The Amygdala is Responsible for Emotions - Case Study Example

The Amygdala is Responsible for Emotions (Brain) of School The Amygdala is Responsible for Emotions Introduction Man is a complex animal and as such has often wondered about his existence and his own place in the universe. Man has evolved into a species different from all different life forms here on earth and is perhaps the only one capable of observing his own surroundings, have a notion of himself (called as reflexive thought) and also the ability to alter his own environment, for better or for the worse. Along this line, man for centuries had thought about an ultimate purpose for his existence and place in the grand scheme of things. He had thought about God and what happens after a life here on earth. Man likewise has considered a lot of things in his life for which there are no easy answers as yet. Among these considerations is how to define consciousness. Consciousness is something humans easily understand but this concept has defied so far any attempts to define it in a precise manner. Perhaps a common definition is it is an awareness of anything at any given moment. However, it is certainly something that is mysterious but also familiar to most of us. Consciousness can be narrowly defined in medical terms such as a person who is alert and responsive to various stimuli but in psychology, consciousness is different. In the same manner, humans are also interested in knowing the ultimate cause of his own emotions. There is no question that thoughts originate in the brain but there had been some types of dispute with regard to the origin of our emotions. People of earlier times had ascribed it to our hearts as the seat of emotions. This view is common among the hopeless romantics in our midst but lately, science has indicated otherwise. Recent scientific research studies had shown us our emotions emanate from a part of our brain to an almond-shaped mass in our temporal lobes. Discussion Much of what is known today about human behaviors is through a new branch of science known as bio-psychology. It is known by many other names such as psycho-biology, biological psychology and physiological psychology. However named, it is a study of complex relationship between our biology and human behavior. In other words, this science attempts to find biological links to our own behavior and foremost among its research objectives is to find a logical solution or explanation for our emotions. In particular, this branch of science tries to find biological basis for emotions such as joy, pleasure, laughter, sorrow, pain and grief. To narrow it down further, it attempts to explain emotions in terms of physiology (or our various bodily living systems) and in particular, how the brain controls our thinking and behavior patterns (Alder, 2000, p. 5). This paper deals with some of the theories being put forward on how to explain emotions. Moreover, the discussion here can hopefully help to shed light on some perplexing behaviors that are sometimes observed in humans and maybe make people understand them a bit more. Like the issue of consciousness given as an example earlier, emotions are quite complex and do not easily lend themselves to categorizations in terms of their origins or causes. The debate on where and how emotions originate is a bit contentious just like what is that observed or discussed with regards to consciousness. Emotions and consciousness are two very closely related topics of interest to psychology, and questions such as how to detect emotions or consciousness in ill or comatose people are important as well as how to measure them precisely, or whether animals have consciousness or even if artificial intelligence can eventually have it. Learned Behavior – the human mind is a complex thing to observe and is therefore very mysterious. Much of what has been known and learned about it sometimes came by accident. A strange case like that of Phineas Gage is often cited in medical literature to show that even more serious injury can occur to the brain but without much damage to ones’ personality and ability to function relatively well in life (although this is in dispute as well due to some exaggerations and distortions about his life after the accident). At any rate, doctors and medical researchers came to know about what parts of the brain pertain to what particular functions by virtue of the process of elimination (by noting which portions of the damaged brain resulted to some personality changes or even physiological deficits in terms of functionality). Science has consistently stated that rational thinking is the key to human survival. There is a big body of literature with the evidence that seems to back up this claim. However, the book by Damasio upended much of this theory by challenging the very notion of logic as the only key to survival (2006, p. 40). The thesis of Damasio was that rational thinking is not a product of our logic only but also of emotions and feelings; humans cannot survive without emotions for human societies to function well, they need what constitute normal social behaviors. The 17th century Portuguese philosopher Baruch de Spinoza had similarly confronted the mysteries of the human mind and had suggested that the nature of reality and how we perceive it is a product of the physical world (external stimuli) and the mental world (as consciousness). In his groundbreaking book, the neuroscientist Damasio argued that Spinoza may have been right all along by discarding Descartés’ mind and body dualism (Cartesian Dualism) by restating how the biological brain affects emotions, personality and behavior (Damasio, 2003, p. 6). Other earlier works by sociologists seemed to indicate that human facial expressions are rather innate because these expressions appear to be the same throughout several cultures. For example, the ability to laugh and find something funny in a certain humorous situation is rather a basic human emotion that is expressed irrespective of culture. In fact, this particular emotion is what makes us humans after all. More interestingly, studies of blind children showed that facial expressions to indicate human emotions are innate. This inherent ability therefore suggests that human emotions are controlled by biological factors and not shaped by the environment alone. Complexity of Emotions – the range of human emotions is very wide but it is agreed that emotions are the result of an interaction between the physical, psychological and physiological experiences of an individual from a conscious experience of the moment. Prof. Robert Plutchik had tried to categorize emotions into eight basic emotions and eight more advanced emotions. In his theory, he postulated emotions are the result of evolution as a safety mechanism to ensure our own survival by self-preservation (like the fight-or-flight response) and reproductive fitness. His contribution to the science of emotions is that these emotions can vary by intensity to big extent (Plutchik, 1991, p. 14). He admitted there is difficulty in correctly defining what an emotion is. The Physiology of Emotions – much of what is known about human emotions also came from the works of psychologists and clinicians. External stimuli produce physiological responses and these form part of the instinctive learning process towards self-preservation and survival. It is conceded that feelings are the products of emotions being generated and are subjective. The emotion so generated can vary in intensity termed as the state of arousal. Feelings are quite rapid and are automatic physiological responses resulting from hormonal and neural processes. Emotions are classified generally into cognitive (processed in the prefrontal cortex) and the so-called non-cognitive (or automatic emotions and processed in the amygdala of the brain). Additionally, another general classification of the theories of emotion (based on psychology) is the affect control theory and the identity control theory. The former pertains to the interaction of a set of fundamental emotions acquired previously (which become constant) and then mixed with the newer set of external stimuli (situational context). The latter theory posits emotions as results of a personal expression of a set of self-identity meanings (Turner, 2004, p. 80). One of the earliest theories of emotion based on physiology is the James – Lange theory. It stated an important claim that emotions are a natural biological result of physiological changes in response to some environmental stimuli. This is more or less in accord with a view of William James back in 1884 about how our bodies react to our perceptions of the world. The physiology of emotions involves several symptoms such as muscular tension, a rise in the heart rate, increase in perspiration and dryness of the mouth; all these is a result of an autonomic nervous response. This is fairly consistent with the notion that hormones secreted during emotional moments tend to reinforce these feelings by pumping adrenalin and noradrenalin into our body systems. The James – Lange Theory of emotions is known as the Peripheral Feedback theory as it is based on the continuous linear pathway of a stimulus eventually producing an emotion. On the other hand, the Canon – Bard Theory shows bodily arousal and the production of an emotion as a simultaneous process while the Schachter Cognition+Feedback Theory posits bodily arousal and the production of an emotion as a continuous self-perpetuating feedback loop. Both are variants of the same general theory that external stimuli produce a physiological response in humans. Amygdala and Autism – an interesting link, although still unproven, is the research with some people found to be autistic tends to have an enlarged amydala. The research emphasis is based on autism as having a neurological basis that impairs intuition and cognition. Since autism is a social skills deficit in communicating, the research focus is the role played by the amygdala. This is the part of the brain thought by experts as having the most important role in mediating social behavior (Moldin & Rubenstein, 2006, p. 243). Autism is considered as a developmental disorder that involves social behaviors and the current view as to its possible cause is towards a neurological basis such as neurotransmission and a wrong neuroanatomy. Autism has no known cure yet and persists throughout a person’s life despite early interventions. If enlarged amygdala is indicative of autism, then there is a strong biological basis for our emotions. Conclusion A very strong link between the amygdala and emotions is the strange case of a woman whose amygdalas had been damaged by a rare brain disease that dumped calcium deposits on her two amygdalas (Blakeslee, 1994, p. 1). Because of the disease, this woman does not feel fear or recognize fear in other people’s faces. However, she can recognize other emotions like disgust, sadness or surprise but not fear or anger, according to Dr. Antonio Damasio. This strange case is considered as further evidence that the amygdala underlie much of human behavior, especially to the two emotions of anger and fear. Dr. Damasio, who is a neuroscientist at University of Iowa, said this is the first time the amygdala was shown in humans to process the emotional content of auditory information which is vital in the detection of danger for survival (Blakeslee, 1997, p. 1). Discoveries like these help us understand the true biological basis of human emotions. References Alder, B. (2000). Motivation, Emotion and Stress. Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. Blakeslee, S. (1994, December 18). Brain Study Examines Rare Woman. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/18/us/brain-study-examines-rare-woman.html?scp=1&sq=woman+has+no+fear%2C+amygdala&st=nyt Blakeslee, S. (1997, January 21). Fear and Anger Heard Deep Inside the Brain. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/21/science/fear-and-anger-heard-deep-inside-the-brain.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm Damasio, A. R. (2003). Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow and the Feeling Brain. San Diego, CA, USA: Harcourt Publishers (Houghton Mifflin). Damasio, A. R. (2006). Descartés’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain. New York, NY, USA: Vintage Books. Plutchik, R. (1991). The Emotions. Lanham, MD, USA: University Press of America. Moldin, S. O. & Rubenstein, J. L. R. (2006). Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Turner, J. H. (2004). Theory and Research on Human Emotions. San Diego, CA, USA: Elsevier Incorporated. Read More