Jimura Koji, Konishi Seiki, Miyashita Yasushi
Department of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 113-0033.
Neurosci Lett. 2009 Mar 27;453(1):45-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2009.02.012. Epub 2009 Feb 10.
It is known that the temporal cortex is involved in perception of emotional facial expressions, and the involvement is relatively independent of the emotional valence of those expressions. The present study revealed a valence-dependent aspect of the temporal cortex through individual differences analyses involving the neuroticism trait, one of the representative affective personality traits. Functional MRI was administered while subjects classified expressions of faces, and neuroticism scores were obtained from individual subjects. Significant brain activity was observed in the temporal pole (TP) during perception of both happy and sad expressions relative to neutral expressions. Correlational analyses revealed that TP activity during perception of sad expressions, but not happy expressions, correlated with the neuroticism scores. These results demonstrate differential roles for the temporal cortex in perception of happy and sad faces, and suggest that TP recruitment during understanding of negative emotions is dependent on the personality of the individuals.
已知颞叶皮质参与对面部表情情绪的感知，且这种参与相对独立于这些表情的情感效价。本研究通过涉及神经质特质（一种具有代表性的情感人格特质）的个体差异分析，揭示了颞叶皮质的效价依赖性方面。在受试者对面部表情进行分类时进行了功能磁共振成像，并从个体受试者那里获得了神经质得分。相对于中性表情，在感知快乐和悲伤表情时，颞极（TP）观察到显著的脑活动。相关性分析显示，在感知悲伤表情而非快乐表情时，TP活动与神经质得分相关。这些结果证明了颞叶皮质在感知快乐和悲伤面孔中具有不同作用，并表明在理解负面情绪过程中颞极的参与取决于个体的性格。
