Right hemisphere emotional perception: evidence across multiple channels

Neuropsychology. 1998 Jul;12(3):446-58. doi: 10.1037//0894-4105.12.3.446.

Abstract

Emotional perception was examined in stroke patients across 3 communication channels: facial, prosodic, and lexical. Hemispheric specialization for emotion was tested via right-hemisphere (RH) and valence hypotheses, and relationships among channels were determined. Participants were 11 right-brain-damaged (RBD), 10 left-brain-damaged (LBD), and 15 demographically matched normal control (NC) adults. Experimental measures, with analogous psychometric properties, were identification and discrimination tasks, including a range of positive and negative emotions. Nonemotional control tasks were used for each channel. For identification, RBDs were significantly impaired relative to LBDs and NCs across channels and valences, supporting the RH hypothesis. No group differences emerged for discrimination. Findings were not influenced by demographic, clinical, or control variables. Correlations among the channels were more prominent for normal than for brain-damaged groups.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / etiology
  • Brain Damage, Chronic / physiopathology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Cerebrovascular Disorders / complications
  • Communication
  • Discrimination, Psychological / physiology
  • Dominance, Cerebral / physiology
  • Emotions*
  • Facial Expression*
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology
  • Perceptual Disorders / etiology
  • Perceptual Disorders / physiopathology
  • Reading*
  • Semantics*
  • Social Perception*
  • Speech Perception / physiology*