1. Introduction to Psychology Emotion, feeling and attention Prof
Introduction to Psychology Emotion, feeling and attention Prof. Jan Lauwereyns

2. The expression of the emotions in man and animals
Charles Darwin,
The expression of the emotions in man and animals
What are emotions?
How are they useful to humans and other animals?

4. Damasio’s 3 types of consiousness
Proto-self
Homeostasis
Core consciousness
Awareness, attention
Extended consciousness
Memory, language, reasoning

5. Patient with tic douloureux
after small lesion to cut incoming fibers to frontal cortex

6. Two theories of emotion: which comes first? Expression or experience?
James and Lange: the expression
Cannon and Bard: the experience

7. The limbic system:
Papez Circuit

9. Problems with Papez circuit
Single emotion concept, too simplistic
Hippocampus: no longer primarily associated with emotional function – rather memory
(but not entirely wrong either,
cf. fear conditioning, and the role of reward/punishment
in memory and learning)
Doesn’t mention other structures that are important for emotion – e.g., amygdala (fear, aggression) and the dopamine system (reward)

10. The amygdala

11. When the amygdala don’t work as they are supposed to…
Buried in the temporal lobe – Klüver-Bucy syndrome
Psychic blindness
Oral tendencies
Altered sexual behaviour
Emotional changes (decrease in fear)
Specific amygdala lesions
Similar observations
“Flattened” emotions
(Pribram and the ex-alpha males)
Stimulation of the amygdala
Increased vigilance
Combination of fear and violent aggression

12. Negative Avoidance Negative Fear Serotonin Amygdala to Frontal cortex
Approach
Positive
Desire
Dopamine
Ventral striatum (Nucleus accumbens) to Frontal cortex
Ventral stream of information processing
-> deciding whether to approach or avoid

13. Negative, positive Avoidance Negative Fear Serotonin
Amygdala to Frontal cortex
Approach
Positive
Desire
Dopamine
Ventral striatum (Nucleus accumbens) to Frontal cortex
Ventral stream of information processing
-> deciding whether to approach or avoid

14. Negative, positive Avoidance Negative Fear Serotonin
Amygdala to Frontal cortex
Approach
Positive
Desire
Dopamine
Ventral striatum (Nucleus accumbens) to Frontal cortex
Ventral stream of information processing
-> deciding whether to approach or avoid

15. Reinforcement and Reward
Electrical Self-stimulation (Olds & Milner)

17. What is this man in danger of?

18. The case of Phineas Gage & Top-down control of emotions
Frontal lobotomy
(Dr Egas Moniz,
Nobel prize and
Poetic justice)
Top-down control from prefrontal cortex onto amygdala etc.
- incorporating social context in decision-making
- abstract or complex types of reward representation
- inhibition of inappropriate responses