11 - THEORETICAL OVERVIEW KEY ASPECTS OF EMOTION SCIENCE 225. - Evidence and theories considered Salient features? And what conclusions? o Six key features o Cognitive and neuroscientific approaches, primarily Affect is a pervasive part of our lives Emotions, emotion schemas, moods, feelings and temperament are different aspects of affect Affect can be studies at different levels of analysis Affect recruits a wide range of both cortical and subcortical brain regions Individual differences are important The study of normal emotion and disordered emotion can inform each other Affect is a pervasive part of our lives Important markers of the main events of our lives Well-being and happiness Widespread influence (decision making etc) Izard – no such thing as an affectless mind 226. Always there, and always influencing cognition and action Emotions, emotion schemas, moods, feelings and temperament are different aspects of affect - Components have often been conflated Wrong use of terms • Luckily slowly coming a consensus DEFINITIONS • • • • AFFECT o Overarching concept: incorporates both emotions and moods EMOTION o Rapid and short-lived response to a significant event that involves the coordination of a set of bodily responses; feelings state; cognitive appraisal BASIC EMOTIONS o (for many) few in number and given to us by nature NON-BASIC EMOTIONS o = sometimes referred to as emotion schemas o Mental representations that combine affective and cognitive components - • • • 227. • o Combines it o Cognitive – emotion interaction : part of general regulatory and motivational systems EMOTION SCHEMAS o Cognitive appraisal theorists often have referred to emotion schemas as emotions → confusion MOODS o Longer duration o Type of object core affect / an emotion that is extended over time o Allow us to interpret how we are doing in life in more general FEELING STATES o The conscious representations of emotions and moods o (arguments) Arousal and valence Language: lacking Brain stimulation TEMPERAMENT o More enduring, life long, dispositions to act in particular ways o Broad set of temperamental dimensions – small set • there is reasonable consensus that there are a small set of broad temperamental dimensions relating to Neuroticism-Negative Affectivity (N-NA), Extraversion-Positive Affectivity (E-PA), and a third regulatory system (disinhibition versus constraint) that determines how both N-NA and E-PA are experienced and expressed o These broad dimensions are considered to be innate, and a number of different personality traits may emerge from their interactions with different environmental events The overall affective tone of a person's life is likely to be the result of many complex interactions between temperamental dispositions, life experiences, experiences of different emotions, emotion schemas, and moods. Have to define better Affect can be studies at different levels of analysis First primarily on single level Then to generalize Good for future to integrate them Multi-level Affect recruits a wide range of both cortical and subcortical brain regions Large and interconnected regions of the brain and body Not primary subcortical Neural circuits 228. Individual differences are important • Differ in REACT, ATTEND, INTERPRET, REMEMBER o Cognitive biases The study of normal emotion and disordered emotion can inform each other Need to get closer links Closer bridging, framework . In this concluding chapter, I would like to reassess Richard Davidson's 'seven. sins' in the study of emotion Following this, I would like to highlight a number of. important issues that would seem to be critical for the future development of emotion science. The first relates to the importance of acknowledging a multiple levels of. analysis approach. The second relates to ways in which emotion scientists can integrate research at genetic, neurobiological, cognitive and social levels. Related to this,. is the third issue of how we can provide better bridges or translations between theory. in basic emotion science and clinical practice. SEVEN SINS IN THE STUDY OF EMOTION SIN 1 229. • • That they can be separated Evidence shows: o Each is made up of many subcomponents o Deeply integrated at neural levels These. neuroanatomical facts cannot be ignored and indicate that affective and cognitive. processes involve many different and overlapping brain regions. SIN 2 Assumption that affect is primarily subcortical Often adopted in rodent research amygdala both cortical and subcortical o Instead, cognitive and affective processes are implemented across a range of linked subcortical-cortical circuits. 230. Extension cortical area → changes in emotions in humans It seems likely that these interconnections have changed the experience and the expressions of emotions, moods and feelings, as.well as modifying the role of subcortical structures. SIN 3 Ignoring the body, contribution to emotion Embodied phenomena - Domasio Schachter and singer SIN 4 - Sin 4, the notion that neurobiology can be ignored totally, is also relatively common among cognitive psychologists, o o o o o 231. Neural responses Amygdala – vmpfc Liking and wanting – circuits Deepening understanding of positive affect Threatening bias Normally described as information-processing level of analysis Not same as neural analysis Cannot replace each other Qualitatively different descriptions (of the same phenomena) SIN 5 That emotions are similar in structure across different age groups and different species - There are similarities Thus can tell us about other species But also differences Controversial question: whether these circuits give rise to conscious feelings states that are similar across different species • • Panksepp Conscious feelings states: probably modified to a large extent to the expansion of the PFC SIN 6 232. Assumption that different emotional systems are implemented in discrete locations in the brain NOT TRUE Large interconnected brain areas Each also implemented in number of other circuits SIN 7 That emotions are conscious feelings states - Emotions and moods NOT same as feelings states Emotions can operate at different levels, doesn’t have to be conscious Before concluding this overview, I would like to discuss a number of important issues that seem to be critical for the future development of emotion science:. • Multiple-levels of analysis. • Ways in which emotion scientists can integrate research at multiple levels with the. emphasis on cognitive psychology and neurobiology. However, it is also clear that. there is a need to integrate research at genetic and neural levels, as well as integrating these research domains with social and cultural levels of analysis. • How emotion science can provide better bridges or translations between basic scientific research in emotion science and clinical practice. MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS 233. From individual molecules / cells , to groups, to behaviour - - The influence of one level on another is almost always bidirectional the convergence of five key subdisciplines: neuropsychology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, psychophysics, and computational modelling developmental psychopathology o emotion science → ideal candidate to make such an integrated, multiple levels of analysis approach general theory → can provide a good explanation for data (Ledoux) - - self-report – not so good for neural etc processes o neuroimaging: roughly equal amounts of evidence for discrete emotions and dimensional approaches debate between them: reduced, because they focus on different levels of analysis o they are describing qualitatively different phenomena complementary, not pitted against each other A UNIFYING FRAMEWORD 234. • How they might be combined: figure 11.1 ASSUMPTIONS FRAMEWORK: There are a number of basic emotional systems o Ancient in evolutionary terms Fairly similar operation across species Panksepp primary emotional systems Basic emotions or affect programs Activated rapidly and automatically o Emotionally competent stimulus o Stereotypical range Disturbance in a general background core affective state CORE AFFECT / MOOD Changes in this → consciously perceived 235. Changes in intensity observed / gradual shifts - Broad dimensions of valence That’s why only can report arousal and valence, discrete, not reach conscious awareness directly Linguistic abilities might be the other reason why not discrete Thus might just be that the underlying are discrete emotion systems, but can only report the broad dimensions. Mental representations that are accessible: broader dimensions 236. DISCRETE Evidence: neural and facial expressions level of analysis The following section discusses two multi-level cognitive theories of cognition-emotion interactions . Following a presentation of these models, ways to begin the process of integrating cognitive and neuroscience approaches will be considered. TEASDALE 237. • • AND BERNARD’ S (1993) INTERACTING COGNITIVE SUBSYSTEMS APPROACH Most: cognitive models emphasize just one level > cognitive system LIKELY that BOTH higher and lower level are important for emotion, (regulation) Interaction affect and cognition - Many different subsystems and components → SYNCHRONIZATION Multiple-entry memory (MEM) - Some might occur from EVERY level, other may occur only at the more reflective levels. SECONDARY VS PRIMARY EMOTIONS / (emotion schemas) → come more from reflective processes Interacting cognitive subsystems (ICS) framework Nine different cognitive subsystems Interact Explicit assumption in ICS – qualitatively different KINDS of information that correspond to different types of experience. Specialized PROPOSITIONAL AND IMPLICATIONAL LEVELS OF MEANING 238. 239. 240. 241. 242. 243. OVERVIEW OF MULTI-LEVEL MODELS 244. • • Have clear advantages Overarching account Better understanding SPAARS APPROACH Multi-level approaches also make it easier to begin to understand how neural and cognitive levels of analysis may be combined. In terms of emotional responses, a varisy of processes take place at the level of individual synapses and neuronal groups that relate in complex ways to processes occurring at psychological levels of analysis (e. g.,. Atentional, memory and judgmental biases etc). Multi-level approaches incorporate these factors into their accounts, thus providing a more realistic framework to consider the complex interrelationships between different levels of processing. This is likely to be particularly important when we consider emotional disorders. These distressing conditions are complex. Genetic, neural, cognitive, and social elements all need to be taken into account in terms of understanding the essential nature of each disorder as well as developing more effective therapies. INTEGRATING NEUROBIOLOGICAL AND COGNITIVE MODELS OF AFFECT 245. A DYNAMIC SYSTEMS APPROACH 246. ARE COGNITION -AFFECT RELATION BI-DIRECTIONAL? 247. 248. CHARACTERISTICS OF DYNAMIC SYSTEMS 249. TRIGGER PHASE 250. SELF-STABILIZATION PHASE LEARNING PHASE 251. 252. TRANSLATING BASIC EMOTION SCIENCE TO CINICAL PRACTICE 253. 254. 255. 256. SUMMARY 257. 258. • H o
