I was relieved this week to start reading about the cognitive
experience of emotions, and learn more about the distinctions between
emotion and feeling, however subjective the distinctions are (some
people don't make a distinction, I refer to Damasio's discussion).
It's interesting that sometimes we are more aware of our thought
process than other times, when we simply process information and don't
really know how we came up with something. Sometimes I enjoy trying to
trace back a certain thought or conclusion, and it can be extremely
difficult because of the myriad associations, past and present, that
are involved. Like LeDoux explained, in working memory we can
temporarily store about seven pieces of information, but each piece is
bound to have a thousand other associations along with it, like
LeDouxs' example of the seven continents and their associations. Thus,
although we may only be able to hold seven pieces of information to
compare, contrast, and process at any given moment, our brains are
simultaneously utilizing much more information that that, through the
associations which the information holds to past memories and
experiences. In both the LeDoux and Damasio reading emphasis is put on
the fact that working memory is made up of long-term memories of past
experiences, and the new information continually being gathered from
the external environment. Feelings, in LeDouxs' view, come from the
conscious recognition of the information that has been processed by
emotion systems that come to be represented in working memory.
Another important aspect of the conscious experience of emotion (i.e.
feelings) is arousal. The arousal spectrum goes from "completely
unconscious (in a coma), to asleep, to awake but drowsy, to alert, to
emotionally aroused" (LeDoux, pg. 289). LeDoux emphasizes the fact
that the level of arousal may contribute to the level of an
individuals' attention to and awareness of their emotional state. In a
highly arousing emotional state, an individual is more likely to be
fully aware of their emotional state (how they "feel"), and the
experience will be encoded as a highly emotional one, which, according
to previous readings, tells is that it will be remembered more fully
or vividly. In the same vein, Damasio feels that the essence of
conscious feelings are "that continuous monitoring, that experience of
what your body is doing while thoughts about specific contents roll
by" (Damasio, pg. 145).
While reading "The Cognitive Control of Emotion" article by Ochsner
and Gross, questions that came up for me were about ADD, and interest.
The article discussed attention and cognitive control in association
with emotion regulation, and I was wondering how this affects people
with ADD. People with ADD suffer from and attention deficit, as the
name implies, but in my experience people with this "disorder" do not
lack emotional capacity or the ability to express emotions. I also
wonder what role interest plays (because my research paper was about
interest as a primary emotion). Attention in general often has to do
with someone's interest in an object or event, whether it is positive
or negative, pleasurable or unpleasant. I question how much interest
is involved with the processing or events and how much individual
interest has to do with the processing of emotion.
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Sorry about the screwed up format guys, it looked fine in the post window.
Like Joan, I also questioned the effects of emotion regulation in ADD (and ADHD, etc.) and its' relationship to interest. Oschner and Gross' "The cognitive control of emotion" was extremely interesting and seemed to suggest that these "disorders" could be helped, if not cured, by patients learning how to better control their emotions. This also led me to think about the constructive thought that could help any form of pyschosis, such as schizohrenia, without medication--therapy through reappraisal,
"reinterpreting the meaning of one's stimulus to change one's emotional response to it." This may be extreme, but I would be interested in Oschner and Gross' opinions on medication.
In the Ochsner and Barrett study, it was fascinating to learn how interconnected different brain structures are in processing emotions. The amygdala and Basal Ganglia are 'first on the scene' to assess people, objects, and events as either positive or negative. The lateral prefrontal and association cortex label the emotional states. The Anterior Cingulate Cortex determines whether the emotional stimulus poses future threat or pain. Ochsner and Barrett propose that future research in emotions needs to consider how different brain processes interact "not just what kinds of stimuli activate different brain systems"(32). I have to say that after reading the article, I'm confused about what they mean by the above statement. I was hoping that someone would clarify for me what Oschsner and Barrett are proposing.
In response to Joan's comment on how ADD/ADHD affects the processing of and ability to express emotions, I believe to struggle with attention would have an enormous impact not only on how one communicates her own emotions to others, but also how she perceives others emotions. It takes a great deal of focus to process emotions, especially when working to "read" the emotions of others. And in my interactions with individuals with ADD/ADHD, I have observed a marked difficulty in their ability to pick up such cues. At the same time, I would imagine it would be quite easy to confuse many common symptoms of ADD/ADHD (such as an inability to listen, forgetfulness, and interrupting conversations) as an signs of disinterest in the emotions of others.
Visual priming experiments show that stimuli outside of our (attention's) perception can still activate the amygdala and thus elicit an emotional response, so I don't think ADD sufferers will have trouble processing emotions, if by "processing" you mean experiencing. The cognitive control of emotions is a different story. Most people with normal brains can't do it effectively, so my guess is that people with ADD are at least as bad, and probably worse (though I'm no expert on ADD).
In a similar line of thought, I'd like to know about the role, if any, that intelligence plays in the control of emotion. The patients Damasio speaks of in the earlier chapters with prefrontal cortex damage had no change in intelligence, but had absolutely no ability to regulate emotions. This seems to indicate that intelligence as defined by IQ tests exists independent of the PFC, but I can't help but hold onto the idea of a connection. The PFC is most defined in humans - the most intelligent species. Reasoning skills and working memory, two abilities should be more than sound in intelligent people, are also associatied with the PFC. Is it possible that the PFC of the archetypal exceptionally gifted person with poor interpersonal skills has a stronger regulation of the amygdala than that of a normal person? Would this also imply conscious control of emotion would be easier for that individual?
I liked "The Cognitive Control of Emotions" article especially because it admitted the lack of understanding about the underlying neural mechanisms. Studies have found both increased and decreased amygdala activation among different control strategies. Can anything but a decrease be considered evidence of control over an emotion like fear?
Joan brings up an interesting question about ADD and emotional experience. Being someone diagnosed with ADD, I would like to believe that I don't have trouble "processing emotions." My own experiences have also indicated that others diagnosed with ADD don't have any noticeable lack of emotional capacity. However, I believe that emotion appraisal (in both oneself and in others) must be affected somewhat if you have ADD (or at least that's what this new information leads me to believe). I'm also curious about ADD/ADHD medications now and what role they might play in one's ability to appraise emotions. I also found myself, like Matt, wondering about the connection between intelligence and emotion. Damasio makes it seem as though there is no relationship between intelligence and the PFC, but can that really be true?
The Oschner and Gross article's discussion of the role of attention in emotional response was very insightful, except i'm not really sure how pain can be used as a way of measuring this. I was at first really intrigued by the study because i thought that it would go into more long term memory suppression (kind of like the reading in McGaugh before break). Throughout the course I've been really interested in the neurobiology of stress (not so much related to trauma, more like everyday stress) and how this might effect specific parts of the brain. If we have the ability to limit the attention given to a certain emotion, can this apply to long term memories that may conjure of a variety of pleasant/unpleasant emotions? is pain (which in my opinion is not necessarily a complex feeling) an effective way of determning this point?
on a completely other note Damasio totally lost me in chapter six. was he repeating himself a lot or was it just me?
A distinction was made between conscious and unconscious, learned and unlearned emotion generation and regulation. And while I accept the basic distinctions that were established, I wonder how much of the emotional process (generation and regulation) has become habituated behaviors (ego syntonic?). Do we become unconscious of what we have consciously learned? If so, how does that affect ones response to an emotional stimuli? I am interested in the category of emotional responses that are difficult to distinguish as one or the other.
What is different between individuals who have different emotional tendencies? Can unique emotional characteristics be identified in individuals from birth? If so, do these characteristics change over time, or do they generally remain a deeply rooted component of the individual? How do genes and environment affect ones emotional experiences?
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