Counseling/Biopsychology and Neuroscience

Empathy and neural functionality

When I recently retrieved my empathy undergrad learning in anticipation of this course, I realized that I had made many generalizations about the two purported empathy neurons, ===spindle=== and ===mirror===, that over-simplify their functions.

I first attempted to grasp the functions of the neurons, especially to see how the mirror neuron works, and quickly realized that I need a deep-seated knowledge of brain anatomy that was effectively a jolt because I have used my undergrad learning from a purely social perspective. Now I have to be technically expert in neuroanatomy. Another jolt was a "wake-up call" that mirror neurons are still highly theoretical. This was given to me by one of the Wikipedia "neuroscience editors" who says he is highly-technical brain researcher.

Neuroscience may, in the near future, clear up the conflicts between the different psychology theories--not to discount any, but to put help put them all in perspective.

Functional orientation, as an extension of object orientation

I am creating lists of neural functionality, of the brain parts that mirror and spindle neurons connect to, and I am attempting to link these two lists with components of the brain's structures. This brought me to an idea, which is probably not original, called "functional orientation" that borrows from object-oriented computer science. Rather than having objects that are "evoked," such as brain components, I have functions that have object components. Emotion, as a function, has the lymbic system as an object includes sub-objects, such as the olfactory bulbs -- a connection? I think there might be, but I don't know. And so far all my attempts at short cuts by making assumptions have been dead wrong!

Notes

Functionality

biological

emotion
- empathy, or emotional communication
intelligence
memory
sense
communication
motor

technical

neurotransmitters
technology to determine brain activity
brain anatomy
medication

Emotion

Manifestation of emotions

feelings
actions
physiological arousal
motivational programs

Distinct emotions seen universally in facial expressions:

anger
sadness
happiness
fear
disgust
surprise
contempt
embarrassment

Emotion systems

Lymbic system structure

nuclei
tracts

amygdala

emotional reactions
- processing
- memory

mammillary body

recognition memory processing
smell component of memories (connection to olafactory?)

hippocampus

long-term memory
spatial navigation
episodic (autobiographical)
- formation of new memories about experienced events
new neurons continue to be created throughout life

cingulate cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

relays neural signals between the right and left cerebral hemispheres
autonomic functions
- regulating blood pressure and heart rate
- rational cognitive functions
  - empathy
  - emotion
  - reward anticipation
  - decision-making
  - home of spindle neuron

olafactory bulb

transmits smell information from the nose to the brain
process odor information, and there may be odor memory
olfactory receptor cell, small bipolar cell

hypothalamus

hormone transmitter link to the the pituitary gland that regulates the endocrine system with hormone transmitters:
- body temperature
- hunger
- thirst
- fatigue
- circadian cycles

fornix

bundle axons that carries signals from the hippocampus to
- mammillary body
- septal nuclei

Empathy

Sees another person experiencing an emotion

locations:

anterior insula
anterior cingulate cortex
inferior frontal cortex

fMRI

brain activity of two participants gesturing words to each other using hand gestures
mirror neuron system of the receiver reflects the pattern of activity of the activity in the motor system of the sender
motor concept associated with the words is transmitted using the mirror system

Special empathy neurons

Spindle

postnatal development
become connected with diverse parts of the brain
focus on difficult problems
- conceptualization
- modeling
- collaboration

locations:

anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
- transports signals from amygdala to the frontal cortex
fronto-insular cortex (FI)
- insular cortex and limbic-related portion of the cerebral cortex
  - emotion
  - homeostasis
  - perception
  - motor control
  - self-awareness
  - cognitive functioning
  - interpersonal experience

dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC or DLPFC)
- planning
- organization
- regulation

Mirror

locations:

inferior frontal cortex
anterior inferior parietal lobe
superior parietal lobe
dorsal premotor cortex
ventral premotor cortex
supplementary motor area
somatosensory cortex, primary
medial temporal lobe
midtemporal gyrus

functions:

imitation
language acquisition

mediate understanding of other others' behavior:
- fires with visual event
- fires with sound cues of visual event

Neurons

type
function
- between neurons and internal functions
- in the scope of psychological function from the exterior

pick-up and delivery transports and connections
- reception
- transport
- internal processing(?binary intelligence)
- conduction
  - exciting
  - inhibiting
locations of the connections
nature of the connections
- what types of neurotransmitter connection
  - chemicals
  - other
specifics about what is connected to
- reception
- transmission

Intelligence

Crystalized and fluid

Crystallized and fluid intelligence are separate neural and mental systems

Crystallized intelligence (Gc):

skills that use knowledge and experience
accessing information from long-term memory
depth and breadth of general knowledge
vocabulary
reasoning using words and numbers
educational and cultural experience
not memory or knowledge without intelligent use

Fluid intelligence (Gf):

logical problem solving
patterns and relationships
extrapolation using logic
novel situations
independent of acquired knowledge
scientific mathematical
inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning

Fluid may only exist as:

component of crystallized intelligence
laboratory environments
purposes of human capital discrimination