Although there has been much research documenting the limbic system as the substrate for emotion, there is also new evidence indicating a special role for the neocortex in emotional processing. The main purpose of the current project is to test current notions regarding the neuropsychology of neocortically-processed emotion within five domains: hemisphere specialization, emotional valence, processing mode, expression type, and communication channel. Hypotheses regarding interhemispheric specialization and valence will be tested: (a) right hemisphere dominance for emotion, regardless of valence; (b) right hemisphere dominance for negative emotions and left hemisphere dominance for positive emotions; and (c) right hemisphere dominance for the perception of emotions of both valences and differential dominance for expression as a function of valence. Intrahemispheric specialization as a function of processing mode also will be addressed to determine whether perception is independent from expression of emotion, with """"""""anterior"""""""" cortical regions associated with expression and """"""""posterior"""""""" regions with perception. To learn more about the neural systems underlying expressive behavior, both posed and spontaneous expressions will be elicited. Finally, three channels of communication (facial, prosodic, lexical) will be examined to evaluate the extent to which there is a unitary system underlying emotional processing. Subjects will be 48 right brain-damaged, 48 left brain-damaged, and 48 normal control right-handed males and females. Brain-damaged patients with anterior or posterior cortical lesions will be included. For perception, subjects will identify photographs of facial expressions, recordings of intoned sentences, and written stimuli conveying feelings. For expression, subjects will be videotaped, audiotaped, and transcribed while posing, reliving emotional experiences, and responding to emotionally-laden slides. Nonemotional tasks will also be administered to control for cognitive, perceptual, and motoric factors that might confound performance on tasks of emotional processing. An important end-product of this project will be an extensive battery of quantitative measures for the objective assessment of emotion in brain- damaged populations.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH042172-04
Application #
2245378
Study Section
Clinical Neuroscience Review Committee (CNR)
Project Start
1990-07-01
Project End
1999-06-30
Budget Start
1994-09-01
Budget End
1995-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Queens College
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Flushing
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
11367
Kazandjian, Seta; Borod, Joan C; Brickman, Adam M (2007) Facial expression during emotional monologues in unilateral stroke: an analysis of monologue segments. Appl Neuropsychol 14:235-46
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Zgaljardic, Dennis J; Borod, Joan C; Foldi, Nancy S et al. (2006) An examination of executive dysfunction associated with frontostriatal circuitry in Parkinson's disease. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 28:1127-44
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Viscovich, Nancy; Borod, Joan; Pihan, Hans et al. (2003) Acoustical analysis of posed prosodic expressions: effects of emotion and sex. Percept Mot Skills 96:759-71
Zgaljardic, Dennis J; Borod, Joan C; Foldi, Nancy S et al. (2003) A review of the cognitive and behavioral sequelae of Parkinson's disease: relationship to frontostriatal circuitry. Cogn Behav Neurol 16:193-210
Berrin-Wasserman, Stacy; Winnick, Wilma A; Borod, Joan C (2003) Effects of stimulus emotionality and sentence generation on memory for words in adults with unilateral brain damage. Neuropsychology 17:429-38
Zgaljardic, Dennis J; Borod, Joan C; Sliwinski, Martin (2002) Emotional perception in unilateral stroke patients: recovery, test stability, and interchannel relationships. Appl Neuropsychol 9:159-72

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