Deck 20: Extension: B - Emotion and the Social Brain

Question 1

Support or attack the following statement: The emotional complexity of mammals is due to evolutionary changes in the frontal lobes.

Answer 1

The literature suggests that as the frontal cortex expanded so did the abilities of primates. The ability to engage socially with other animals in appropriate ways-that is, respecting the dominance hierarchy of the troop-fosters acceptance and continued relationships with family members. Lesion studies have demonstrated that frontal and in particular orbitofrontal damage results in a reduction of social interaction, vocalizations, and affect. Often the monkey ends up leaving the troop and becoming completely solitary.

Question 2

How might social and emotional behaviors differ between a person whose prefrontal cortex had been damaged early in childhood and one who had sustained similar damage in adulthood?

Answer 2

Those individuals who sustain early childhood damage fail to develop the normal compliment of emotions and do not have cognitive control over behaviors deemed socially inappropriate. They are unable to develop relationships, maintain school or employment, and often engage in criminal behavior. Adults who sustain damage have more difficulty in interpretation of emotional behavior and facial expressions in others. Amygdala lesions impair fear recognition in others, while insular damage results in inability to recognize pain in others.

Question 3

What are the major symptoms of the Klüver-Bucy syndrome?

Answer 3

The major symptoms are tameness or loss of fear response; indiscriminate dietary behavior (eating previously rejected food); increased autoerotic and other sexual behaviors; excessive oral exploration; visual agnosia; and attention and reaction to all visual stimuli.

Question 4

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each scientist with the theory below with which they are BEST associated.
Guido Gainotti ___

A)cognitive-emotional interaction theory
B)cognitive asymmetry of emotion
C)somatic marker hypothesis
D)left-hemisphere cognitive interpreter

Question 5

Use the following to answer questions:
For each question, answer
frequency of aprosodia ___

A) if the behavior listed is more likely to be impaired by left-hemisphere lesions
B) if it is more likely to be impaired by right-hemisphere lesions.

Question 6

What are the key neural structures in the original (1937) Papez circuit? What structures have been added in the more current "limbic circuit of emotion"?

Question 7

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each investigator with the area of study below with which they are BEST associated.
Bard ___

A)emotions relation to logical thinking
B)rage responses in decorticate dogs
C)behavioral effects of hypothalamic stimulation in cats
D)behavioral effects of temporal lobe lesions in monkeys

Question 8

Describe the four behavioral components of emotion, as described by the text.

Question 9

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each scientist with the theory below with which they are BEST associated.
Michael Gazzaniga ___

A)cognitive-emotional interaction theory
B)cognitive asymmetry of emotion
C)somatic marker hypothesis
D)left-hemisphere cognitive interpreter

Question 10

You are giving a lecture to an introductory class in neuropsychology. How do you define emotion for your students?

Question 11

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each investigator with the area of study below with which they are BEST associated.
Damasio ___

A)emotions relation to logical thinking
B)rage responses in decorticate dogs
C)behavioral effects of hypothalamic stimulation in cats
D) behavioral effects of temporal lobe lesions in monkeys

Question 12

Identify the major contribution to the study of emotion for the following individuals: Papez, Klüver and Bucy, and Gainotti.

Question 13

Use the following to answer questions:
For each question, answer
comprehension of humor ___

A) if the behavior listed is more likely to be impaired by left-hemisphere lesions
B) if it is more likely to be impaired by right-hemisphere lesions.

Question 14

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each scientist with the theory below with which they are BEST associated.
Joseph LeDoux ___

A)cognitive-emotional interaction theory
B)cognitive asymmetry of emotion
C)somatic marker hypothesis
D)left-hemisphere cognitive interpreter

Question 15

Use the following to answer questions:
For each question, answer
decrease in frequency of spontaneous talking ___

A) if the behavior listed is more likely to be impaired by left-hemisphere lesions
B) if it is more likely to be impaired by right-hemisphere lesions.

Question 16

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each investigator with the area of study below with which they are BEST associated.
Klüver and Bucy ___

A)emotions relation to logical thinking
B)rage responses in decorticate dogs
C)behavioral effects of hypothalamic stimulation in cats
D)behavioral effects of temporal lobe lesions in monkeys

Question 17

Use the following to answer questions:
For each question, answer
"catastrophic" reaction ___

A) if the behavior listed is more likely to be impaired by left-hemisphere lesions
B) if it is more likely to be impaired by right-hemisphere lesions.

Question 18

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each scientist with the theory below with which they are BEST associated.
Antonio Damasio ___

A)cognitive-emotional interaction theory
B)cognitive asymmetry of emotion
C)somatic marker hypothesis
D)left-hemisphere cognitive interpreter

Question 19

Use the following to answer questions:
Match each investigator with the area of study below with which they are BEST associated.
Goltz ___

A)emotions relation to logical thinking
B)rage responses in decorticate dogs
C)behavioral effects of hypothalamic stimulation in cats
D)behavioral effects of temporal lobe lesions in monkeys

Question 20

Describe the changes in social behaviors in monkeys with frontal cortex lesions.

Question 21

Contrast Damasio's somatic marker hypothesis with LeDoux's cognitive-emotional interaction theory.

Question 22

Discuss the evidence for and against the idea that emotion enhances the ability to think rationally or logically rather than impairs it.

Question 23

If you were a neuropsychologist studying emotion in rats, what behaviors or responses would you measure? (Or answer the same question using monkeys, humans, or any other plausible species.)

Question 24

Describe the evidence supporting a role for the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and amygdala in understanding the intentions of other people.
Answer Key

Question 25

Identify five (or more) characteristics of the temporal - lobe personality.

Question 26

The patient has suffered a stroke involving the frontal lobes. You, as the attending neuropsychologist, have been asked to evaluate his emotional status. What do you do?

Question 27

What is sensory aprosodia? What is motor aprosodia?

Question 28

Present evidence that the right hemisphere is differently involved in emotional processes than is the left in humans.