Audio and visual speech emotion activates the left pre-supplementary motor area

Sensorimotor brain areas have been implicated in the recognition of emotion expressed on the face and through non-verbal vocalizations. However, no previous study has assessed whether sensorimotor cortices are recruited during the perception of emotion in speech, a signal that includes both audio (speech sounds) and visual (facial speech movements) components. To address this gap in the literature, we recruited 24 participants to listen to speech clips expressed in a way that was either a happy, sad, or neutral. These stimuli were also presented in one of three modalities: audio-only (hearing the voice but not seeing the face), video-only (seeing the face but not hearing the voice), or audiovisual. Brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography, subjected to independent component analysis, and source-localized. We found that the left pre-supplementary motor area was more active in response to happy and sad stimuli than neutral stimuli, as indexed by greater mu event-related desynchronization. This effect did not differ by the sensory modality of the stimuli. Activity levels in other sensorimotor brain areas did not differ by emotion, although they were greatest in response to visual-only and audiovisual stimuli. One possible explanation for the pre-SMA result is that this brain area may actively support speech emotion recognition by using our extensive experience expressing emotion to generate sensory predictions that in turn guide our perception.

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Activation on the Medial Wall During Remembered Sequences of Reaching Movements in Monkeys

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1997.77.4.2197 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 77 (4) ◽

pp. 2197-2201 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Nathalie Picard ◽

Peter L. Strick

Keyword(s):

Supplementary Motor Area ◽

Motor Area ◽

Reaching Movements ◽

Medial Wall ◽

Time Intervals ◽

Face Representation ◽

Cingulate Motor Area ◽

The Face ◽

Medial Area ◽

Motor Areas

Picard, Nathalie and Peter L. Strick. Activation on the medial wall during remembered sequences of reaching movements in monkeys. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 2197–2201, 1997. We used the 2-deoxyglucose (2DG) method to map activation in the motor areas on the medial wall of the hemisphere. One group of monkeys licked juice delivered at variable time intervals (LICK task). For these animals, the motor areas on the medial wall displayed restricted activation. 2DG uptake was limited largely to the face representation of the supplementary motor area (SMA). Additional labeling was present more rostrally in the banks of the cingulate sulcus. A second group of animals performed remembered sequences of reaching movements (REM task) for juice rewards. Activation related to licking also was present in this group. In addition, separate, discrete activations were found on the superior frontal gyrus and in the cingulate sulcus during the REM task. The most intense and extensive 2DG labeling was located in the dorsal bank of the cingulate sulcus, coincident with the dorsal cingulate motor area (CMAd). Weaker activations were present in the arm area of the SMA and in the pre-SMA. There was no significant 2DG incorporation in the ventral bank of the cingulate sulcus where the ventral cingulate motor area is located. Our findings suggest that the CMAd is involved more than any other medial area in the preparation for and/or execution of highly practiced, remembered sequences of movements. Overall, our results indicate that the attributes of motor control are not represented equally across the motor areas on the medial wall.

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