Cortical responses (EEG and NIRS) and appraisal mechanisms during emotion recognition

Emotions have always received considerable attention within the psychological domain and the application of devices coming from the neuroscientific approach has given the possibility to explore the spatio-temporal features of emotion processing. Affective stimuli induce psychological states related to specific physiological reactions for adaptive behavioral responses, and appraisal mechanisms to emotion perception are fundamental for this adaptive behavior. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in emotion evaluation and different explanatory models tried to account for the differential hemispheric recruitment with respect to these components. Nevertheless the relationship between electrophysiological (EEG), hemodinamic (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, NIRS) and appraisal components (SAM ratings) has to be clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between cortical responses and explicit appraisal mechanisms during emotion recognition. Participants were submitted to an emotion recognition task and were asked to rate the pictures according to the experienced valence and arousal (SAM). Hemodynamic and electrocortical measures were co-recorded by NIRS and EEG. Results showed an increased activation of the right PFC while viewing negative patterns and a significant correlation with the subjective ratings. This is particularly relevant in that it suggests a relationship between cortical responses and subjective evaluation components.