Category: Neuropsychology

Contribution of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology

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The emotional function is a crucial factor in understanding human behaviour, decision-making processes, social interactions and all in all mental health. To begin with, it’s important to define what emotional function is. It’s a combination of several processes by which individuals express, recognise and regulate their emotions. Emotions are intense feelings which are appearing as a reaction to outward stimuli such as changes in the environment or social interactions. There are 6 basic emotions: anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness and happiness (Andrews, 2016). Also, it’s important to outdraw 3 components of Emotional function: autonomic arousal, which happens involuntarily triggered by emotions as a physiological response (Andrews, 2016); emotions can be categorised as positive and negative effects which include both internal feelings and external expressions (Lazarus, 1991); State vs. Mood component- moods are more stable over time and enduring when states are transient and situational. Such emotional disorders as anxiety, for instance, illustrate how these states could be pathological (Andrews, 2016).

Indeed the importance of the emotional function cannot be denied. If to look at it from the evolutionary point of view it has an important role in increasing individual survival and social communication. According to Darwin’s Theory of Emotions (1872), emotions are inherited behavioural patterns that have evolved to enhance survival. For example, the function of raised eyebrows and widened eyes, while being in a state of fear, is the increased visual sharpness which is a helpful mechanism of threat detection. Also, Darwin argued on the example of blind children who blushed when felt shame that emotions are innate or inherited and are not learned by individuals. Thus, making it crucially important for studying to understand human behaviour. This essay will specifically focus on exploring the contribution that cognitive psychology and cognitive neuropsychology have made to the study of emotional function.

When behaviourism was a dominant approach brain functions have been viewed as more simple stimuli-reaction mechanisms. For example, the James-Lange theory claims that emotions result from psychological reactions to events. Another theory of this time is Cannon-Bard (1927), which proposed that emotions and psychological responses happen simultaneously and independently in response to stimuli, with the thalamus playing a central role in emotional generation. Later research has shown that the thalamus is not the sole centre for emotional processing. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) revealed that the limbic system, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex and insula, plays a crucial role in emotional generation and regulation (Phan et al., 2002).

For example, the latest meta-analysis by Berboth and Morawetz (2021) examined the neural underpinnings of specific brain regions involved in emotional functions across 15 neuroimaging studies. They performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) algorithm on studies which research the connectivity between the amygdala and other regions involved in emotion regulation through psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis. Results showed that during emotion regulation, connectivity between the amygdala and the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex was identified in PPI studies. This suggests that reappraisal, as a specific strategy of emotion regulation, influences how these brain regions communicate during the process. Additionally, they have found convergent connectivity between the amygdala and the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during the analysis of the functional interaction of these brain parts during the process of down-regulation of emotions. These findings show the neurally-derived models of emotion regulation and highlight the dynamic of interactions between systems responsible for generating and regulating emotions.

Such advanced tools as fMRI and PET showed how complex the brain is. In contrast to the previous view of the brain as a simple stimuli-reaction mechanism, fMRI and PET allowed scientists to examine the hierarchical organisation of the brain, showing how different layers of neural circuits predict sensory inputs at various levels of abstraction (Friston, 2005). These findings refined models like dual-process theory, which posits that both automatic and controlled processes are involved in emotional regulation (Thompson, 2009). Moreover, dysfunction in dual-processing can cause different psychological disorders. For example, there have been studies that show how impaired prefrontal regulation (analytic process) can lead to an overactive amygdala response (heuristic process). This contributes to the development of anxiety and mood disorders, additionally, this can lead to cognitive biases and delusions (Bronstein et al., 2019).

Studying the dysregulation mechanism of effective regulation could be beneficial for uncovering the nature of associated psychological disorders and thus give a better understanding of effective cognitive and pharmacological treatment. Many forms of psychopathology connect with failures in emotional regulation processes, which can lead to the development of various issues from distress to self-destructive behaviours (Ochsner and Gross, 2005).

Cognitive neuroscience has contributed to neuropsychological accounts by elucidating the neural mechanisms underlying emotional function. For instance, lesion studies have shown that damage to the prefrontal cortex impairs emotional regulation, supporting its role in top-down control of emotions. One of the notable examples is – the case of Phineas Gage, which involves a railway worker who survived severe brain damage that dramatically changed his personality and behaviour (Harlow, 1868).

However, limitations such as small sample sizes and the complexity of isolating specific neural correlates highlight the need for further research. (Andrews, 2016)

More recent research, specifically on neural correlations of emotional regulation, found that the interaction between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex is critical for effective emotional regulation. This has been possible to uncover with the use of fMRI technology, which highlights how advancement in brain imaging techniques is deepening our understanding of the underlying mechanisms (Pessoa, 2020). Another notable example is research by Torrisi et al. (2018), where they explored in depth 2 interconnected parts of the brain: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and the central amygdala (CeA) of the extended amygdala, which is responsible for mediating responses to sustained, unpredictable threats. In their study, they examined the changes in the connectivity of these parts during sustained anticipation of electric shock. According to the results BNST and CeA become less coupled with ventromedial prefrontal cortex cingulate, and nucleus accumbens, at the same time they become more coupled with the thalamus, under threat. These findings suggest that by examining specific roles and interactions of CeA and BNST it’s possible to see their contribution to the anxious state and its maintenance.

It’s without a doubt, that combination of cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, and cognitive neuroscience is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of emotional function. Cognitive psychology provides theoretical frameworks, neuropsychology highlights the insights through lesion and behavioural studies, while neuroscience shows the underlying mechanism of it all. Emotional function is multidimensional and complex, it requires interdisciplinary research. Future research should explain other emotion regulation strategies, understand individual differences and develop targeted interventions for emotional dysregulation. This will further enrich the understanding and treatment of psychological disorders.

References

Andrewes, D. (2016). Chapter 8: Emotional and Social Dysfunction. In Neuropsychology:

From Theory to Practice. Routledge: Dawson Books.

Berboth, S., & Morawetz, C. (2021). Amygdala-prefrontal connectivity during emotion

regulation: A meta-analysis of psychophysiological interactions. Neuropsychologia,

153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107767.

Bronstein, M. V., Pennycook, G., Joormann, J., Corlett, P. R., & Cannon, T. D. (2019). Dual-

process theory, conflict processing, and delusional belief. Clinical psychology review,

72, 101748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101748

Cannon, W. B. (1927). The James-Lange theory of emotions: a critical examination and an

alternative theory. The American Journal of Psychology, 39, 106–124.

https://doi.org/10.2307/1415404

Darwin, C. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. John Murray.

https://shorturl.at/NPw4O

Harlow, J. M. (1868). Recovery from the Passage of an Iron Bar through the Head.

Publications of the Massachusetts Medical Society, 2, 327-347.

Friston, K. (2005). A theory of cortical responses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal

Society B: Biological Sciences, 360(1456), 815-836.7

Lazarus, R.S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive–motorational relational theory of emotion.

American Psychologist 46, 819–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.8.819

Ochsner, K., Gross, J. (2005). The cognitive control of emotion. Trends in Cognitive

Sciences, 9(5), 242-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010

Pessoa, L. (2020). The Cognitive-Emotional Brain: From Interactions to Integration. MIT

Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262019569.003.0001

Phan, K. L., Wager, T., Taylor, S. F., & Liberzon, I. (2002). Functional Neuroanatomy of

Emotion: A Meta-Analysis of Emotion Activation Studies in PET and fMRI.

NeuroImage, 16(2), 331-348. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2002.1087

Thompson, V. A. (2009). Dual-process theories: A metacognitive perspective. In J. St. B. T.

Evans & K. Frankish (Eds.), In two minds: Dual processes and beyond, 171-195.

Oxford University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230167.003.0008

Torrisi, S., Gorka, A. X., Gonzalez-Castillo, J., O’Connell, K., Balderston, N., Grillon, C., &

Ernst, M. (2018). Extended amygdala connectivity changes during sustained shock

anticipation. Translational psychiatry, 8(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-017-

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How the structural integrity of the amygdala-prefrontal pathway predicts trait anxiety?

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For the purpose of exploring a relationship between the structure/function of the human nervous system and emotion and/or behaviour, have been chosen the article “The Structural Integrity of an Amygdala–Prefrontal Pathway Predicts Trait Anxiety” by Kim M., and Whalen P. Their research aimed to explore the strategies of combining fMRI with DTI to identify the differences in structural pathways that predict behaviour outcomes. These two neuroimaging techniques allowed researchers to examine the biological basis of anxiety by comparing related structural and functional aspects of the brain, thus identifying how the structural integrity of the amygdala-prefrontal pathway predicts trait anxiety.

In this particular case, 20 healthy participants have been chosen to go through the series of tests. First, they were shown 36 images with fearful and neutral faces in random order. During this test participants have been scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess the amygdala’s activation in response to fearful versus neutral faces. This helps to understand the amygdala’s role in processing fear and anxiety. After the process, individuals were asked to fill out self-report cards where they needed to rate the valence and arousal levels of faces they’d seen and complete a questionnaire for assessing anxiety and depression levels. What is more, the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique was employed to measure the structural integrity of white matter pathways that connect the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.

Findings showed that participants rated fearful faces to be more arousing and fearful than neutral faces. Moreover, DTI results showed a correlation between the structural integrity of the amygdala-prefrontal pathway (as measured by FA values) and levels of trait anxiety, rather than a direct correlation between amygdala responses to fearful faces and FA values. This indicates that stronger structural connectivity, suggested by higher FA values, is associated with lower levels of trait anxiety, highlighting the importance of structural integrity in anxiety. 

FMRI data showed how individual differences in amygdala reactivity are related to trait anxiety. This approach provided an outlook on the importance of both the structure and function of brain pathways in forming emotional responses and behaviours related to anxiety. FMRI and other functional neuroimaging techniques have been used and advocated for as useful methodologies to understand how different regions of the brain are connected (Henson, 2005).  

This study demonstrates a direct relationship between the structural integrity of the amygdala-prefrontal pathway and trait anxiety, revealing how brain structure influences emotional regulation and behaviour.  

Increased fractional anisotropy values indicate higher structural connectivity which correlates with lower levels of trait anxiety. This suggests that the brain’s physical connections play a crucial role in how individuals perceive and respond to fear, underlining a biological basis for emotional responses. Similar findings can be seen in an earlier paper by LeDoux (1998) on the amygdala’s role in fear processing, where he showed how structural variations in brain pathways can affect emotional and behavioural outcomes.

Resources:

Henson, R. (2005). What can functional neuroimaging tell the experimental psychologist? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A(2), 193-233.

Kim, M. J., & Whalen, P. J. (2009). The Structural Integrity of an Amygdala–Prefrontal Pathway Predicts Trait Anxiety. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(37), 11614-11618. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/29/37/11614.full.pdf

LeDoux, J. (1998). The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life. Simon & Schuster. https://books.google.rs/books?id=7EJN5I8sk2wC&printsec=frontcover&hl=sr#v=onepage&q&f=false

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How the biological study of mental processes has contributed to the development of psychology as a discipline?

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Introduction

To better answer the question, this post will illustrate how the study of mental processes has evolved through three significant phases: before Biological studies, this “era” focuses on the early philosophical and introspective approaches; the Stimulus-reaction period, this is the “era” of behaviourism and early neurophysiological models, which characterised brain as a stimulus-response machine; Predictive Processing, the current “era”, which provides a more integrated and dynamic understanding of mental processes as proactive, prediction-based processes.

Brain’s function and structure across the time

Before going into a detailed exploration of the study of mental processes across the history of psychology, it’s important to look at the evolution of understanding brain functions and structures across the mentioned periods; to see the profound changes in the conceptualisation of the brain in psychology and neuroscience. 

Before Biological contribution: in this era, the understanding of the brain function and structure was rudimentary and relayed on philosophical speculations. The anatomical knowledge was limited and the brain’s importance was overlooked. Aristotle for instance thought that the heart has a more crucial role and is the primary organ of sensation (Aristotle, 350 BCE). The brain’s function, for example was often explained through metaphysical concepts, like the Humoral theory, which suggests that bodily fluids influenced behaviour and temperament (Hippocrates, 400 BCE). Later in the 17th century, Descartes proposed a new theory “Mind-Body Dualism”, where he distinctly separates the nature of the mind and the nature of the body, arguing that one can exist without another. Although he assigns a function of consciousness and reason to the brain. 

Stimulus-Reaction Era: shaped by the rise of behaviourism and early neuroscience, the understanding of the brain shifted towards more empirical and anatomical forms. Which led to a clearer understanding of the brain’s structure and functions. One of the most significant findings was Broca’s discovery of the speech production centre in the brain, known as Broca’s area, which linked specific brain areas to cognitive function (Broca, 1861). This was the beginning of a new field- neurophysiology. Later Wernickle (1874) developed even further the brain-behaviour relationship, by identifying the brain’s area responsible for language comprehension. During the same period, the brain’s function was understood as a stimulus-response mechanism, (where specific inputs led to certain outputs.) This era was dominated by the behaviourists’ perspective that all behaviours could be understood as reflexes conditioned by environmental stimuli (Watson, 1913; Pavlov 1927).

The Predictive Processing Era: views the brain as an active participant that doesn’t just passively respond to the external world but proactively simulates and predicts the environment. The distinction of understanding brain structure in this era is neuroimaging technologies such as fMRI and PET scans which allowed to examine hierarchical organisation of the brain, showing how different layers of neural circuits predict sensory inputs at various levels of abstraction (Friston, 2005). The brain’s function is understood as a continuous prediction process, to minimise the error between its predictions and sensory inputs and by adjusting its predictions, shapes cognitive functions. As well as, construct and maintain perceptual reality (Clark, 2013). Unlike earlier theories which often separated mind and body, the modern approach emphasises the inseparability of cognitive processes from their biological bases, aligning psychology more closely with biological science.

References

  • Aristotle. (circa 350 BCE). De Anima (On the Soul).
  •  Broca, P. (1861). Remarks on the seat of the faculty of articulated language, following an observation of aphemia (loss of speech). Bulletin de la Société Anatomique.
  • Clark, A. (2013). “Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
  • Friston, K. (2005). “A theory of cortical responses.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences.
  • Hippocrates. (460-370 BCE). On the Sacred Disease.
  • Pavlov, I.P. (1927). Conditioned Reflexes. London: Oxford University Press.
  • Watson, J.B. (1913). “Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Psychological Review
  • Wernicke, C. (1874). Der aphasische Symptomencomplex: Eine psychologische Studie auf anatomischer Basis. Cohn & Weigert.

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