SYLLABUS CORRETION

March 3 Physiology of Emotions

March 5 Emotions Learning Memory

March 10 Midterm Review

March 12 Midterm

Neurochemicals and Emotions

Note: This is NOT Charlie Sheen!

OTTO LOEWI AND THE DISCOVERY OF NEURO-CHEMICALS

Heart #1 Heart #2

1. Stim. vagus nerve, slows Heart

2. Extract fluid from Heart1 bath

3. Apply Heart 1 fluid to Heart 2.

What happens to Heart 2? It slows. Why? Acetylcholine

Neurochemicals and Emotions1. Neurotransmitters (e.g., acetylcholine) From nerve to nerve

2. Hormones (e.g., adrenaline, from adrenals) Blood borne

3. Neuromoderators (e.g., endorphins, other opiates).

Relevance to emotions

* Different emotional systems employ different neuro-chemical messengers

* Different chemicals lead to different emotional states

* What clinical value in locating "emotional" chemicals?

Discovery of psychotropic drugs to treat: depression, anxiety, hyper-arousal.

L-Dopa

1. Pre-cursor to dopamine, a neurotransmitter

2. Acts on striatum—motor activity

3. “Re-awakens” sleeping sickness patients

Revived planning, spontaneous action

Revived emotions--probably b/c revived striatum communicates with ???

Awakenings, (1990)

Amygdala

Panic Attacks

Sudden rush of fear, lasts 15-30 minCome "out of the blue"Feels like heart attack, will lose controlCan lead to agoraphobia--fear of being in the open

CCK (cholecytokinin)

1. CCK is peptide, large molecule neurotransmitter

2. CCK --> increased blood to limbic system

3. Tied to panic attacks

4. Give CCK to humans, monkeys, rats --> panic attack

Emotional SystemsIf you were to create a human, what 7 capacities would you include?

Emotional SystemsBrain anatomy and brain neurochemistry work together in "Emotional Systems"

Each system has own anatomical locale and own neurochemicals

Advantage of emotional systems: Vital human behaviors are "hard wired", don't need to be learned from scratch.

There are 7 emotional systems: these are:

1. Fear 5. Anticipation

2. Attachment 6. Play

3. Maternal nurturance 7. Sex

4. Anger

Rats’ Maternal Behavior: Example of an Emotional System

Female becomes pregnant

Pregnancy hormones: More prolactin and estradiol; less progesterone

Birth hormone: oxytocin; Brain centers: hypothalamus, amygdala

Hormones affect arousal in mothers

--Most aroused when around own pups vs. with other rats, around food, or alone.

--Affects virgin females: become more nurturing to pups.

Maternal cue sensitivity increases: to separation squeaks, pup odor

Maternal behaviors: Nursing, cleaning, protection.

Oxytocin in HumansThe “Love Hormone”

1. Increases dramatically during sex (for all mammals).

2. May explain feelings of closeness, affection during and after sex.

3.Lack of oxytocin may explain psychopathology --inability to feel affection for another.

Prairie Vole: Highly monogamous Produce lots of oxytocin.

Winning on Gut FeelingsFrith, C. (2007)

Subjects in a gambling expt. see flickering images of shapes.

Images indicate "win", "loose", or "draw", but happen too fast to see.

Asked after each image to bet or not bet about $2.50

Subjects told to go with "gut feeling" about betting.

Over time, subjects do better than chance when told to "go with gut"

How come???

Neurogastroenterology: “Gut Brain”Features of "gut brain"

* 100 million neural fibers, more than spinal cord

* The fibers are non-mylinated, as are neurons in "big brain"

* Neural fibers surrounded by neurochemicals as in "big brain"

* Suffers damage during diseases that attack CNS:

-- Alzheimers

-- Parkinsons

* Responsive to psychotropic drugs

-- Prozac over-activates gut

-- Anti-psychotic meds heal gut ailments

Neurogasterentology and Intuition

* Big brain and gut brain communicate, via mid-brain

* Mid-brain remembers big brain experiences

* Next occasion of event, midbrain sends signal first to gut brain.

* “Gut feeling” occurs when gut brain reacts to past experience (e.g., tightening of

stomach)

Emotions and Health

Class 10

Folk Wisdom About Emotions and Health

King Solomon: “A merry heart doeth good like medicine” Proverbs, 17:22

Hippocrates: Humors, personality, mood states, health

Norman Cousins: Heals self with “laughing cure”

Correlational Findings

Depressed co-occurs with illness

Medical inpatients report mood/anxiety disorders

Access to psychologists reduces MD visits

What do these correlations suggest?

Immunocompetence

Effectiveness of the immune system; ability to ward off illness, infection, etc.

Measured by immune substances, quickness of arousal.

Moods are associated with immunocompetence

Pos > Immunoglobulin A (S-IgA)

Neg < S-IgA

Immunocompetence and MoodCohen, et al. (1995): Exposure to virus, mood state, and illness

* Ss report mood, then inhale cold virus or placebo

* Worse moods --> higher illness rate after cold virus.

Labott, et al. (1990): Manipulated moods and immune levels

* Ss watch sad or funny movie

* Higher S-IgA for funny movie, lower for sad movie

Stone, et al. (1994): Frequency of desirable events and onset of respiratory illness.

Stone, et al. (1996): Frequency of pos. events and immune levels

Emotional Management

Responding to events with humor vs. crying.

Expressing or suppressing emotions

Using healthy or unhealthy behaviors to regulate moods

Behaviors alter mood, but are harmful:

Behaviors alter mood, but are helpful:

Drinks, smokes, drugs, eats, thrill-seeking, unsafe sex

Exercise, socialize, disclosure

Temperament and Health:Depression and Hostility

Depression:

15% of all people get seriously depressed

Depression longer hospital stays, longer recovery rates

Depression-based suicides kill as many as heart attacks

Depression brain damage

Weaker memory, reduced ability to focus

Depression atrophy of hippocampus

Atrophy due to “hypercortisolemia”

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5505278235758408178&ei=kJTrSOXEEZPYrAKnhcGdCw&q=faulty+towers+episodes&vt=lf&hl=en

Hostile Personality

Hostile Personality and Health

Hostile Personality IS NOT: Angry all the time

Aggressive all the time

Hostile Personality IS: Way of perceiving the world

* Distrustful * Cynical

* Suspicious * Vigilant

Highly stable trait: Correlation over 4 yrs, r = .84

Which gender is more prone to Hostile Personality? Men

Hostility Scale (Cook and Medley, 1954)

[answered “YES”/”NO”]1 No one cares much what happens to you. 2 I have often met people who were supposed to be

experts who were no better than I.

3 Some of my family have habits that bother and annoy me very much.

4 I often have to take orders from someone who did not know as much as I did.

5 It makes me feel like a failure when I hear of the success of someone I know well.

6 People often disappoint me. 7 It is safer to trust nobody. 8 I have often felt that strangers were looking at me

critically.

9 I tend to be on my guard with people who are somewhat more friendly than I expected.

10 My way of doing things is apt to be misunderstood by others.

Hostility and Coronary Heart Disease Among MDs Barefoot, et al., 1983

-1

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

0 TO 8 9 TO 13 14 TO 17 18 TO 31

Hostility Score

CH

D E

ve

nts

MD Survival Rates Over 25 Years:Low Hostile vs. High Hostile

0.85

0.87

0.89

0.91

0.93

0.95

0.97

0.99

1960- 1965- 1970- 1975- 1980-

Pe

rce

nt

Su

rviv

ing

Low HostileHigh Hostile

Pathway From Hostility to Heart Disease

Appraisal of threat higher defensive mode (fight)

more cardiac output ↑ cortisol atherosclerosis

Informational Value of Emotions to Health

Mood affects recognition / interpretation of own symptoms

Pos mood attn. outward less focused on symptoms

Neg mood ann. inward more focus on symptoms

The Dangers and Benefits of Being Happy

Happiness as Health Risk

Happiness as Health Benefit

Illusion of Invulnerability

Blind to danger signs

More health-promoting behaviors

Willing to risk upsetting diagnoses

Less defensive about hearing health risk information

Psychoneuroimmunology and AIDS

Psychoneuroimmunology: New inter-disciplinary area that looks at how psychological states affect the body’s

resistance to illness

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus. The virus that causes AIDS.

Psycho-social Aspects of AIDS

Why do some people who get HIV infections acquire AIDS sooner than do others? (Cole, 2000).

1. Sample: gay men who acquire HIV at about the same time.

2. Looks at whether disclosed or hid gay identity, HIV status

Who is more likely to become symptomatic, "hiders" or "disclosers"?

Hiders

Why is this so?

Why Do “In Closet” Gays Develop AIDS Sooner?

Suppressors tend to be “sensitizers”, easily disturbed by any kind of event, especially social events.

NOTE: THIS LINKS TO "TEMPERAMENT"

Is it that suppressing was itself a stressor, stress illness, therefore suppressing leads to quicker AIDS onset?

NO

A. (Hide Gay Identity) B. (AIDS)

C. Sensitizer

How Stress Hastens AIDS Onset

1. “T” cells import immuno-agent

2. Cells sprout molecular “hand holds”, like Velcro, at times.

3. HIV uses these hand-holds to attack cells.

4. Researchers artificially induce hand-holds by using harsh

laboratory chemicals.

5. Cole asks: what kinds of natural chemicals have same effect?

6. Clues: * AIDS faster among stressed vs. non-stressed

* Stress releases nor-epinephrine

7. Finds: exposing healthy T cells to nor-epi more hand-holds.