An Exploratory TMS Study on Prefrontal Lateralization in Valence Categorization of Facial Expressions

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Ferrari ◽  
Lucile Gamond ◽  
Marcello Gallucci ◽  
Tomaso Vecchi ◽  
Zaira Cattaneo
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Control Site ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

Abstract. Converging neuroimaging and patient data suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in emotional processing. However, it is still not clear whether the DLPFC in the left and right hemisphere is differentially involved in emotion recognition depending on the emotion considered. Here we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to shed light on the possible causal role of the left and right DLPFC in encoding valence of positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Participants were required to indicate whether a series of faces displayed a positive or negative expression, while TMS was delivered over the right DLPFC, the left DLPFC, and a control site (vertex). Interfering with activity in both the left and right DLPFC delayed valence categorization (compared to control stimulation) to a similar extent irrespective of emotion type. Overall, we failed to demonstrate any valence-related lateralization in the DLPFC by using TMS. Possible methodological limitations are discussed.

Bihemispheric Language: How the Two Hemispheres Collaborate in the Processing of Language

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman D. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Linguistic Processing ◽  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
The Right

Speech production in most people is strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH), but language understanding is generally a bilateral activity. At every level of linguistic processing that has been investigated experimentally, the right hemisphere (RH) has been found to make characteristic contributions, from the processing of the affective aspects of intonation, through the appreciation of word connotations, the decoding of the meaning of metaphors and figures of speech, to the understanding of the overall coherency of verbal humour, paragraphs and short stories. If both hemispheres are indeed engaged in linguistic decoding and both processes are required to achieve a normal level of understanding, a central question concerns how the separate language functions on the left and right are integrated. This chapter reviews relevant studies on the hemispheric contributions to language processing and the role of interhemispheric communications in cognition.

scholarly journals Impaired Recognition of Emotional Faces after Stroke Involving Right Amygdala or Insula

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (01) ◽  
pp. 087-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany Godin ◽  
Kumiko Oishi ◽  
Kenichi Oishi ◽  
Cameron Davis ◽  
Yessenia Gomez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Human Anatomy ◽  
Lesion Volume ◽  
Stroke Patients ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Hemisphere Stroke

AbstractDespite its basic and translational importance, the neural circuitry supporting the perception of emotional faces remains incompletely understood. Functional imaging studies and chronic lesion studies indicate distinct roles of the amygdala and insula in recognition of fear and disgust in facial expressions, whereas intracranial encephalography studies, which are not encumbered by variations in human anatomy, indicate a somewhat different role of these structures. In this article, we leveraged lesion-mapping techniques in individuals with acute right hemisphere stroke to investigate lesions associated with impaired recognition of prototypic emotional faces before significant neural reorganization can occur during recovery from stroke. Right hemisphere stroke patients were significantly less accurate than controls on a test of emotional facial recognition for both positive and negative emotions. Patients with right amygdala or anterior insula lesions had significantly lower scores than other right hemisphere stroke patients on recognition of angry and happy faces. Lesion volume within several regions, including the right amygdala and anterior insula, each independently contributed to the error rate in recognition of individual emotions. Results provide additional support for a necessary role of the right amygdala and anterior insula within a network of regions underlying recognition of facial expressions, particularly those that have biological importance or motivational relevance and have implications for clinical practice.

scholarly journals Researching Hemispheric Specialization in the Control of Final Position Accuracy Using the Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Teymuri Kheravi ◽  
Alireza Saberi Kakhki ◽  
Hamidreza Taheri ◽  
Ali Ghanaie Chamanabad ◽  
Mohammad Darainy
Keyword(s):  
Direct Current ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Hemispheric Specialization ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Position Accuracy ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Male University Students

Transcranial Direct Current Simulation (tDCS) can improve or disrupt brain functions and can therefore be used to investigate hemispheric specialization. Accordingly, this study was designed to research hemispheric specialization in the control of final position accuracy by comparing the effects of tDCS on dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the right and left hemispheres. Forty-three right-handed male university students (aged 21.34±1.61) volunteered to participate in this study. They were divided into the right DLPFC, left DLPFC, sham, and practice groups, including 12, 11, 9, and 11 participants, respectively. After learning motor skills in two days, the participants practiced final position accuracy in one day. They were asked to move the cursor toward the centers of targets appearing randomly at the top, middle, and bottom on the right side of a monitor as accurately and quickly as they could. At the time of practice, the participants received anodic stimulation in one hemisphere and cathodic stimulation in the other. The results indicated that the left anodic/right cathodic group (left DLPFC) showed the worst performance, which may be caused by the inhibitory effects of cathodic stimulations in the right DLPFC. Therefore, it is predicted that the right hemisphere may have greater specialization in final position accuracy of movement.

Bias for the Left Visual Field in Rapid Serial Visual Presentation: Effects of Additional Salient Cues Suggest a Critical Role of Attention

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamila Śmigasiewicz ◽  
Dariusz Asanowicz ◽  
Nicole Westphal ◽  
Rolf Verleger
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Left Visual Field ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Posterior Negativity ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right

Everyday experience suggests that people are equally aware of stimuli in both hemifields. However, when two streams of stimuli are rapidly presented left and right, the second target (T2) is better identified in the left hemifield than in the right hemifield. This left visual field (LVF) advantage may result from differences between hemifields in attracting attention. Therefore, we introduced a visual cue shortly before T2 onset to draw attention to one stream. Thus, to identify T2, attention was correctly positioned with valid cues but had to be redirected to the other stream with invalid ones. If the LVF advantage is caused by differences between hemifields in attracting attention, invalid cues should increase, and valid cues should reduce the LVF advantage as compared with neutral cues. This prediction was confirmed. ERP analysis revealed that cues evoked an early posterior negativity, confirming that attention was attracted by the cue. This negativity was earlier with cues in the LVF, which suggests that responses to salient events are faster in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere. Valid cues speeded up, and invalid cues delayed T2-evoked N2pc; in addition, valid cues enlarged T2-evoked P3. After N2pc, right-side T2 evoked more sustained contralateral negativity than left T2, least long-lasting after valid cues. Difficulties in identifying invalidly cued right T2 were reflected in prematurely ending P3 waveforms. Overall, these data provide evidence that the LVF advantage is because of different abilities of the hemispheres in shifting attention to relevant events in their contralateral hemifield.

scholarly journals Early Right Motor Cortex Response to Happy and Fearful Facial Expressions: A TMS Motor-Evoked Potential Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Borgomaneri ◽  
Francesca Vitale ◽  
Simone Battaglia ◽  
Alessio Avenanti
Keyword(s):  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Motor Evoked Potential ◽  
Corticospinal Excitability ◽  
The Body ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Human Motor Cortex ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
The Right

The ability to rapidly process others’ emotional signals is crucial for adaptive social interactions. However, to date it is still unclear how observing emotional facial expressions affects the reactivity of the human motor cortex. To provide insights on this issue, we employed single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate corticospinal motor excitability. Healthy participants observed happy, fearful and neutral pictures of facial expressions while receiving TMS over the left or right motor cortex at 150 and 300 ms after picture onset. In the early phase (150 ms), we observed an enhancement of corticospinal excitability for the observation of happy and fearful emotional faces compared to neutral expressions specifically in the right hemisphere. Interindividual differences in the disposition to experience aversive feelings (personal distress) in interpersonal emotional contexts predicted the early increase in corticospinal excitability for emotional faces. No differences in corticospinal excitability were observed at the later time (300 ms) or in the left M1. These findings support the notion that emotion perception primes the body for action and highlights the role of the right hemisphere in implementing a rapid and transient facilitatory response to emotional arousing stimuli, such as emotional facial expressions.

scholarly journals Recognition of Sad and Happy Facial Expressions – Lateralization and Association with Depressive Symptoms

2021 ◽  
pp. 331-352
Author(s):  
Maida Koso-Drljević ◽  
Meri Miličević
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Significant Negative Correlation ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Depression Subscale ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
The Right

The aim of the study was to test two assumptions about the lateralization of the processing of emotional facial expressions: the assumption of right hemisphere dominance and the valence assumption and to egsamine the influence of gender of the presented stimulus (chimera) and depression as an emotional state of participants. The sample consisted of 83 female students, with an average age of 20 years. Participants solved the Task of Recognizing Emotional Facial Expressions on a computer and then completed the DASS-21, Depression subscale. The results of the study partially confirmed the assumption of valence for the dependent variable - the accuracy of the response. Participants were recognizing more accurately the emotion of sadness than happiness when it is presented on the left side of the face, which is consistent with the valence hypothesis, according to which the right hemisphere is responsible for recognizing negative emotions. However, when it comes to the right side of the face, participants were equally accurately recognizing the emotion of sadness and happiness, which is not consistent with the valence hypothesis. The main effect of the gender of the chimera was statistically significant for the accuracy of the response, the recognition accuracy was higher for the male chimeras compared to the female. A statistically significant negative correlation was obtained between the variable sides of the face (left and right) with the achieved result on the depression subscale for the dependent variable - reaction time. The higher the score on the depressive subscale, the slower (longer) is reaction time to the presented chimera, both on the left and on the right.

Troubles de l'orientation spatiale dans une épreuve de recherche d'itinéraire lors des lésions corticales unilaterales

Perception ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hécaen ◽  
C Tzortzis ◽  
M C Masure
Keyword(s):  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Cortical Lesions ◽  
Route Finding ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Parietal Lesion

Previous studies on brain-damaged patients have shown impairments in orientation. When the results have been based on a route-finding test the impairment was found in both left and right parietal lesion groups, while when maze tests have been used, the impairment correlated clearly only with lesions of the right hemisphere. In the present study the route-finding test was given to 77 right-handed patients with unilateral cortical lesions (33 right-sided, and 44 left-sided), and to 24 controls. In order to evaluate the possible influence of kinesthetic afferents, the test was carried out under two different conditions: active (walking) and passive (in a pushchair). The results show the performances of subjects with lesions on the left side are significantly poorer than those of the controls, but better than those of subjects with lesions on the right side. For both groups the impairment associated with the lesion is the same under active and passive conditions, which does not support the hypothesis of the possible role of the kinesthetic afferents. Posterior lesions produce significantly more failures in both groups. The importance of the parietal lobe, however, was clearly seen only in subjects with lesions on the right side.

Role of Anterior and Posterior Attention Networks in Hemispheric Asymmetries during Lexical Decisions

1991 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsuko Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Attention Networks ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Right ◽  
Prime Target

The role of the left and right hemisphere was examined during semantic priming by antonyms, remote associates, and unrelated words. Targets presented directly to the left hemisphere showed an early facilitation and a late developing inhibition, while targets presented directly to the right hemisphere showed a late developing facilitation of strong and weak associations and little evidence of inhibition. When a visual cue was given prior to each target word, reaction times were facilitated equally in both visual fields and for all prime target relationships. When the priming task was combined with shadowing, reaction times generally increased and all evidence of inhibition in left hemisphere processing disappeared. This supported the idea that the inhibition found in the left hemisphere was due to its interaction with the anterior attention network.

The Effect of One Left-Sided Preferontal HF-rTMS Session on Emotional Brain Processes

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1133-1133
Author(s):  
C. Baeken ◽  
P. Van Schuerbeek ◽  
R. De Raedt ◽  
J. De Mey ◽  
M.-A. Vanderhasselt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Activity ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Brodmann Area ◽  
Task Instruction ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Inferior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Healthy Female ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right

IntroductionAlthough repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is frequently used to examine emotional changes in healthy volunteers, it remains largely unknown how rTMS is able to influence emotion.Objectives, aims & methodsIn this sham-controlled single-blind crossover study using fMRI, we examined in 20 right-handed healthy female volunteers whether a single high frequency (HF)-rTMS session applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) could influence emotional processing while focussing on blocks of positively and negatively valenced baby faces. The task instruction was to focus on one's own emotional status elicited by the visual stimuli.ResultsA single HF-rTMS session selectively influenced the processing of positively and negatively valenced baby faces. When positive information was being processed, one active left-sided HF-rTMS session resulted in enhanced neuronal activity in the left superior frontal cortex (Brodmann area 10) and right inferior parietal cortex (Brodmann area 39). When negative information was processed, one active stimulation session attenuated neuronal activity in the right insula, while sham stimulation did not.DiscussionThese observations suggest that after one active HF-rTMS session, psychophysiological reactions while processing withdrawal-related stimuli decrease. The increased neuronal activity while processing of positively valenced baby faces might reflect enhanced task-related processing caused by the neuronal activation of the left DLPFC, which could indicate that females are more able to empathize with the depicted happy baby faces. Our results add further evidence as to why HF-rTMS applied to the left DLPFC might improve mood in depressive populations.

scholarly journals Electrophysiological Responses to Emotional Facial Expressions Following a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanie Drapeau ◽  
Nathalie Gosselin ◽  
Isabelle Peretz ◽  
Michelle McKerral
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Emotional Recognition ◽  
The Right

The present study aimed to measure neural information processing underlying emotional recognition from facial expressions in adults having sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) as compared to healthy individuals. We thus measured early (N1, N170) and later (N2) event-related potential (ERP) components during presentation of fearful, neutral, and happy facial expressions in 10 adults with mTBI and 11 control participants. Findings indicated significant differences between groups, irrespective of emotional expression, in the early attentional stage (N1), which was altered in mTBI. The two groups showed similar perceptual integration of facial features (N170), with greater amplitude for fearful facial expressions in the right hemisphere. At a higher-level emotional discrimination stage (N2), both groups demonstrated preferential processing for fear as compared to happiness and neutrality. These findings suggest a reduced early selective attentional processing following mTBI, but no impact on the perceptual and higher-level cognitive processes stages. This study contributes to further improving our comprehension of attentional versus emotional recognition following a mild TBI.

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