1. Chapter 12: Emotional Behaviors
Module 12.1: What is emotion anyway?
Module 12.2: Stress & Health
Module 12.3: Attack & Escape Behaviors

2. Introduction Defining Emotions Consciousness & Emotion subjective
behavioral
physiological
Consciousness & Emotion
cannot be unconscious and experience emotion
absence seizures
emotion can be caused by unconscious influences
Tranel & Demasio, 1993

3. Usefulness of Emotions
Assist in decision making
Prefrontal cortex damage lose their emotions and their decision making suffers
affective feedback gone (“feeling good, bad about consequences”
anticipation of consequences reduced
morality
Emotions and readiness behavior
Emotions and increased motivation
Emotions start the fight-or-flight response
sympathetic activation
parasympathetic activation

4. Theories of Emotions/Emotional Arousal
James-Lange theory- (note: text description is incorrect)
primacy of autonomic arousal (and skeletal actions) in emotional identification
Cannon-Bard theory-
a stimulus evokes the emotional experience and the physical arousal simultaneously but independently
Schacter-Singer theory-
the physiological changes tell you how strong your emotion is, but need some contextual or cognitive cue to identify which emotion being felt.
Primacy of cognition and importance of environment
Support for J-L Theory-
facial feeback hypothesis (Ekman)
Spinal Cord Patients (Hohmann)
Locked-in syndrome

5. Pathways of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems
Stress and Health
Behavioral Medicine
stress, personality, experience in health and disease processess
Stress-the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it (Selye).
Physiological based definition (there are others)
Stress Activates
Autonomic Nervous system (nervous)
HPAC System (hormonal)
Pathways of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems

6. Evidence of Mind-Body Interactions
Psychosomatic Illness
Onset of illness due to someone’s personality, emotions, or experiences
Ulcers
Ulcers can be formed when an individual experiences a great deal of stress
effect on digestive system (saliva secretion, HCL secretion, peristaltic action)
Control of the stress can alter ulcer formation
yoked pairs, executive monkey research, predictability & control
Ulcers are formed when the parasympathetic nervous system rebounds after the stress
post stress rebound effects
heliobactor pylori

7. Evidence of Mind-Body Interactions
Heart Disease
Data may indicate that people who experience frequent hostility are more prone to heart disease
Voodoo Death
Richter found that voodoo death may be due to parasympathetic rebound

8. Stress Activation in the Body
HPA Axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal)
Slower to respond
Important in chronic stress
Activation of hypothalamus causes release of ACTH from pituitary and release of cortisol from adrenal
Cortisol mobilizes resources but can be harmful if prolonged exposure
Autonomic Nervous System
Rapid Response System
Important in more Acute Stressors
Results in activation of Sympathetic Nervous System

9. The hypothalamus-anterior pituitary-adrenal cortex axis Prolonged stress leads to the secretion of the adrenal hormone cortisol, which elevates blood sugar and increases metabolism. These changes help the body sustain prolonged activity but at the expense of decreased immune system activity.

10. Immune System Cells
Consists of cells that protect the body against invaders like bacteria and viruses
Leukocytes
White Blood Cells
Patrol blood and other body fluids for invaders
Identifies antigens on intruders and signal attack from immune system
Macrophage
Surrounds intruder, digests it, and exposes its antigens on its own surface

11. More Immune System Cells
B Cell
attaches to an intruder and produces specific antibodies to attack the intruder’s antigen
antibodies are Y-shaped proteins that circulate in the blood, specifically attaching to one kind of antigen
T Cell
Cytotoxic-directly attack intruder cells
Helper-stimulate other T cells or B cells to multiply more rapidly
Natural Killer Cells
blood cells that attach to certain kinds of tumor cells and cells infected with viruses

12. More Immune System Cells/Products
Cytokines
Chemicals released by the immune system that attack infections and also communicate with the brain to elicit anti-illness behaviors
Fevers make the body a lest hospitable host
sleepiness, decreased muscle activity, decreased sex drive conserve energy
decreased appetite may deprive body of iron needed by viruses

13. Immune system responses to a bacterial infection A macrophage cell engulfs a bacterial cell and displays one of the bacteria’s antigens on its surface. Meanwhile a B cell also binds to the bacteria and produces antibodies against the bacteria. A helper T cell attaches to both the macrophage and the B cell; it stimulates the B cell to generate copies of itself, called B memory cells, which immunize the body against future invasions by the same kind of bacteria.

14. Stress Effects on the Immune System
Short-term stress acts to increase immune system function
Long-term stress decreases immune system function
Reduced levels of natural killer cells, B cells, and T cells
Reduced T cell function
Reduced NK cell function
Reduced resistance to infection

15. Stress Effects on the Brain
Selective cell death to hippocampal cells
Due to high cortisol levels
damage to hippocampus can lead to an increase in cortisol levels; creating a vicious cycle of cell death and high cortisol levels
Aged people with high cortisol levels show the greatest deterioration of the hippocampus and resulting memory impairment

16. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Who is Affected?
People who have had a traumatic experience of being severely injured or threatened
people who have seen other people harmed or killed
What are the Symptoms?
Frequent flashbacks and nightmares about the event
avoidance of reminders of the event
exaggerated arousal in response to noises and other stimuli

17. Attack Behaviors Affective Attack highly emotional attack behavior
triggered by pain or threat or when primed
Heredity and Environment in Human Violence
Evidence for a genetic or prenatal environment component
Children exposed to families experiencing discord, depression, substance abuse or legal problems are more likely to demonstrate aggressive behaviors

18. Physiology of Aggression
Hormones
High levels of testosterone are associated with aggression
Serotonin
low serotonin turnover is associated with increased aggression
Temporal Lobe
Stimulation of ventromedial hypothalamus or amygdala can result in aggression

19. Location of amygdala in the human brain The amygdala, located in the interior of the temporal lobe, receives input from many cortical and subcortical areas. Part (a) shows a blow-up of separate nuclei of the amygdala.

20. Escape Behaviors Two Types Fear-transient Anxiety-can be long lasting
Brain Mechanisms
Associated with excitation of amygdala
Most likely associated with GABA pathways
Anti-anxiety drugs decrease fear and anxiety by facilitating inhibition at GABA synapses

21. The GABAA receptor complex Of its four receptor sites sensitive to GABA, the three a sites are also sensitive to benzodiazepines.