Biopsychology

Assignment

Biology
of
emotions
 Contents
1. Introduction
2. Anatomy of emotions
3. Brain Mechanism of Emotions
4. Facial Expression and Emotions
INTRODUCTION

We’re all familiar with emotions. All of experience a variety of

emotions on a daily basis; joy, anger, fear, jealousy. To some extent,
these emotions are automatic. Our brain relays these information
without any consciousness. But there are a lot of emotions that we
experience in complete wakefulness, these ‘feelings’ as we call them,
are what we’re able to describe. We’re, to some extent, able to name
the emotion being experienced in the instant.
Intensive studies on emotions have enabled us to demarcate the porous
but distinct boundaries between conscious and unconscious. And the
way the two sets of cognition are constantly interacting with each other.
The first person to consider biological aspect of emotions was Charles
Darwin. He showed that unconscious aspects of emotion are present in
animals as well as people and noted that these unconscious aspects have
been extremely well conserved throughout evolution.

Theories of emotions
There are a lot of theories about the mental and biological processes
behind emotions and their expressions. The earliest theories date back
to 19th century. While these theories have now been replaced, they
played a vital role in paving the way for the modern, more
comprehensive theories.
The James-Lange theory is the earliest known theory on emotions. In
1884, psychologist William James proposed that when an individual is
aware of their body's physiological arousal and emotional behavior
their emotions are shown. James argued that the process of emotional
experience is
Emotional stimulus Physiological response
Carle Lange worked independently but emphasized on the same theory
and made James’ theory more testable and relatable to real life
examples. This theory was soon discounted and challenged. William
Wundt himself argued that emotions created physiological responses
rather than the other way round.
Later works of neuroscientists and psychologists further disproved
the works of James and Lange. Their experiments proved that
animals and human with sensory loss were still capable of
experiencing emotions

Cannon and Bard directly challenged their theory and proposed that
physiological responses were caused by emotions. They put forth the
‘Thalamic theory of emotions’, according to which emotional
expression were a result of functions of hypothalamic structures. The
Cannon-Bard Theory was formulated as a challenge and alternative to
the James-Lange theory. It was still a very primitive theory.

A third theory, called the Papez-Maclean Theory, was put forth as an

extenstion cum alternative to Cannon-Bard theory. Formulated by
James Papez and Paul D. Maclean, this theory corrected the thalamic
theory in the area of emotion stimulus. Papez suggested that the
anatomical interconnections in the limbic system were constituted to
handle the long-lasting, intense aspects of experience that were
associated with emotions. Maclean added to this theory the connection
between brain and viscera. The circuit related to this theory is:
Hippocampal formation (subiculum) → fornix → mammillary bodies
→ anterior thalamic nucleus → cingulum → hippocampal formation
 A culmination of these and some more theories is responsible for the
modern theories revolving the biological basis of emotions and their
expression.

Anatomy of emotions
Emotions can be classified along two axes– valence and intensity.
Valence has to do with the nature of emotion, how bad or good it makes
us feel. Intensity has to do with the strength of the emotions, that is the
degree of arousal it evokes. Almost all of the emotional experiences
can be mapped along these axes.
Many structures of the brain contribute to the expression and
experience of emotions and feelings. But the most important structures
are: hypothalamus, amygdala, basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex. The
hypothalamus executes the emotions, amygdala orchestrates the
emotions, the basal ganglia, particularly the striatum is responsible for
formation of habits and addictions and the prefrontal cortex is
responsible for evaluating whether the emotion is appropriate for the
current situation or not.

The limbic system

The limbic system is the area of the brain most heavily implicated in
emotion and memory. Its structures include the hypothalamus,
thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus. The hypothalamus plays a role
in the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is a part of
any emotional reaction. The thalamus serves as a sensory relay center;
its neurons project signals to both the amygdala and the higher cortical
regions for further processing. The amygdala plays a role in processing
emotional information and sending that information on to cortical
structures. The hippocampus integrates emotional experience with
cognition
Other parts of the limbic system include the olfactory bulbs, anterior
nuclei, fornix, column of fornix, mammillary body, septum pellucidum,
habenular commissure, cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, limbic
cortex, and limbic midbrain areas.
The processes of the limbic
system control our physical
and emotional responses to
environmental stimuli. This
system categorizes the
experience of an emotion as a
pleasant or unpleasant mental
state. Based on this
categorization, neurochemicals
such as dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin increase or decrease,
causing the brain’s activity level to fluctuate and resulting in changes
in body movement, gestures, and poses.

Amygdala
The amygdala, located in the left and right temporal lobes of the brain,
has received a great deal of attention from researchers investigating the
biological basis of emotions, particularly of fear and anxiety. The
amygdala plays a decisive role in the emotional evaluation and
recognition of situations as well as in the analysis of potential threats.
It handles external stimuli and induces vegetative reactions.
Two parts of the amygdala include the basolateral complex and the
central nucleus. The basolateral complex has dense connections with a
variety of sensory areas of the brain. It plays a critical role in classical
conditioning and in attaching emotional value to learning processes and
memories. The central nucleus plays a role in attention. It has
connections with the hypothalamus and various areas of the brainstem
and regulates the activity of the autonomic nervous and endocrine
systems.
Research suggests that the amygdala is involved in mood and anxiety
disorders. Changes in amygdala structure and function have been found
in adolescents who either are at risk for or have been diagnosed with a
mood or anxiety disorder.

Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is part of the peripheral nervous
system in humans. The ANS can be further subdivided into the
sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
The parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions of the ANS have
complementary functions, and they operate in tandem to maintain the
body’s equilibrium. Equilibrium of the body, in which biological
conditions (such as body temperature) are maintained at optimal levels,
is known as homeostasis.
The ANS works with the limbic system and the brain stem to control
the physiological manifestations of emotions. Elevated heart and breath
rate, tears, shivering and other responses to emotional experiences are
brought about by the ANS.
Brain mechanism of emotions

We still do not know how the brain controls the experience or

expression of emotion, or how the brain interprets emotion in others,
but progress has been made. There are a lot of theories regarding this
as well. The cognitive theory is the currently most accepted theory.
There have been many studies conducted on functional brain-imaging
of people experiencing or imagining emotions or watching others
experiencing them. These studies have established three points that
have advanced our understanding of the brain mechanisms of emotion
in fundamental ways:
1. Brain activity associated with each human emotion is diffuse—
there is not a centre for each emotion like a mosaic.

2. There is virtually always activity in motor and sensory cortices

when a person experiences an emotion or empathizes with a
person experiencing an emotion.

3. Similar patterns of brain activity tend to be recorded when a

person experiences an emotion, imagines that emotion, or sees
somebody else experience that emotion

Cognitive-mediational Theory
Psychologist Richard Lazarus (1991) developed the cognitive-
mediational theory, which asserts our emotions are determined by our
appraisals of stimuli. This appraisal mediates between the stimulus and
the emotional response, and it is immediate and often unconscious.
Lazarus argued that the appraisal precedes cognitive labelling,
simultaneously stimulating both the physiological arousal and the
emotional experience itself.
Lazarus argued that the cognitive activity involved in interpreting
emotional context could be conscious or unconscious and may or may
not take the form of conceptual processing. He stressed that the quality
and intensity of emotions are controlled through cognitive processes,
which mediate the relationship between the person and the environment
through coping strategies, which in turn are the basis of the emotional
reaction.
Lateralisation of emotions
There is evidence suggesting that emotional functions are lateralized,
that is, the left and right cerebral hemispheres are specialized to
perform different emotional functions.
The difference between the hemispheres relates to personality: On the
average, people with greater activity in the frontal cortex of the left
hemisphere tend to be happier, more outgoing, and more fun-loving.
People with greater right hemisphere activity tend to be socially
withdrawn, less satisfied with life, and prone to unpleasant emotions.
People with damage to the right temporal cortex have trouble
identifying other people’s emotional expressions or even saying
whether two people are expressing the same emotion or different ones.
Facial expressions and emotions
Facial expressions are very important to humans as a species. Not only
is it important for us to recognise the faces of people we know, but also
their facial expressions tell us what sort of mood they are in.
Several studies have found that people of different cultures make
similar facial expressions in similar situations and that they can
correctly identify the emotional significance of facial expressions
displayed by people from cultures other than their own. In contrast, if
the facial expressions didn’t match the emotion, almost no one was able
to correctly guess the emotion.
Ekman and Friesen concluded that the facial expressions of the
following six emotions are primary: surprise, anger, sadness, disgust,
fear, and happiness. They further concluded that all other facial
expressions of genuine emotion are composed of mixtures of these six
primaries.
It was found that when participants were portraying happiness and
disgust, their heart rates slowed; for anger and fear, heart rates were
accelerated. This would seem to suggest that feedback from facial
muscles can affect autonomic arousal. In fact, these effects were
stronger than when the same participants were overtly asked to 'feel'
these emotions.
Face-sensitive neurons have been identified in the inferior cortex of the
temporal lobe in the visual association area, which is next to the visual
cortex identified in earlier chapters. Baylis, et al. (1985) found that
most of these neurones are sensitive to recognising differences between
faces. This sensitivity would suggest why you may well recognise
someone's face but cannot remember their name.
Reference
John P. J. Pinel & Steven J. Barnes (2018). University of British
Columbia. Tenth Edition. Biopsychology
Karl H. Pribram (1991). Handbook of clinical neuropsychology.
Karl Pribram (1980). Academic Press. Theories of emotions.
Eric Kandel (2018). The Disordered Minds.