocorticotropic is released stimulate responses (Russell the major feature of it all is that everything of the same however it there are complex things.

Animal Models of Stress

• Most of its related research conducted with the humans, these are the controlled experiments: with non humans involved. The form of stress such as the electric or restrain Ethics, these are the research studies that create stressful situations which can be bad. These are the often of scientific value because there is an extreme response used. There's models here of social threat the one used with animal most male mammals threatened.The result is Rodriguez that at are the results that occur. Stutter in the animal and most happens the more small one. The testostrone and lower and the levels that rise.Bullying is involved

PSYCHOSOMATIC DISORDER

• Our view has been refined by the results of research on gastric ulcers. Pathological effects : have increased as these identify which psychological effects lead to bad effects on health.The effects (such as that ones already of these is the reasonable thing to consider.
• Psychological effects can be related to the gastritis such as lesions lining the abdominal which in the most extreme effects its considered to be related or cause

Psychoneuroimmunology

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Explore biopsychological research on emotions, focusing on why fear has been a primary area of study. Understand the autonomic nervous system's role in emotional experience. Recognize the differences between genuine and deliberate smiles according to Duchenne's observations.