Computational Analysis of Gender Differences in Coping with Extreme Stressful Emotions

Abstract

In this paper a computational analysis is presented of differences between men and women in coping with extreme emotions. This analysis is based on an adaptive temporal-causal network model. It takes into account the suppression of connections between preparation states and sensory representations of action effects due to an extreme stressful emotion. It is shown how this model can be used to represent the difference between males and females facing an extreme emotion, thereby performing their own methods in coping with the extreme emotion, for males fight or flight and for females tend-and-befriend.