Biopsychology Coursework Example

Biopsychology Author’s Name Institutional Affiliation Lecturer Due Date 1. What is an emotion? What is love? What in particular, is going on in our brain when we are in love? According to the English dictionary, emotion is defined as a strong feeling of an individual that emanates from one's mood as well as the relationship with neighbors. Notably, love can also be a mental reaction that is usually experienced as intensive feeling to a given object or individual. It is normally characterized by behavioral and physiological changes in the mind and body of an individual. To be precise, it is an internal feeling of affection (Gerhardt, 2006). When we are in love, the ventral tegmental area and caudate nucleus in our brain activate. These regions of our brain are mainly associated with our mesolimbic pathway or our reward pathway. Love causes a release of dopamine which then activates the reward circuit, causing love to be a pleasurable experience. This is a euphoria feeling very similar to being drunk or being on drugs. Physical and emotional responses also accompanied with love: increased heart rate, preoccupying thoughts, and passion; are attributed to increased levels of cortisol and the decrease of serotonin (Bartels & Zeki, 2004). 2. What is the relationship between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function, health, and well-being? The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal work together to release adrenocorticotropic hormone and then cortisol which enhances metabolic activity elevates blood levels of sugar and increases alertness (Lightman et al. 2002). The chemicals affiliated with stress also can trigger the immune system; especially when fighting off illnesses and fight in situations where your body feels like it is in crisis. However, prolonged stress can cause harm to the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal cortex with imbalances of hormones and chemicals in the body (Zaloga & Marik, 2001). Response to question one I agree with the ab...