Affective Computing“Bottom-Up”ViewsLecture 3Appraisal TheoryAppraisal Theory:Stimulus ➞ Cognitive Appraisal ➞ EmotionBut is emotion always post-cognitive (require cognition)Zajonc: Rejects that Affect is Post-Cognitive• Zajonc, 1980– Rejects Cognitive Appraisal View that presumes (cognitive) appraisal precedes affective reactionsZajonc View: The Basis• Affective Reactions are primary• Affect is basic (universal)• Affective reactions are inescapable• Affective judgments tend to be irrevocable• Affective judgments implicate the self• Affective judgments are difficult to verbalize– Cf non-verbal• Affective reactions need not depend on cognition• Affective reactions may become separated from contentZajonc View: Evidence• Affective Reactions show phylogenetic and ontogenetic primacy• Separate neuroanatomical structures can be identified for affect and cognition (1984)• Appraisal and Affect are often uncorrelated and disjoint• New affective reactions can be established without apparent participation of appraisal– Taste aversion– Repeated exposure preferences w/o recognition• Affective states can be induced by non-cognitive and non-perceptual procedures– Drugs, hormones– Facial action such as smiling (Ekman et al)Preference vs Familiarity– We like things we have seen or heard before• Novelty also key component of appraisal• Does it hinge on subjective recognition– Experiments:• Dichotic listening experiment (Wilson)• Rapid (1ms) random polygon presentation–Results:• Liking w/o subjective recognition• Liking is better than “conscious” recognition at distinguishing old and new stimuli• Subjects far more confident of their liking judgments• Affective judgments faster• Novelty/familiarity not mediating affect– Your first guess is your best guessComments• Zajonc blurs cognition & consciousness– Cognitive Appraisal: Subsuming of cognition by emotion• Key question remains:– how do cognition and emotion interrelate• Point to remember– Does appraisal require cognition or inference at allAffective NeuroscienceBasic Circuits /Emotion Categories• Jaak Panskepp• Basic, distinct emotion circuits in the brain– Distinct emotional patterns can be evoked by stimulating electrically particular subcortical areas responsible for basic emotions• Cortical regions largely free of such effects• “Essence of emotionality is subcortical and precognitively organized”– Nevertheless cortical appraisal and memory processes modify and are modified by emotions– No emotional state is free of cognitive influenceEmotion rooted in ancient recesses of mammalian brainEvolution adds layers that mediate stimulus and responseby more sophisticated sensory processing, learning & memoryEvolutionNote : Lisencephalic mammals have smooth cortexes whileprimates have folded cortexes with more surface area(allows more neurons)Alternative views on role of affective consciousness in emotional adaptation1. Stimulus ➞ Interpretation ➞ Feeling ➞ Bodily Response2. Stimulus ➞ Interpretation ➞ Bodily Response ➞ Feeling3. Stimulus ➞ Interpretation ➞ Bodily Response ➞ Feeling ➞ Attribution 4.Panskepp’s Psychobiological ViewEMOTIONSAutonomicProcessesCognitivePerceptualProcessMediatedDirectlyViaBrain CircuitsRole: Regulation of response• Affective experiences are generated by neuronal mechanisms• Mechanisms arose to respond to life-impacting events over course of evolution• Beyond reflexive response– It is more adaptive to anticipate future needs than simply respond to immediate– Must adapt both thru evolution and learningBasic Circuits•Fear• Anger• Sorrow• Anticipatory eagerness•Play• Lust• Maternal nurturance• Others?– Ongoing researchBasic Circuits (cont)Implications• Basic Circuits -– Emotion Categories arise from these circuits– Guide Responses• Evolutionary roots• Potential Impact on learning– Associative learning probably linked to emotion circuits• Ontogenetic effectsExample: LeDouxQuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressorare needed to see this picture.Fear Conditioning in the RatFear Conditioning• Initially neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus) can acquire affective properties if paired with a biologically significant event (unconditioned stimulus)• Pair audio tone (conditioned stimulus) with electric shock (unconditioned stimulus)• Rat eventually learns to react aversively just to tone• Then study learned pathways and role of various brain regions via• Staining of neurons and dissection• Impact of lesions on behaviorKey to Regions Studied• Amygdala– Forms association of tone with reaction– Part of the cortex (cognitive processing, more recently evolved area)– Connects cortical to subcortical (older, reflexive behavior)– Has 12 (or more) subcomponents or nuclei• Thalamus– Processing of stimuli• Sensory/Auditory Cortex– More sophisticated processing/analysis of stimuliRole of the AmygdalaRole of the AmygdalaAmygdala• CS: Conditioned Stimulus• LA: Lateral nucleus of Amygdala• CE: Central Nucleus of Amygdala (connections to subcortical areas that control responses)Hi-Lo Roads• Low Road:• Thalamus to Amygdala• Fast response• High Road:• Thalamus to Sensory Cortex to Amygdala• Slower response, deeper processing of stimulus in cortexAmygdalaContextual Fear Conditioning• Hippocampus also plays role• Forms memory representations of different situations.• Provides amygdala with contextual information• Allows response to be conditioned to given stimulus in given situation.• Thus emotional reaction will be appropriate for that context• Example: Rat’s fear response elicited when returned to chamber where shockwas deliveredCE ConnectionsStudies of Human Amygdala • Brain Damage– to Amygdala • impacts perception of emotional expressions & voices• Impacts Fear Conditioning– to Hippocampus• Impacts fear conditioning to context• Functional Imaging– Fearful/angry faces activate amygdala more than happy ones– Fear conditioning leads to increased amygdala activityHuman Amygdala Pathways to and from cortical regionsAmygdala once activated by sensory events from thalamus or cortex:• Regulates cortical areas that project to it• Influences cortical sensory processing thru arousal networks that innervate cortical areas and bodily feedback that impacts cortical area• Interacts with medial prefrontal