School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University , Melbourne, VIC , Australia.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Aug 8;7:464. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00464. eCollection 2013.
Where hemispheric lateralization was once considered an exclusively human trait, it is increasingly recognized that hemispheric asymmetries are evident throughout the animal kingdom. Emotion is a prime example of a lateralized function: given its vital role in promoting adaptive behavior and hence survival, a growing body of research in affective neuroscience is working to illuminate the cortical bases of emotion processing. Presuming that human and non-human primates evolved from a shared ancestor, one would anticipate evidence of organizational continuity in the neural substrate supporting emotion processing. This paper thus reviews research examining the patterns of lateralization for the expression and perception of facial emotion in non-human primates, aiming to determine whether the patterns of hemispheric asymmetry that characterize the human brain are similarly evident in other primate species. As such, this review seeks to enhance understanding of the evolution of hemispheric specialization for emotion, using emotion lateralization in non-human primates as a window through which to view emotion lateralization in humans.
曾经，半球侧化被认为是人类独有的特征，但越来越多的证据表明，半球不对称现象在整个动物界都很明显。情绪是侧化功能的一个主要例子：鉴于其在促进适应性行为和生存方面的重要作用，情感神经科学领域的大量研究正在努力阐明情绪处理的皮质基础。假设人类和非人类灵长类动物是从一个共同的祖先进化而来的，那么人们会预期在支持情绪处理的神经基质中存在组织连续性的证据。因此，本文综述了研究非人类灵长类动物面部表情表达和感知的侧化模式的文献，旨在确定表征人类大脑的半球不对称模式是否同样存在于其他灵长类物种中。因此，本综述旨在通过研究非人类灵长类动物的情绪侧化，加深对情绪半球专门化进化的理解，将非人类灵长类动物的情绪侧化作为观察人类情绪侧化的窗口。
