School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington Wellington, New Zealand.
Psychology Department, University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, UK.
Front Psychol. 2014 May 23;5:489. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00489. eCollection 2014.
Two relatively independent lines of research have addressed the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional processing. The first examines hemispheric asymmetries in frontal function; the second focuses on prefrontal interactions between cognition and emotion. We briefly review each perspective and highlight inconsistencies between them. We go on to describe an alternative model that integrates approaches by focusing on hemispheric asymmetry in inhibitory executive control processes. The asymmetric inhibition model proposes that right-lateralized executive control inhibits processing of positive or approach-related distractors, and left-lateralized control inhibits negative or withdrawal-related distractors. These complementary processes allow us to maintain and achieve current goals in the face of emotional distraction. We conclude with a research agenda that uses the model to generate novel experiments that will advance our understanding of both hemispheric asymmetries and cognition-emotion interactions.
有两条相对独立的研究线索探讨了前额叶皮层在情绪处理中的作用。第一条线索研究了额叶功能的半球不对称性；第二条线索则关注认知与情绪之间的前额叶相互作用。我们简要回顾了每一种观点，并强调了它们之间的不一致之处。接着，我们描述了一个替代模型，该模型通过关注抑制性执行控制过程的半球不对称性来整合各种方法。不对称抑制模型提出，右侧的执行控制抑制积极或趋近相关的分心物的加工，而左侧的控制抑制消极或退缩相关的分心物。这些互补的过程使我们能够在情绪干扰的情况下保持和实现当前的目标。最后，我们提出了一个研究议程，该议程利用该模型生成新的实验，以推进我们对半球不对称性和认知-情绪相互作用的理解。
