To what extent do
biological and cognitive
factors interact?
Definitions
 According to Damasio (2000),
 Emotions are Physiological changes (arousal in the
nervous and endocrine system) as a reaction to stimuli.
 Feelings are the conscious interpretation of the
emotion and arise when the brain interprets stimuli.
Why is there a need for emotion?
 Basic survival. Think of the “fight or flight”
response.
 The body has a very fast biological response
in order to protect itself.
 The response is the release of the stress
hormones adrenaline and cortisol.
 Can you think of other emotions that have a
biological basis?
Why is there a need for
cognition?
 Again basic survival. It is important to remember a
fearful experience.
 The conscious memory (explicit) of the event is stored
in the cortex.
 The emotional or unconscious memory (implicit) of the
experience is stored via the amygdala.
Why do the systems interact?
 If there is a biological fear response which
does not subside after rational thought then
this is a problem.
 This is the case in panic attacks. There is no
conscious control of these responses.
The Brain
Biological and Cognitive
interactions in the brain
 The Amygdala
 According to Phelps (2004) it helps in storing and
classifying emotionally charged memories so that
emotional events receive priority. It plays a large role in
processing our emotions, especially fear. It's been found
to trigger responses to strong emotion such as sweaty
palms, freezing, increased heart-beat/respiration and
stress hormone release.
 Humans with damage to the amygdala do not
experience fear in dangerous situations
Biological and Cognitive
interactions in the brain
 The Hippocampus
 It's primary role is in memory formation (semantic
and episodic), classifying information, long-term
memory. Like the RAM in your computer it
processes and stores new and temporary memory
for long term storage.
There are different theories
about how cognitive and
biological factors interact in
emotion.
 LeDoux’s theory of the emotional
brain
 Lazarus (1975) Appraisal theory
LeDoux’s theory of the emotional
brain
 Humans’ emotional reactions are flexible due to
evolution.
 There is an instant response to detected danger for the
purpose of survival (the short route).
 Humans have also evolved “emotional feeling” i.e a
conscious experience of the emotion which helps to
evaluate the level of danger before a response (the long
route).
LeDoux’s model
Explaining the model
 The short route: Emotional stimulus is first processed in
the thalamus, which sends a signal to the amygdala. The
amygdala immediately activates response systems.
Useful if there is immediate danger.
AT THE SAME TIME
 The long route: The sensory input goes via the sensory
cortex to the hippocampus for closer inspection. This
involves evaluation of the stimulus and consideration of
an appropriate response which is fed back to the
amygdala. This links with the concept of cognitive
appraisal, Lazarus 1975
Lazarus (1975) Appraisal theory
 This theory states that cognitive factors can control stress
responses.
 Appraisal can be seen as an evaluation of a situation,
including evaluation of one’s psychological and material
resources to cope with a stressful event. People are
psychological beings who are not simply passively responding
to the world.
Speisman et al (1964) Experimental
manipulation of emotions through
cognitive appraisal
 Aim: Can the manipulation of cognitive appraisal
influence emotional experience?
 Method: Laboratory experiment. Participants were
shown an anxiety evoking film (aboriginal initiation
ceremony where boys were subjected to genital
cutting).
Speisman continued
 3 different soundtracks were played to manipulate
emotional reactions.
 Trauma condition, emphasized mutilation and pain
 Intellectualization condition, gave an anthropological
interpretation of the ceremony.
 Denial condition, showed the boys being willing and
happy in the ceremony
Speisman continued
 During the viewing of the film, physiological measures
were taken such as heart rate.
 Results:
The trauma condition showed much higher physiological
measures of stress. This shows that it is not the event
itself that elicited the emotional stress, but the
‘appraisal’ of it. When the cognitive appraisal of a
situation is manipulated (i.e. to be more traumatic), it
influences emotion (the physiological stress response).
Speisman evaluation
 +The study demonstrates how biological and cognitive
factors interact.
 + Supports LeDoux’s theory in that cognitive appraisal
involves the hippocampus.
 + Laboratory experiment with rigorous control to show
cause and effect…
BUT
 - Lacks ecological validity
 -Ethical issues of deception and psychological stress
Summary of the interaction of
emotion and cognition
 Cognitive and biological factors do, to a large extent,
interact in emotion.
 However, the way they interact is complex and not fully
understood.
 Emotions influence cognitive processes such as memory.
 Cognitive processes such as appraisal influence
emotions. The physiology of emotion is not fully
understood.