Emotional Brain Systems and Emotional Experience - Essay Example

Emotional Brain Systems are Critical for Understanding the Many Facets of Emotional Experience Total Number of Words: 2,548 Abstract The research study will provide us a better understanding on how the past psychologists contributed to the existing theories that allow us to understand the relationship between the brain function and the human emotional responses. Upon going through the main discussion, the readers are expected to critically think of the main reasons behind disregarding a previously proposed concept with a relatively new set of theories. Introduction Each day, many people experience different emotions which include: joy and happiness, fear and anxiety, sadness, grief, anger, and/or disgust among others. Although feeling these emotions are normal part of being human, it is inevitable for some people to experience emotional disorders. In the absence of fully analyzing the normal brain function, it can very difficult to determine the main factors that trigger the sudden emotional changes. The study of affective neuroscience is very much focused on analyzing the relationship between the normal brain functioning with the human emotions and mood swings. Over the past 30 years, a lot of research studies were conducted to explore the significance of the brain system with different types of emotions including how the emotion is being processed in the brain despite the individual cognitive, motor behaviour, motivation, and language development (Dalgleish, 2004). The main purpose of this study is to examine the importance of studying the emotional brain systems as a way to enable us to understand the many facets of emotional experiences that we encounter each day. Upon going through the main discussion, a literature review will be gathered to enable the researcher compare and contrast the different historical point-of-view of other people with regards to the development behind the study of affective neuroscience. Research Question “Is the human emotional brain system critical for understanding the many facets of emotional experience?” Literature Review What is Emotional Brain? Emotional brain is basically “a part of the human brain that generates emotions” (Young, 2005). Upon examining whether or not the brain produces emotions in response to unconscious and conscious perceptions, LeDoux explained in his book entitled “Emotional Brain” that a test was conducted in animals revealed that the amygdale which is a small part of the limbic system is responsible in producing neuronal responses in case a frightening stimuli is present (Hendrix, 1997). Basically, there are two ways wherein sensory input can be processed by the brain as proposed by LeDoux. These are classified as the following: (1) high road; and (2) low road (Hendrix, 1997). The ‘high road’ transfers the nerve impulse straight from the ears going to the thalamus. Given that the human auditory system is located close to the sensory cortex, the nerve impulse that reaches the thalamus and amygdale at a very fast rate. On the contrary, the ‘low road’ does not convey the detailed information about the sensory input (Hendrix). Instead, the signal triggers the human defensive system and somatic reflex Therefore, the ‘low road’ often occurs when a person is experiencing a threat for survival. After many years of studying the relationship between the brain and emotions, a lot of modern psychologists concluded that the human brain plays a crucial role when it comes to processing emotional communication particularly on how a specific emotion feels. For instance: Upon using a transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (ultrasound) in studying the blood flow velocity (BFV) that enters the brain’s left and right middle cerebral arteries, Vingerhoets, Berckmoes, and Stroobant (2003) concluded that even though the left brain is considered to be active when it comes to identifying the type of emotion felt by each individual, it remains a fact that emotions are normally being processed in the right hemisphere of the brain. It simply means that the individuals with lesions on the right hemisphere of the brain may experience difficulty in determining emotional prosody. Comparison between the Historical and Modern Point-of-View of People behind the Study of Affective Neuroscience The two fathers of affective neuroscience include Darwin and William James. Darwin stated that the six basic emotions include: (1) anger; (2) fear; (3) happiness; (4) surprise; (5) disgust; and (6) sadness. (Darwin, 1859/1965) Upon spending a total of 34 years on study of emotions, Darwin (1965/1859) suggested that emotions are actually based on the commonsense beliefs such that the mental state of each individual determines the emotional expression of each person. For instance: The facial reaction such as when a person grinds his teeth when angry is simply a behavioural expression of emotions. (Darwin, 1859/1965) Likewise, Darwin also gave us the idea that the animal emotions are homologues with the human emotions. After the study of Darwin, other past experimental studies were conducted on animals suggesting that the cortex has nothing to do with the different emotional reactions but the use of different forms of sensory stimulation (Woodworth & Sherrington, 1904). Upon disagreeing with Darwin’s idea that emotional expression is based on commonsense, William James (1894, 1890m 1884) conducted his own experiments and argued that each person’s emotional response has to undergo a sequence such that a physiological response may arise only when there is either internal or external stimulus. Therefore, allowing a person to experience different types of emotions. James (1884) gave us the idea that there are ‘special emotional centers in the brain’ (LeDoux & Hirst, 1986, p. 327). Based on his own understanding, he explained that “emotion is just another function of the sensory and motor areas of the cortex” (p. 327). Similar to the concept proposals made by James (1884), the idea of Duffy (1934) with regards to emotional responses also made a significant contribution in the modern study on the relationship between the brain and emotions. Duffy strongly believed that “all behaviour can be explained in terms of a single phenomenon and orgasmic arousal… such that emotions are simply a point or range of points toward the high end of arousal dimension” (Izard, 1991, p. 32). Basically, Duffy was suggesting that the human emotional responses towards the internal or external stimuli vary with ‘intensity’ (p. 32). Together with Carl Georg Lange, William James independently developed the James-Lange theory of emotion (1885) which suggests that all emotions are developed out of physiological response to external stimuli including the personal experiences of each individual. Basically, the autonomic nervous system is believed to be responsible in creating physiological responses like muscular tension, the increase in heart rate, sudden uncontrollable perspiration, and/or the dryness of the mouth. The research findings of Woodworth and Sherrington (1904) motivated individuals who are studying affective neuroscience continued to conduct further experimental studies. Upon conducting an experimental study on cats without cortex, Cannon and Britton (1925) concluded that cats are able to show a wide-range of emotions given that the cortex is present. Since then, a lot of other succeeding experimental studies had been more focused on determining the significance of the cortex in the brain (especially the thalamic areas) with regards to decoding emotions (Fleming, 1938; Bard & Rioch, 1937; Bard, 1928). For this reason, the concept behind the James-Lange theory of emotion was totally disregarded in the study of psychology and affective neuroscience. Bard and Rioch (1937) and Bard (1928) were basically among the few earlier psychologists who proposed that emotion is localized in the brain wherein the hypothalamic circuit which takes place in the hypothalamus and thalamus. Particularly the study of Bard and Rioch (1937) and Bard (1928) were very much into analyzing the importance of hypothalamus with a person’s way of expressing emotions whereas the study of Fleming (1938) concentrated on determining the role of thalamus with emotions. Given the fact that Walter Cannon and Philip Bard does not agree that emotions are developed out of physiological response to stimuli, both psychologists develop the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion which suggested that emotion comes first before physiological response during the late 1800s. In general, the development of Cannon-Bard theory of emotion suggests that the hypothalamus is the main organ which significantly affects the emotional responses of each individual. Therefore, it is believed that the emotional responses are normally inhibited by the cortical areas of the brain. The development of Cannon-Bard theory of emotion challenged Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer who eventually proposed the two factor theory of emotion back in 1959. Basically the two factors include: (1) cognition; and (2) physiological response (Schachter & Singer, 1962). For instance: Emotion such as fear is a cognitive interpretation of a physiological response which causes a person to run. Similar to the suggestions made by Schachter & Singer (1962); Arnold (1945, p. 226) and Lazarus Averill, and Opton (1970, p. 218) also accepted the idea that cognitive appraisal such as the memory (as being determined by the human brain) can result to the different emotional response. The only difference between the point-of-view of Arnold (1945) and Lazarus Averill, and Opton (1970) is that Lazarus believed that emotion has three levels known as: (1) physiology; (2) behavioural; and (3) cognitive. In response to Bard and Rioch (1937) suggestion that the emotional part of the brain is responsible in producing emotional responses is down-regulated by the neocortial regions, Papez (1937) agreed to the concept that the top-down cortical regulation of the subcortical part of the brain triggers emotional responses aside from the fact that ‘thought’ and ‘feeling’ are two different streams. Eventually, Maclean (1949) came up with the idea that the “mammalian part of the brain” or the ‘limbic system’ is responsible for the top-down regulating control of the different emotional responses that the humans experience each day. On top of the amygdala and the pre-frontal cortex, Maclean (1949) suggested that the temporal lobe structure which is found in the brain plays the central part in the human emotional experiences. Even though the idea that the presence of the subcortical structure has been accepted by different psychologists; Schachter (1970) suggested that “emotional states are interpreted differently depending on the situational stimuli and the personal beliefs of the person who is receiving the sensory stimuli” (Staats, 1996, p, 240). For instance: It is normal for any person to feel hurt, angry, and jealous in case his/her love ones decided to leave him/her for another person. However, the emotional response of the person involved will highly depends on other factors like whether or not the person involved really love the other person. Back in 1970s, Leventhal suggested three major assumptions such that: (1) emotions are normally formed out of the different brain components; (2) the brain system follows a hierarchically structure; and (3) the organization of the brain structure arises when a person is going through the growth developmental stage. As explained by Leventhal, the lowest level of emotional processing can naturally occur whereas a more complex emotional behaviour is formed via schematic or conceptual processing which is highly depends on the conditioned learned between the subject’s emotional feelings and a particular stimuli (Gainotti, 2000; Leventhal, 1980; Leventhal, 1974). With regards to the idea that schemas can be developed out of a person’s interaction with the environment, Mandler (1979) suggested the relationship between the mental schemas and environmental factors plays a crucial role when a person consciously or unconsciously tries to respond emotionally to certain events. The remarks made by Mandler actually made the modern psychologists consider the impact of environmental factors rather than staying focused on analysing the impact of the brain system with the human emotional responses. In line with this matter, Mandler (1979) explained that “a schema is formed on the bases if past experience with objects, scenes, or events and consists of a set of expectations about what things look like and/or the order in which they occur” (Ablon et al., 1993, p. 226). Today, modern psychologists accepted the idea of William James such that the emotional center which is located in the limbic system exists. (Vingerhoets, Berckmoes, & Stroobant, 2003; Hendrix, 1997) Based on the human anatomy, Amygdala is located within the temporal lobe. Based on one of the most current demonstration made by LeDoux (1996), there is a strong significant link between the human sensory systems together with the amygdala and cortical areas such as the medial prefrontal cortex in terms of enabling a person to express negative emotional responses related to fear (Quirk & Gehlert, 2003; Quirk et al., 2003; Milad & Quirk, 2002). Studying the emotional brain system is crucial in enabling us to understand the many facets of our emotional experiences. Upon using the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in mapping the blood flow that goes through the brain, a research study revealed that the subcortical reward areas of the brain including the right ventral tegmental area, the medial caudate nucleus, and the right dorsal caudate is activated upon showing a person a photo of his/her loved one (Aron et al., 2005). Likewise, the activation of the left ventral tegmental area is related with the facial attractiveness of a happy person whereas the activation of the right anteromedial caudate is related to romantic passion (Aron et al.). The past studies focused mainly on understanding how the basic emotions is being encoded and decoded by the human brain. Recently, most of the experimental studies that are being conducted regarding the emotional brain responses are more complex in nature (Ekman, 1992). Instead of focusing on studying the six basic emotions as suggested by Darwin (1859/1965), the modern research experiments are focusing on identifying the distinction between the ‘primordial’ and ‘elaborated’ emotional responses (Keltner & Haidt, 2001). Discussion Started from the research findings of Darwin and William James up to the present time, the historical development behind the study of affective neuroscience showed us gradual shift from having the idea that emotions are based on the commonsense beliefs to the significant function of the brain system. Basically, each of the mentioned psychologists somehow contributed new ideas behind the study of emotional brain. Given that the proposed idea of psychologists is found insignificant or contradictory to the research findings made by another psychologist, a proposed concept regarding the subject matter can be disregarded provided that a new scientific-based experimental study can prove that the statement made by a previous psychologist is not feasible. For instance: Given the fact that Walter Cannon and Philip Bard does not agree that emotions are developed out of physiological response to stimuli, both psychologists develop the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion which suggested that emotion comes first before physiological response during the late 1800s. Basically, Cannon-Bard suggested that the hypothalamus is the main organ that significantly affects the emotional response of each individual. Since then, most of the succeeding experimental studies focused on the significance of the ‘special emotional centers in the brain’ which is actually refering to the cortex, hypothalamus, and the thalamus. Conclusion Emotion is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the study of psychology and affective neuroscience. Upon examining the contribution of past psychologists with regards to the historical development of the study between the brain function and emotional response, it is clear that the existing concepts and theories that we have today arises from the individual contribution of the past psychologists who had undergone a series of actual experiments in order to come up with a more acceptable theory that explains the role of the brain system in emotional responses. Therefore, we can conclude that the emotional brain system is critical in enabling us to understand the existence of emotional behaviour. *** End *** References: Ablon, S. L., Brown, D., Khantzian, E. J., & Mack, J. E. (1993). Human Feelings. Explorations in Affect Development and Meaning. The Analytic Press. Arnold, R. (1945). In Kimble G.A. & Wertheimer M. (eds) "Portraits of pioneers in psychology". 1991. Routledge. 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