Emotional Priming

Measuring Emotion: Behavior, Feeling, and Physiology

Group 4 Alicia Iafonaro Anthony Correa Baoyu Wang Isaac Del Rio

What is emotional priming? What did Brown show? • Emotional Priming: Associations, representations, and actions that are linked to the motivational system, which elicits a defensive reflex in reaction to an aversive stimulus, or unpleasant state. • Brown et al. compared reflex responses to startle probes presented to rats during neural or shockconditioned stimuli at extinction. Results showed that animals did react more forcefully when the startle stimuli were presented during fear-conditioned signals.

What is significant about the blink response? • The blink response occurs to protect the eyes and other particular organs from potential harm and danger. • In humans the blink response is the most reliable component of the behavioral cascade that constitutes the startle reflex. • The magnitude of the blink can be measured by monitoring the orbicularis oculi muscle.

When and why is the blink response potentiated? • In humans the blink response is potentiated following simple shock exposure (viewing unpleasant pictures) or as a function of learned associations activating the defense motivational system. • It’s inhibited when viewing pleasant pictures. • The reflex is primed when the defensive motivational system is active.

Relate this back to the motivation theory (or hypothesis). • Since Hebb (1949) defined motivation as factors that determined direction and rigor of behavior depending on the sense of needs states and salience of goal stimuli the prompted behavior increases or wanes in intensity and effort of correlated response. The greater the shock stimuli the heightened sense of corresponding response.

Discuss Figure 11.9

• Illustrates a significant linear trend is reliably observed over judged picture valence, with the blink responses potentiated when viewing unpleasant pictures and inhibited when viewing pleasant ones, compared to neutral picture processing.

Explain what and why a cascade of defense response events happen. • The defense cascade is a series of different response events that vary in levels as activation increases involving sweat glands, startle reflex and heart rate. The Defense Cascade model proposes 3 distinct defensive phases that occur: • Pre-encounter • Post-encounter (freezing) • Circa-strike (Fight or Flight)

Is all emotion about defense? What emotions are not focused here? Is the theory challenged by not considering other emotions? • The article focuses on fear/phobia emotions and the startle reflex. However, not all emotions can be explained be this fight/flight model such as excitement and anxiety. More importantly, the theory would not uphold to individuals suffering from severe depression or sociopathy.

Illustration of Figure 11.10 A three-stage continuum of defensive responding A cascade of different response events, changing in different ways and at different levels, as activation increases. 1. The degree of potentiation increases with greater activation. 2. Only at the highest activation level, just before action, does the vagus release the heart to accelerate. 3. Sweat glands’ activity start to increase at the first stage. Explain the different heart rate change between phobic subjects and normal subjects during the experiment.

Summary of the Chapter The Motivational Organization of Emotion: Evolutionary Perspective Primitive action

Emotions are avatars of primitive actions. :)

Emotions Valence

Emotional responses are founded on activation in two basic motive systems.

Survival needs: move toward positive stimuli and away from negative events

Motive System Appetitive

Activation Emotional Priming

Arousal

Overt acts

Emotional language

Emotions are defined as activation in a motive system and are indexed by the consequent actions.

Physiologi cal reactions Startle

Reflex Dimensions for measurement

Aversive/def ensive