TY - JOUR
T1 - A historical review of investigations on laterality of emotions in the human brain
AU - Gainotti, Guido
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Different models of emotional lateralization, advanced since the first clinical observations raised this issue, will be reviewed following their historical progression. The clinical investigations that have suggested a general dominance of the right hemisphere for all kinds of emotions and the experimental studies that have proposed a different hemispheric specialization for positive vs. negative emotions (valence hypothesis) or for approach vs. withdrawal tendencies (motivational hypothesis) will be reviewed first and extensively. This historical review will be followed by a short discussion of recent anatomo-clinical and activation studies that have investigated (a) emotional and behavioral disorders of patients with asymmetrical forms of fronto-temporal degeneration and (b) laterality effects in specific brain structures (amygdala, ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, and anterior insula) playing a critical role in different components of emotions. Overall, these studies support the hypothesis of a right hemisphere dominance for all components of the emotional system.
AB - Different models of emotional lateralization, advanced since the first clinical observations raised this issue, will be reviewed following their historical progression. The clinical investigations that have suggested a general dominance of the right hemisphere for all kinds of emotions and the experimental studies that have proposed a different hemispheric specialization for positive vs. negative emotions (valence hypothesis) or for approach vs. withdrawal tendencies (motivational hypothesis) will be reviewed first and extensively. This historical review will be followed by a short discussion of recent anatomo-clinical and activation studies that have investigated (a) emotional and behavioral disorders of patients with asymmetrical forms of fronto-temporal degeneration and (b) laterality effects in specific brain structures (amygdala, ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, and anterior insula) playing a critical role in different components of emotions. Overall, these studies support the hypothesis of a right hemisphere dominance for all components of the emotional system.
KW - Amygdala
KW - Brain
KW - Brain Injuries
KW - Emotions
KW - Functional Laterality
KW - History, 19th Century
KW - History, 20th Century
KW - History, 21st Century
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Psychophysiology
KW - anterior insula
KW - approach vs avoidance tendencies
KW - fronto-temporal degeneration
KW - history of emotional laterality
KW - laterality of emotions
KW - right hemisphere hypothesis
KW - valence hypothesis
KW - ventro-medial prefrontal cortex
KW - Amygdala
KW - Brain
KW - Brain Injuries
KW - Emotions
KW - Functional Laterality
KW - History, 19th Century
KW - History, 20th Century
KW - History, 21st Century
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Psychophysiology
KW - anterior insula
KW - approach vs avoidance tendencies
KW - fronto-temporal degeneration
KW - history of emotional laterality
KW - laterality of emotions
KW - right hemisphere hypothesis
KW - valence hypothesis
KW - ventro-medial prefrontal cortex
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/163616
U2 - 10.1080/0964704X.2018.1524683
DO - 10.1080/0964704X.2018.1524683
M3 - Article
SN - 0964-704X
VL - 28
SP - 23
EP - 41
JO - Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
JF - Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
ER -