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Biopsychology of
Emotion:Several Early Discoveries
Role of Autonomic Nervous
System
Facial Expression
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Early Landmarks in the Biopsychological
Investigation of Emotion
PHINEAS GAGE
Damage to Gagesbrain affected both
medial prefrontal
lobes, the lobes
involved in
planning and
emotion.
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1872 publication of Darwins book The
Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals
Particular emotional responses tend to
accompany the same emotional states in all
members of a species
Expressions of emotion are products of
evolution
Darwins Theory of the Evolution
of Emotion
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The first physiological theory of emotion was
proposed independently by James and Lange in
1884.
James-Lange and Cannon-Bard Theories
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Cannon-Bard Theory (1915)
Emotional stimuli have two independent
excitatory effects: They excite both the feeling of
emotion in the brain and the expression of
emotion in the ANS and SNS.
Emotional experience and emotional expressionare parallel processes that have no direct casual
relation.
James-Lange and Cannon-Bard Theories
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SHAM RAGE (1920) the exaggerated, poorly directed aggressive
responses of decorticate animals
Sham rage can be elicited in
cats whose cerebral
hemispheres have been
removed down to but notincluding the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is critical
for the expression of
aggressive responses.
CORTEX inhibits and
directs aggressive responses
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1937 Papez proposed that emotional expression iscontrolled by several interconnected neural structuresthat he referred to as the limbic system.
Limbic System and Emotion
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Discovered in monkeys whose anteriortemporallobes had been removed.
It includes the following behaviors: Consumption of almost anything edible
Increased sexual activity often directed atinappropriate objects
Tendency to repeatedly investigate familiar objects Tendency to investigate objects with the mouth
Lack of fear
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome (1939)
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Emotions and the
Autonomic Nervous System
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Experimental evidence suggests that thespecificity of ANS reactions lies somewhere
between the extremes of total specificity and totalgenerality (Levenson, 1994).
Not all emotions are associated with the same
pattern of ANS activity; however, there isinsufficient evidence to make a strong case for theview that each emotion is characterized by adifferent pattern of ANS activity.
Emotional Specificity of the ANS
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A method of interrogation that employs ANS indexes
of emotion to infer the truthfulness of the subjects
responses.
Polygraphy
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MOCK-CRIME PROCEDURE
Interrogation method is the control-question
technique in which the physiological response tothe target question is compared with the
physiological responses to control questions
whose answers are known.
Polygraphy
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Guilty-Knowledge Technique
Polygrapher must have a piece of information
concerning the crime that would be known only to
the guilty person. The polygrapher simply assesses
the suspects reaction to a list of actual and
contrived details of the crime.
Polygraphy
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Emotions and Facial Expression
Ekman and his colleagues have
been preeminent in the study offacial expression. They began by
analyzing hundreds of films and
photographs of people
experiencing various real emotions.
From these, they compiled an atlas
of the facial expressions that arenormally associated with different
emotions.
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Several empirical studies showed that people
of different cultures do indeed make similar
facial expressions in similar situations and that
they can correctly identify the emotional
significance of facial expressions displayed by
people from cultures other than their own.
Universality of Facial Expression
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Ekman and Friesen concluded that the facial
expressions of the following six emotions are
primary: surprise,anger,sadness,disgust,
fearandhappiness.
All other facial expressions of genuineemotion are composed of predictable
mixtures of these 6 primaries.
Primary Facial Expressions
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Facial Feedback Hypothesis
The hypothesis that our facial expressionsinfluence our emotional experience.
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It is possible to inhibit true facial expressions
and to substitute false ones.
TWO ways of distinguishing true expressions
from false ones: 1) microexpressions (brief
facial expressions) and 2) detection between
genuine facial expressions and false ones byskilled observers
Voluntary Control of Facial Expression
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Duchenne French anatomist
The smile of enjoyment could be distinguished
from deliberately produced smiles by
consideration of the two facial muscles that are
contracted during genuine smiles: orbicularis
oculiand zygomaticusmajor.
Duchennesmile
Voluntary Control of Facial Expression
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Video recordings provide almost unlimited
access to natural facial expressions made in
real time in response to real-life situations.
It is now clear that Ekmans 6 primary facial
expressions of emotion rarely occur in pure
form they are ideals with many varioussubtle expressions.
Facial Expressions: Current Perspectives
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The existence of other primaries has been
recognized. There is evidence for adding
contempt and embarrassment to the original
6.
Imbalance in emotional valence.
Facial Expressions: Current Perspectives