Understanding Fear Conditioning and the Role of the Amygdala
What would you expect in terms of fear conditioning for Eva and Garnet?
During the traumatic accident, Eva's amygdala was severely damaged, while Garnet experienced no injuries. You would expect that Eva _____ develop a conditioned fear to buses and Garnet _____ develop a conditioned fear to buses.
Answer:
Eva, who has an injured amygdala, would not likely develop a conditioned fear to buses while Garnet, with no brain injury, would likely develop a conditioned fear due to the traumatic experience.
Explanation:
Based on what we understand about the function of the amygdala in the brain, we would expect that Eva, whose amygdala was damaged, would not develop a conditioned fear to buses. The amygdala is largely responsible for emotion processing, particularly fear. Without a functioning amygdala, it's likely that the fear response would not be triggered in the same way.
On the other hand, Garnet, whose brain did not sustain any injury, would likely develop a conditioned fear to buses due to the trauma of the accident. This prediction is based on studies of fear conditioning, such as the classic experiment with Little Albert conducted by Watson and Rayner.
In their study, Albert developed a fear of white rats (and other similar objects) after a loud noise (which naturally frightened him) was paired with the appearance of the rat. Over time, the rat alone was enough to trigger Albert's fear response, even without the noise - a process known as classical conditioning.