Emotions And Neuroscience

. Therefore, there are two conditions that illicit different responses from the monkeys. In this example the monkeys were fearful but still acted accordingly to the situation.

Emotions and Neuroscience

Past research has indicated that the amygdala is involved in the initial appraisals of the intensity, the nucleus accumbens is involved in the tracking of the likelihood of reward that the stimulus promises (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013). The periaqueductal gray activation related to pain regulation, negative affect, and caregiving. In the prefrontal cortex there are three areas that are relevant to emotion. These areas include the orbitofrontal region, the dorsolateral, prefrontal regions and the medial prefrontal region. More specifically,

the medial portion of the prefrontal cortex is involved in the self-representation. The orbitofrontal region is involved in the representation of goals and rewards. It sends brain signals to the dorsolateral prefrontal region which has a connection to the motor cortex regions. It can be concluded that much of emotions are processed in the prefrontal cortex.
Emotions can illicit neurochemicals, two chemical that are involved in emotion are serotonin and oxytocin (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013). Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is widely produced in through the brain. Depending on the level of serotonin, it can produce and imbalance between the subcortical and the cortical regions of the brain, which can result in aggression or depression. Oxytocin is a peptide of nine amino acid which is produced in the hypothalamus and released onto both brain and bloodstream. It is involved in lactation, maternal bonding and sexual interaction therefore it is associated with love. After a treatment of oxytocin males and females known to increase their social context. In female’s oxytocin is also known to decrease aggression. It was later found that people who were administered oxytocin were found to be more generous and likely to share the maximum amount of money in an economic game.
Emotional Development
Emotion is the first language humans learn (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013). In children emotion contribute to their overall development. Emotions emerge at different stages of life at birth crying is shown, at two months joy is shown and at 12 months anger is shown. However, the question still remains if these emotions mean the same as they do in adulthood. Self-conscious begin around 18 months these emotions include concern, empathy, embarrassment, and envy. Between the ages of three and four pride, shame, guilt, and regret are often shown. By the age of 3 children are able to express happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, empathy and guilt. The cognitive milestones include visual attention, mean-end, expectancy, language, and representational knowledge.
Similar to the development in emotions there are also changes to the way a person responds to emotions(Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013). For example, fear of sound is shown around the age of 7 months old and reaches a peak at the end of the years. The older a child become the less frighten they are of sound but they may develop new fears. At the age of four children are much more cognitively develop then in their toddler year, 4 year old are often afraid of monsters and ghost. In early school years children become afraid of bodily harm and during adolescents fear and anxiety regarding outcome becomes prevalent.
In order for children relate to others they have to be able to recognize other people emotions. It is suggested that children pick up information from other which is an ability rooted in newborns. They amygdala is fullly developed in newborns and play a role in directing newborns to people faces to look for emotions overall human have a bias of facials cues. Children can also recognize emotions through vocal burst but only when tit is in their native language. Negative bias is when the bad affects us more than the good and it is known to develop early in life and persist to adulthood. One rational to this emotion is the way children are treated. In early life children are treated in a positive manner therefore when something negative takes place it is much more salient to them. Negative biases help children avoid potentially harmful circumstances and can help children social cognitive development.
Regulation of emotions are also present in early life (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013).

Two forms of emotional regulation are cognitive change and behavioral and physiological change. Cognitive change is a way of altering an emotionally charged situation. Changing the meaning of something can change the emotional impact similar how the way a word is phrased can impact a person’s response. For example, a person can be asked how fast was the car going when it hit the other car? The response might be 30 miles per hour. Then the same person can be asked how fast was the car going when it smashed into the other car? It is likely that the person may report a high speed than the initial answer. Behavioral and physiological change has little research but it involves changing emotions once they are

underway.
Children are consistently cognitively evolving. At the age of 2 months, children have attentional control which is an association of the organization of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal
axis and the peripheral nervous system. At the age of 5 months, children have control of affect/motor action and that is associated with cortical control rudimentary. When children are 10 months old they have response inhibition which is associated with neurodevelopment of frontal lobes. At 2 years old children talk with others and that is associated with language development. At 5 years old, children have emotion understanding and that is associated with paracingulate cortex.

Differences in Emotions
Individual differences in emotions are called affective cognitive structures (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013).

For some people emotions in childhood can actually stay with them through adulthood. For example, extreme shyness is an emotion that a person can carry with them throughout their lifetime. Individual differences have also been seen in the way people react to other people’s emotions even though some emotions elicit typical responses. One study found that people reacted differently depending on the type of relationship such as if it was an old person talking to a younger person.

Conclusion

Emotions is a complex and heterogenous topic and require more research to be fully understood. Emotions, mood, and emotion disorder are different from each other. The main difference between these three aspects is the length of time. Although we all experience emotions we do not all experience them the same. Our culture can impact the way we feel and share our emotions. There are currently seven theoretical principles of emotions highlights the viewpoint. Facial expression are one way that we can view emotions and expressed them. Some facial expressions are universal such as anger and can be seen by the tension on a person’s

mouth.
Certain brain chemicals are associated with emotions. One chemical is serotonin, serotonin can result in aggression or depression depending on the amount present. Immediately after birth humans are cable of showing emotion. At the tender age of 3 children are able to express happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, empathy, and guilt. Culture can also impact how infants react. Conceptually, emotions are our responses to outside stimuli and help guide us throughout life (Keltner, Oakley & Jenkins, 2013).