Emotion and Cognition

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Emotion and Cognition

• Michael Ziessler

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What is emotion?
Oxford dictionary A mental feeling or affection
(e.g. of pain, desire, hope), as distinct from
cognitions or volitions.
Own experience Emotion is a particular feeling,
quality of conscious awareness, way of
responding ? Excitement, elation, sadness,
frustration
However, general definition remains problematic!
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Aspects of emotion

• behavioural
• physiological
• cognitive
• subjective

Affects the behaviour ? action dispositions Bias
the organism towards an action Fear ? flee / Love
? approach
Activation of the sympathetic system, emotional
arousal Affects body functions, e.g. heart beat
Affects perception and memory
Subjective experience of emotion
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Basic types of emotion

• Two basic types
• Positive or Approach (joy, interest, love)
• draw us to stimuli
• Negative or Withdraw (hate, fear, disgust)
• increase distance to stimuli

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Nature and function of emotion
Role of emotion in evolution

• Darwin (1872) considered emotions and the
  expression of emotions as important for the
  welfare of mankind.
• Basic emotions Surprise, anger, sadness,
  disgust, fear, happiness
• allow fast decisions on behaviour (Damasio,
  1996)
• are important to understand and predict
  behaviour of other people (e.g. facial
  expressions)

(not always adaptive!)
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Nature and function of emotion
Example for the adaptive function of emotions
(Damasio, 1996) Big moving objects cause
fear. Meeting a bear ? fear, tendency to
flee requires energy and oxygen in the
muscles ? activation of the sympathetic systems
prepares the body to flee Experience of a bear
in the forest can also connect the emotion of
fear with forest.
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Nature and function of emotion
Emotions are also important for social
interaction baby - face expression and
crying express negative emotions ask for
help adults facial expressions (very
difficult to fake) tell us something about what
the partner feels or thinks emotions also
affect the vocalisation
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Triggers of emotion

• Emotions are triggered by stimuli (Zajonc, 1980,
  1984)
• Emotions are triggered by cognition (i.e.
  require processing and evaluation of the
  stimuli, cognitive interpretation of the
  stimuli) (Lazarus, 1984)
• - Emotions arise from discrepancy between an
  anticipated state of the world and an actual
  state (Bower, 1992, Mandler, 1990)
• - Emotions arise from action monitoring meeting
  an intended action results in positive emotion,
  discrepancy in negative emotion (Fonberg, 1986)

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Triggers of emotion
If emotions are directly triggered by stimuli,
emotion precedes cognition.
If emotions depend on the evaluation of stimuli,
emotions follows from cognition.
Hen egg problem --- what comes first?
Lazarus-Zajonc debate Indeed there is empirical
evidence for both views!
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Triggers of emotion
Zajonc (1984) Primacy of Affect Affective
responses to stimuli can occur without prior
appraisal of the stimuli

• Evidence mere exposure effect
• Subliminal presentation of stimuli
• after some presentations participants have to
  give a rating how much they like stimuli.
• Participants liked more those stimuli presented
  before than new stimuli.
• Positive emotion due to familiarity

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Triggers of emotion
Lazarus (1984) Primacy of Cognition Affective
responses to stimuli depend on the evaluation or
appraisal of the stimuli.
Evidence Participants see the same stimulus
material with different evaluation ? Results in
different affective responses (reduced stress
measures such as heart rate, galvanic skin
reflex)
Consequences for therapy Treatment of phobia via
changing the evaluation of the critical stimuli
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Triggers of emotion
Emotions are not always related to specific
stimuli -- situational context might be important
Example animal that expects food show negative
emotions if the food does not arrive -- no food
is not a stimulus, the problem for the animal is
the discrepancy between the expectation and the
real experience.
Archer (1976) fear and aggression are aroused by
comparison between expected states of the world
and actual states.
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Triggers of emotion
Relationship to goal directed behaviour Leventha
l (1984) Interruption negative emotion Goal
achievement positive emotion
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Triggers of emotion
Emotional responses to a number of stimuli can be
native. e.g. rat fears cat
Learning is also possible for example through
conditioning
Classical example Watsons (1919) experiment
with Little Albert Alberts pet rat was
associated with a loud noise behind Alberts
head. Albert developed conditioned fear related
to his pet rat.
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery

• James-Lange Theory
• William James (1842-1910)
• Carl Lange (1834-1900)
• ? Emotions are the result of emotional responses
  of the body

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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery - James-Lange Theory
James (1890) The bodily changes follow directly
the perception of the exciting fact, and our
feelings of the same changes as they occur is the
emotion. Common sense says we lose our fortune,
are sorry and weep we meet a bear, are
frightended, and run The hypothesis here to be
defended says that this order of sequence is
incorrect The more rational statement is that
we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we
strike, afraid because we tremble, and not that
we cry, strike or tremble because we are sorry,
angry or fearful, as the case may be.
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery - James-Lange Theory
Subjective emotion
Stimulus
Perception
Somatic nervous system
Autonomic nervous system
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery - James-Lange Theory
Example Strack et al. (1988) Participants who
watched cartoons while holding a pen between
their lips (sucking position) regarded the
cartoons as less funny than did participants
holding the pen between their teethes. Lips
condition muscles for smiling are inhibited
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery - James-Lange Theory

• Problems with the theory Cannon (1927)
• visceral changes are too slow to affect
  emotional changes
• cutting the connection between periphery and CNS
  should eliminate the emotions not true
• same physiological changes can be connected with
  different emotions
• inducing visceral change should result in
  emotional change not true

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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery
Schachter Singer Theory (1962) Cognitive-physiol
ogical theory Feedback from the viscera is
important for emotion but does not determine the
type of emotion. Type depends on cognitive
interpretation. Emotion visceral response
cognitive interpretation
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery -
Schachter Singer Theory
Subjective emotion
Cognition
context
Stimulus
Perception
Interpretation
Somatic nervous system
Autonomic nervous system
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Theories of emotion
Feedback from the periphery -
Problem with all theories including feedback from
the periphery Feedback is important to some
extend, however emotions can also be induced if
no feedback is available. Chwalisz et al. (1988)
intense emotional arousal in spinal cord
incjured patients even there was little feedback
from the periphery
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion
Emotion depends on a number of brain regions in
interaction emotions are related to complex
situations (e.g. social situations), this
requires memories, judgements, inferences for
which different brain regions are responsible

• The limbic system
• Limbic system is traditionally focused in
  investigating emotion.
• Includes Hippocampus, cingulate cortex, amygdala

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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The limbic system

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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The limbic system

Klüver-Bucy syndrome Klüver Bucy (1939) removed
much of the temporal lobe and parts of the limbic
system in monkeys. ? monkeys became calm, ceased
to show normally aggressive and fearful reactions.
Reason separation between the sensory processing
of stimuli and the attribution of affective value
to them (Le Doux, 1992). Sensory processing still
intact, motivational and emotional attribution is
disrupted. Lesion of the amygdala is sufficient
to show the syndrom.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The limbic system

Electrical stimulation of the limbic system
results in emotional responses (Ervin Martin,
1986) Stimulation of the cortex does not reveal
emotions. Removal of the cortex in animals does
not prevent emotional reactions of the animals.
Threshold for the emotional arousal is lower in
these subjects (Le Doux, 1991).
Limbic system seems to be important for emotion,
however it would be an oversimplification to
refer to limbic processing as emotional
processing and cortical processing as cognitive
processing. Interaction is important.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The Amygdala

Aggleton Mishkin (1986) Amygdala is the
sensory gateway to the emotions.
Damage of the amygdala interrupts the
behavioural, autonomic and hormonal components of
emotional responses.
Animal experiments removal of the amygdala (Le
Doux, 1992) Do not longer show signs of fear to
aversive stimuli. Have a lover level of stress
hormones in blood. Are less likely to develop
ulcers.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The Amygdala

Brain lesions and neuroimaging studies show that
the amygdala is important for the recognition and
expression of fear also in humans.

• Patients with damage of the amygdala
• Unable to recognise fear in the facial
  expressions of others.
• Unable to draw a face showing fear (but can draw
  other emotional expressions)
• Impaired at recognising fear by sound

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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The Amygdala

• Neuroimaging studies
• Active more than other regions during perception
  of fear-related material (Morris et al., 1996)

• Conclusion
• Amygdala plays an important role in responding to
  highly negative, threat-related stimuli that
  require quick responses.

However, there is also some evidence that the
amygdala is involved in positive emotions (left
side).
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

• Receives information from
• the sensory system
• the regions of the frontal lobe that control
  behaviour

• Communicates with
• Limbic system
• In particular with amygdala

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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

Neuroimaging studies show activity in
orbitofrontal cortex during pleasant touch and
pleasant taste.
Injury of the orbitofrontal cortex results in

• indifference to opinions of others
• restlessness
• purposelessness
• slowness in thinking
• decreased self-concern
• impulsivity
• distractibility
• egocentricity
• irritability

• exaltation/ depression
• apathy and indifference
• lack of judgement
• diminished reliability
• childish behaviour
• anxiety
• social withdrawal
• inertia
• lack of ambition

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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

Most famous patient history of neuroscience Phine
as Gage railroad worker Was injured 1848 as a
result of an explosion. Iron bar (3 cm in
diameter) passed through his brain and destroyed
the left frontal lobe and made some damage to the
right.
He survived and showed relatively little
intellectual or linguistic impairment.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

Most famous patient history of neuroscience Phine
as Gage railroad worker
He survived and showed relatively little
intellectual or linguistic impairment.
But He became childish, irresponsible, boorish,
thoughtless of others. He was unable to make or
to carry out plans, actions appeared to be
capricious and whimsical.
Similar cases observed General observation
damage to the orbitofrontal cortex reduces
inhibition and self-concern, patients become
indifferent to consequences of their actions.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

Damasio (1985) somatic marker hypothesis of
orbitofrontal cortex
Ability to make social and emotional decisions
depends on the ability to make sense of somatic
information that the body generates in response
to specific events. ? Risky decision generates
somatic response, frontal lobe necessary to
appreciate the somatic response
Many patients show good recovery, but show social
and emotional disturbances.
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Theories of emotion Biology of emotion

• The orbitofrontal cortex

Some examples (Hornak et al., 1996) Emotion,
tears, thats all gone out of the window. If I
saw someone cry, Id just laugh people look
really silly getting upset. Im much more
aggressive and I feel less fear. I go fighting
for no reason. I aint scared of nobody. Im
not frightened to open my mouth and speaking my
mind. If I think someones wrong, Ill tell them
and not give a monkeys what they think to me.
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Theories of emotion
Le Douxs integrative model of fear (Le Doux,
1992)

• General assumption cognition is not a necessary
  link in the chain leading to emotion.
• Cognitive and emotional processes can run in
  parallel.
• There are 2 ways to emotion
• Rapid, unconscious, direct link between events
  and emotions
• slow, conscious link mediated by cognition

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Theories of emotion
Le Douxs integrative model of fear
Appraisal of information, influence of thoughts
Cortex
Amygdala
Thalamus
Some rare, simple stimuli have direct access from
the thalamus to the amygdala.

• Conflict possible
• Fast way emotion
• - slow way - inhibition

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Emotion as modulatory state
Emotions control and modulate various
physiological processes and behaviour. 2 examples
effects of emotions on reflexes and on memory
Startle reflex In humans mainly eye blink Lang
et al. (1990) If a reflex is incompatible with
an emotion, the magnitude of the reflex is
attenuated. ? Startle reflex reduced in positive
emotion compared to neutral or negative. Negative
emotions enhance the reflex.
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Emotion as modulatory state
Memory Emotion can strengthen memory
consolidation. In certain moods, thoughts and
memories functionally related to the mood can be
more easily retrieved than incompatible ones
(Bargh Tota, 1988). Depressed individuals have
more access to depressive thoughts (Bargh Tota,
1988). Memories congruent with an emotional state
might prove useful for action and thinking about
possible strategies. Positive affect (happiness)
has a strong effect on retrieving positive
memories. Effect is stronger than the effect of
negative affect (sadness) on negative memories
(Isen, 1990).
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Emotion as modulatory state
Memory Bower, Monteiro Gilligan (1981)

• Participants were made either happy or sad by
  hypnotic suggestion
• read a short story about two college men, Jack
  and Andre, who get together to play tennis. Story
  portrays the emotional reactions of both of the
  characters
• Jack is sad because he has problems with school
  and with his girlfriend
• Andre is happy because things are great in school
  and with his girlfriend
• Participants asked who they thought was the
  central character, and who they identified with.

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Emotion as modulatory state
Memory Bower, Monteiro Gilligan (1981)
Mood-identification effects Participants who
were happy identified with the happy character
(Andre) and thought the story was mainly about
him sad participants thought story was about
Jack, identified with the sad character
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Emotion as modulatory state
Memory Bower, Monteiro Gilligan (1981)
Next day, the participants were required to
recall the stories
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Emotion as modulatory state
Memory Bower, Monteiro Gilligan (1981)

• Bowers explanation for Selective encoding and
  reminding
• Connectionist explanation mood-inducing
  instructions serve to activate the appropriate
  emotion nodes that are part of a semantic network
• activation then spreads out to other nodes in the
  network congruent with the activated emotion

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Summary

• Emotions bias information processing and thereby
  behaviour, reflexes and cognition.
• Emotions result from particular stimuli or
  events.
• Emotions can be evoked directly or via cognition.
• Limbic system (amygdala) and orbitofrontal cortex
  crucial for emotions and understanding of
  emotions.
• Emotions are part of our memory and affect
  storage and retrieval of information