Anterior cerebral asymmetry and the nature of emotion

doi:10.1016/0278-2626(92)90065-T

Brain and Cognition

Volume 20, Issue 1, September 1992, Pages 125-151

https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2626(92)90065-T Get rights and content

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the author's recent electrophysiological studies of anterior cerebral asymmetries related to emotion and affective style. A theoretical account is provided of the role of the two hemispheres in emotional processing. This account assigns a major role in approach- and withdrawal-related behavior to the left and right frontal and anterior temporal regions of two hemispheres, respectively. Individual differences in approach- and withdrawal-related emotional reactivity and temperament are associated with stable differences in baseline measures of activation asymmetry in these anterior regions. Phasic state changes in emotion result in shifts in anterior activation asymmetry which are superimposed upon these stable baseline differences. Future directions for research in this area are discussed.

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: The research described in this article was supported in part by an NIMH Research Scientist Development Award MH00875, NIMH Grants MH40747 and MH43454, and by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

View full text

Anterior cerebral asymmetry and the nature of emotion

Abstract

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology

Neuropsychologia

Cortex

Brain and Cognition

Differential lateralization for positive and negative emotion in the human brain: EEG spectral analysis

Neuropsychologia

The expression and perception of facial emotion in brain-damaged patients

Neuropsychologia

Recovery from acute stroke and changes in cerebral blood flow

Annals of Neurology

Affect, cognition and hemispheric specialization

Cerebral asymmetry and the nature of emotion: Implications for the study of individual differences and psychopathology

EEG measures of cerebral asymmetry: Conceptual and methodological issues

International Journal of Neuroscience

Asymmetrical brain electrical activity discriminates between psychometrically-matched verbal and spatial cognitive tasks

Psychophysiology

Approach/withdrawal and cerebral asymmetry: Emotional expression and brain physiology. I

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Childhood temperament and frontal lobe activity: Patterns of assymetry differentiate between wary and outgoing children

Asymmetrical brain activity discriminates between positive versus negative affective stimuli in human infants

Science

Frontal brain asymmetry predicts infants' response to maternal separation

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Hemisphericity and styles of information processing: Individual differences in EEG asymmetry and their relationship to cognitive performance

Psychophysiology

Laterality and emotion: An electrophysiological approach

Duchenne's smile: Emotional expression and brain physiology. II

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Felt, false and miserable smiles

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

The neuropsychology of emotional expression