Cognition and Emotion

Cognition and Emotion

1. Components of Emotion

   • Bodily Response
     • Fight/Flight : Sympathetic ANS vs Parasympathetic ANS ( arousal or not) : Measured by GSR, Heart rate, respiration, cortisol, skin temp and muscletension
   • Behaviour
     • Observeable but fakeable and affected by cultural norms
   • Feelings
     • Hard to manipulate/elicit in lab ( ethical concerns ) : can be + or - : correlate with other indicators of emotion :mild emotions used in research

2. BASIC SET

   • OR DIMENSION
     • Lang et al - Affect grid based on Valence + Arousal
       • Good : captures relationship between emotions and explains cultural differences
         • Bad : Some emotions are combinations across the grid ( nostalgia = sad and happy; thrill seekers rate fear as positive
   • Plutchik - like colour palette ( but no evidence/what's the basic set ?
     • BIG 5 ANGER FEAR SADNESS, DISGUST, HAPPINESS
       • EVIDENCE : 6 Pictures -ECKMAN 88 ( recognition ) and '69 (Production): PET = amygdala involved in all emotion. basal ganglia and insula = disgust : Verbal Labels Scherer 86 = 7 basic and modular emotions
         • Note: there are cross cultural diffs in triggers and acceptable expression of emotion

3. Functions of Emotions

   • Alter Goals
     • Oatley + Johnson + Laird '87 evolutionary adaptation ( seeds and tigers)
   • Mobilize physiological resources
     • fight or flight but what about when less resources are needed (driving). Yerkes and Dodson Law 1908 performance and anxiety graph
   • Communication
     • Darwin 1872 ( dogs sneering ) we do communicate honesty, deception, politeness
   • Information
     • Em. feedback helps decision making : Capgrass delusion : DAMASIO 96 playing cards ( emotion affects decisions : Clore and Huntsinger (07) happ recall happy, sad recall sad info: Rainy day and life satisfaction ratings - conscious awareness of rain changes ratings
   • Memory priming, semantic processing, motivation and attention

4. Emotion affecting Cognition

   • Memory
     • Mood congruent: Bower et al '81 happy recall happy and VV. Positive bias for normal - reversed for depressed. Mindfulness treatment for depresses ( Segal 2000 ) Mood dependent ( more controversial. encoding and retrieval matches improves recall. ethical probs. hypnosis used. Bower '81 semantic network theory but MDM not robust
     • Note: state and trait emotion used in testing paradigm
   • Attention
     • Emotional Stroop Test : slower RTs for depressed because negative terms being processed. Mcleod '86 Dot probe more attention to negative/threat word locations. All findings increased when state and trait coincide
   • Semantic processing
     • Eysenk et al 87 homophones : Richards and French '92 homographs : normal positive and depressed negative bias
   • Attribution theory
     • Good = internal, bad = external : depressed more accurate in assessments of life chances and abilities. Is positive bias becoming maladaptive ?

5. Cognition of emotion 1st ?

   • James and Lange 1890's behaviour precedes emotion// If we stop behaviour, we stop feeling // Le doux 96 startle reflex; emotional diminishment in spine damage
   • Cannon - Bard 1920's : note similarity of physiological responses across emotions and suggest corticol response is key.: sad but no tears : spine damage does not stop all emotion
   • Schacter and Singer '60s Appraisal Theory: body response is important: context and cognition appraisal vital : we can change how we feel by changing how we think (CBT) : Adrenaline studies: Influential but hard to replicate. Note Sherer and subjective utility

6. Zajone '80 :

   • Cognition NOT needed : mere exposure effect - familiarity primes liking
   • Vs Lazarus '82
     • Cognition essential : anxiety provoking films with intellectualising/denial soundtracks. Note suggest cognition affects emotion but not that it precedes it !
     • Le Doux '89 .
       • Lower subcortical route and cortical route bringing both Zajone and Lazarus positions together