PSYCOLOGY
Cogniton &
Emotion
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,UNIT 1: WHAT IS COGNITION? ............................................................................................................................. 7
1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 7
1.1 RELATION BETWEEN COGNITON AND EMOTION............................................................................. 7
2 DEFINITIONS AND TAXONOMIES .............................................................................................................. 8
2.1 LEVELS OF ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................................... 8
2.2 AUTOMATICITY: AUTOMATIC VS. NON-AUTOMATIC....................................................................... 8
2.3 RULE BASED VERSUS ASSOCIATIVE ................................................................................................ 10
2.4 ABOUTNESS AND QUALIA............................................................................................................... 11
3 WHAT IS COGNITON? ............................................................................................................................. 11
3.1 BROAD ACCOUNTS: TOPOLOGICAL ACCOUNT AND MENTALIST ACCOUNT ................................. 11
3.2 NARROW ACCOUNTS...................................................................................................................... 12
UNIT 2: EMOTION CAUSATION ........................................................................................................................... 13
1 WHAT IS AN EMOTION? ......................................................................................................................... 13
2 EMOTION CAUSATION............................................................................................................................ 15
2.1 THE THEORY OF JAMES................................................................................................................... 15
2.2 THE THEORY OF SCHACTHER .......................................................................................................... 18
2.3 APPRAISAL THEORIES ..................................................................................................................... 20
2.4 NETWORK THEORIES ...................................................................................................................... 23
3 BUILDING BLOCKS OF OUR EMOTIONAL LIFE......................................................................................... 23
3.1 BASIC EMOTIONS ............................................................................................................................ 23
3.2 NON-BASIC EMOTIONS ................................................................................................................... 24
UNIT 3: BIG EMOTIONS: FEAR ........................................................................................................................... 25
1 FEAR CONDITIONING .............................................................................................................................. 25
2 ASSOCIATION FORMATION MODELS...................................................................................................... 26
2.1 INHIBITORY LEARNING THEORY ..................................................................................................... 28
2.2 RECONSOLIDATION INTERFERENCE ............................................................................................... 30
3 CHALLENGES FOR ASSOCIATION FORMATION MODELS & DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS A
MOTIVATIONAL MODEL ................................................................................................................................. 32
UNIT 4: BIG EMOTIONS: LOVE AND DESIRE ....................................................................................................... 37
1 COMPLICATED GRIEF .............................................................................................................................. 37
2 EFFECTS OF NON-CONTIGENT STIMULUS PRESENTATIONS ................................................................... 37
3 EFFECTS OF CONTINGENT STIMULUS PRESENTATION ........................................................................... 39
3.1 LONGING AS A CONDITIONAL RESPONSE....................................................................................... 39
3.2 LONGING AS AN EMOTION ............................................................................................................. 40
3.3 MOTIVATIONAL MODEL AND UTILITU VS APPRAISAL .................................................................... 40
4 EXTINCTION AND GENERALIZATION....................................................................................................... 41
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, 4.1 EXTINCTION: LONGING PERSISTS ................................................................................................... 41
4.2 GENERALIZATION: LONGING IS EXPERIENCED FREQUENTLY ......................................................... 42
5 EVALUATIVE CONDITIONING: ................................................................................................................. 44
6 EFFECTS OF REGULARITIES IN THE PRESENCE OF STIMULI AND BEHAVIOR .......................................... 45
7 WHAT’S THE HEURISTIC & PREDICTIVE VALUE OF INVOKING THESE LEARNING PRINCIPLES? .............. 47
7.1 HEURISTIC VALUE ........................................................................................................................... 48
7.2 PREDICTIVE VALUE ......................................................................................................................... 48
UNIT 5: EMOTIONAL PROCESSING ...................................................................................................................... 49
1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 49
2 BASIC EMOTION THEORY ....................................................................................................................... 52
2.1 KEY FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................. 53
2.2 HOW DO ACTION UNITS WORK? .................................................................................................... 55
2.3 FUNCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 58
2.4 STRENGTHS VS. WEAKNESS ............................................................................................................ 58
3 CONSTRUCTIVIST EMOTION THEORY ..................................................................................................... 59
3.1 SELF-ASSESSMENT MANIKIN (SAM) ................................................................................................ 59
3.2 STRENGTHS VS. WEAKNESSES ........................................................................................................ 60
4 APPRAISAL THEORY ................................................................................................................................ 61
4.1 APPRAISAL CHECKS ......................................................................................................................... 62
4.2 HOW CAN WE TEST THIS? ............................................................................................................... 62
4.3 STRENGTHS VS. WEAKNESSES ........................................................................................................ 63
5 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 63
5.1 RESPONSES TO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS ....................................................................................... 64
UNIT 6: EMOTION AND ATTENTION (I) ............................................................................................................... 65
1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 65
1.1 BIASED COMPETITION .................................................................................................................... 65
1.2 DUAL-SYSTEM (DISSOCIATION) ...................................................................................................... 69
2 APPLICATIONS/PARADIGM´S .................................................................................................................. 72
2.1 EMOTIONAL STROOP ...................................................................................................................... 72
2.2 VISUAL SEARCH ............................................................................................................................... 73
2.2.1 SEARCH (TOP-DOWN) ............................................................................................................. 74
2.2.2 Effect CAPTURE (BOTTOM-UP) ............................................................................................... 76
2.3 ATTENTIONAL BLINK (TEMPORAL ATTENTION).............................................................................. 78
2.4 CUEING/DOT ................................................................................................................................... 79
3 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................ 81
UNIT 7: COGNITIVE CONTROL ............................................................................................................................ 83
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, 1 PURE COGNITIVE CONTROL .................................................................................................................... 83
1.1 DOMINANT FRAMEWORK .............................................................................................................. 83
1.2 TWO PROCESSES: CONFLICT DETENTION AND ADAPTATION (ATTENTION) ................................... 84
1.3 FOCUS ON ADAPTATION ................................................................................................................. 85
1.3.1 INTERIM CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................... 86
2 EMOTION ................................................................................................................................................ 86
2.1 CONFLICT IS NEGATIVE ................................................................................................................... 86
2.2 STRONGER CONFLICT ADAPTATION WITH NEGATIVE EMOTION ................................................... 87
2.3 AFFECTIVE SIGNALING HYPOTHESIS ............................................................................................... 88
2.3.1 Interim conclusions:................................................................................................................ 88
3 MOTIVATION .......................................................................................................................................... 88
3.1 AVOIDANCE OF EFFORT .................................................................................................................. 88
3.1.1 THE EXPECTED VALUE OF CONTROL (EVC) MODEL → MOTIVATIONAL MODEL..................... 89
3.1.2 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................ 90
UNIT 8: ................................................................................................................................................................ 91
UNIT 9: EMOTION REGULATION......................................................................................................................... 93
1 SELF-REGULATION VS. EMOTION REGULATION ..................................................................................... 93
1.1 UNSPECIFIC DIMENSIONS ............................................................................................................... 93
1.2 USEFUL DIMENSIONS ..................................................................................................................... 93
2 SELF-REGULATION -> SELF-CONTROL ..................................................................................................... 93
2.1 FEEDBACK LOOP: SELF- REGULATION............................................................................................. 93
2.2 PRINCIPLE ....................................................................................................................................... 94
3 EGO DEPLETION LOGIC (RESOURCES) .................................................................................................... 94
3.1 THE EXPECTED VALUE OF CONTROL MODEL ECV .......................................................................... 94
4 EMOTION REGULATION -> COGNITION (PROCESSES) ............................................................................ 96
4.1 EMOTION REGULATION AT DIFFERENT LEVELS .............................................................................. 96
4.2 EMOTION REGULATION AS GOAL-DIRECTED PROCESS .................................................................. 97
4.3 THE PROCESS MODEL OF EMOTION REGULATION JAMES GROSS ................................................. 98
5 TIME MATTERS ....................................................................................................................................... 99
6 INTENSITY MATTERS ............................................................................................................................... 99
7 DISTANCING .......................................................................................................................................... 100
8 REAPPRAISAL ........................................................................................................................................ 100
9 SUPRESSION.......................................................................................................................................... 100
10 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................... 101
UNIT 10: PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY OF EMOTION ................................................................................................... 103
1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 103
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, 1.1 CNS CENTRAL VS ANS PERIPHERY................................................................................................. 103
2 PERIPHERY ANS..................................................................................................................................... 104
2.1 FACIAL ELECTRO MYOGRAPHY (EMG) .......................................................................................... 105
2.2 ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY .......................................................................................................... 105
2.3 CARDIOVASCULAR MEASURES ..................................................................................................... 106
2.4 EYE-RELATED................................................................................................................................. 107
2.5 EMOTION EFFECTS BUT POOR DIFFERENTIATION ....................................................................... 110
3 CENTRAL CNS ........................................................................................................................................ 110
3.1 evaluation ..................................................................................................................................... 111
3.2 REGULATION ................................................................................................................................. 111
3.3 CONTROL ...................................................................................................................................... 111
4 CONCLUSIONES .................................................................................................................................... 112
UNIT 11: BRAIN IMAGING OF EMOTION .......................................................................................................... 115
1 INTRODUCTION: AMYGDALA................................................................................................................ 115
2 AFFECT PROGRAM: AMYGDALA AS FEAR MODULE ............................................................................. 118
3 CONSTRUCTIVIST: AMYGDALA FOR AROUSAL ..................................................................................... 119
4 APPRAISAL: AMYGDALA AS RELEVANCE DETECTOR ............................................................................ 119
5 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 120
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, UNIT 1: WHAT IS COGNITION?
Houwer, J. D. (2011). Why the cognitive approach in psychology would profit from a functional approach and
vice versa. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(2), 202-209.
Moors, A. (2013). Automaticity. In D. Reisberg (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of cognitive psychology (pp. 163-
175). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moors, A. (2007). Can cognitive methods be used to study the unique aspect of emotion: An appraisal
theorist's answer. Cognition and Emotion, 21(6), 1238-1269.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 RELATION BETWEEN COGNITON AND EMOTION
There is a fundamental distinction between cognition and emotion. Not only in daily live e.g., premeditated
murder vs. passional crime, but also in science these two terms are conceived as different concepts. William
James was one of the first to study cognition, considering it a cold and neutral state of mind that is left behind
after we take away the emotion. This view coincides with the traditional belief in which cognition is perceived
as "cold" and emotion as "heat."
What would be the criteria to differentiate between both? Three main characteristics have been identified in
the literature on the subject:
▪ Automaticity. Cognition is associated with the ability to control, as opposed to emotion, perceived as
more automatic and closely related to responses resulting from the heat of the moment.
▪ Embodiment. Emotions are more physical, they are associated with specific facial expressions.
▪ Poor encapsulation. Emotions have the capacity to spread out their effects to other aspects of the
mind and body e.g. When you are depressed the emotion of sadness is capable of affecting your
perception of reality, your thoughts, your physical needs…”
A more thorough analysis shows that these differences cannot apply for all the cases.
▪ Automaticity: For example, emotions can typically be more automatic but there are also cognitions
that take place automatically e.g., Perception, (at a class) “Me perceiving this as a chair it also happens
automatically”.
▪ Embodiment. Recent studies have shown that id you read emotionally neutral words, such as “above”
or “below” people unconsciously move their head in the same direction described, so it doesn’t seem
to be unique for emotion.
▪ Poor encapsulation. Flow states are the operative state of mind in which a person is completely
immersed in the activity being performed. It is characterized by a feeling of focused energy, total
involvement with the task, e.g. When you are really focus on what you are studying and lose track of
time.
Although there is not a completely clear differentiation the distinction is omnipresent in research. These
categories are applied in two main perspectives of study:
▪ Cognition as a determinant of emotion. E.g., appraisal theories*
▪ Emotion as a determinant of cognition. E.g., If I am afraid, then there must be danger.
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, *Appraisal Theories: a group of theories stating that people’s cognitive appraisals or evaluations of a
situation determine the emotions they feel in response to the situation. It is not the objective characteristic of
an event that produce an emotion, but the person's evaluation of them.
2 DEFINITIONS AND TAXONOMIES
Houwer, J. D. (2011). Why the cognitive approach in psychology would profit from a functional approach and
vice versa. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(2), 202-209.
2.1 LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
▪ Functional. Elements in the environment are used to explain a change in behavior. There is an input
that explains an output. E.g., Why is the kid screaming? He is screaming (output) because he saw an
angry dog (input).
▪ Algorithmic. The cognitive mechanisms
between the input and the output, “why is
this input resulting in this output?”. This
level of analysis tries to explain the reason
for this change in behavior e.g. Why does
the angry dog result in screaming?
▪ Implementatiotional. How are these
mechanisms implemented? This level of
analysis explains what happens in the brain
between the input and the output.
When we talk about cognition we are mainly talking about the algorithmic level, these mental mechanisms
mediate the effect that the input has on the output. They present the following characteristics:
▪ Automaticity
▪ Rule based vs. associative
▪ Aboutness and qualia
2.2 AUTOMATICITY: AUTOMATIC VS. NON-AUTOMATIC
Moors, A. (2013). Automaticity. In D. Reisberg (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of cognitive psychology (pp. 163-
175). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Daniel Kahneman described in his work “Thinking, fast and slow” that our minds are divided in two different
systems, System 1 and System 2, thinking not only on the basis of speed (fast vs. slow) but also in terms of
intentionality (unintentional vs. intentional), consciousness (unconscious vs. conscious), and the nature of
processing (associative vs. propositional). This implies that all fast thinking is also unintentional, unconscious,
and associative whereas all slow thinking is also intentional, conscious, and propositional.
▪ System 1 is fast, instinctive, and emotional.
▪ System 2 is slower, more deliberative, AND more logical.
This is an example of the traditional dualist explanation. In this curse, instead of thinking in system 1 and
system 2, each with a block of previously defined set of features, we will argue here for a distinction in terms
of degree.
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,For every process that occurs we determinate if it is automatic or non-automatic but in which terms. The idea
is that a process can be automatic/non-automatic in terms of one feature but not in other.
Characteristics of automatic Characteristics of non-automatic
processes processes
▪ Controlled (intentional)
▪ Uncontrolled
▪ Aware
▪ Unaware
▪ Non-efficient
▪ Efficient
▪ Slow
▪ Fast
A. CONTROLLED VS. UNCONTROLLED
A process is controlled when a person has a goal about the process and this goal causes the desired effect.
A process is uncontrolled when one or more ingredients (the effect, the goal, or the causal relation) are
missing.
There are two subtypes of controlled processes:
▪ Subtype 1: promoting type. (= intentional).
The goal to engage in a process process occurs
▪ Subtype 2: counteracting* type.
The goal to stop the process end of process
The goal to alter the process alteration of process
The goal to avoid the process preventing the process
*Counteracting: contrarrestar
B. AWARE VS. ANAWARE
The distinction can be applied to three different elements of the process:
▪ The stimulus-input of the process
▪ The output of the process
▪ The process itself (relation between input and output)
In everyday life, there are many unconscious processes that are nevertheless initiated by conscious input.
When you watch television advertising, for example, you consciously perceive the stimuli, but you are
(perhaps) unaware of the fact that that advertising is influencing your attitudes and buying behavior.
Note: Processes can only be conscious at the functional level of analysis. In most cases, it is unlikely that
people would be aware of the underlying mechanisms or the neural structures or circuits. To be aware of
a process at the functional level means to be aware of the input, of the output and of the relationship
between the two. As soon as one is not aware of any of these elements, one is not aware of the process.
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, C. EFFICENT VS. NON-EFFICENT
A process is efficient when it consumes little or no attentional capacity (quantity).
The central ingredient of the feature efficient is attention. Attention has two aspects:
▪ Quantity. How much attention needs a process in order to occur. Efficiency is only related to the
quantity aspect. A process is efficient when it operates with very little or without this quantity. It
is nonefficient when it consumes a substantial amount of this quantity.
▪ Direction (spotlight). Like consciousness, attention may be directed at:
o The stimulus input of a process
o The process itself.
D. FAST VS. SLOW
A fast process is one with a short duration; a slow process is one with a long duration. The stimulus may
be presented briefly or for a long time.
The duration of a process should not be conflated with the duration of the stimulus input on which the
process operates. A slow process may operate on a briefly presented stimulus, and a fast process may
operate on a stimulus that is presented for a long time. The term fast can only be used as a predicate of
a process.
The implication of this view for the diagnosis of automaticity is the following. One cannot simply diagnose a
process as automatic or nonautomatic. One can examine whether certain features of automaticity are present
or absent, or the degree to which they are present. This allows one to diagnose a process as more or less
automatic. The assumption that features are conceptually and logically separable has the implication that each
feature has to be investigated separately. The presence of one feature cannot be inferred from the presence
of another feature.
Automatic and non-automatic processes occur under different operating conditions:
▪ Automatic processes can occur under suboptimal conditions. It doesn’t require a lot of time or
attention.
▪ Non-automatic processes need optimal condition.
E.g., Stroop (1935)
2.3 RULE BASED VERSUS ASSOCIATIVE
At a functional level of analysis, we have an outcome explained by an input. E.g., I got 2 beers because I paid 4€
At an algorithmic level of analysis, we found two different types of cognitive mechanisms:
▪ Associative cognitive mechanisms consist in that a stimulus activates a mental representation which
is linked to another mental representation and this second one triggers a change in behavior. E.g.,
Seen an angry dog produces a mental representation of that image, which in turn* is associated with
the mental representation of being bitten, which generates fear and causes a change in behavior in
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