Ferrari Chiara, Gamond Lucile, Gallucci Marcello, Vecchi Tomaso, Cattaneo Zaira
1 Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.
2 Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Italy.
Exp Psychol. 2017 Jul;64(4):282-289. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000363.
Converging neuroimaging and patient data suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in emotional processing. However, it is still not clear whether the DLPFC in the left and right hemisphere is differentially involved in emotion recognition depending on the emotion considered. Here we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to shed light on the possible causal role of the left and right DLPFC in encoding valence of positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Participants were required to indicate whether a series of faces displayed a positive or negative expression, while TMS was delivered over the right DLPFC, the left DLPFC, and a control site (vertex). Interfering with activity in both the left and right DLPFC delayed valence categorization (compared to control stimulation) to a similar extent irrespective of emotion type. Overall, we failed to demonstrate any valence-related lateralization in the DLPFC by using TMS. Possible methodological limitations are discussed.
越来越多的神经影像学和患者数据表明，背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）参与情绪处理。然而，左右半球的DLPFC是否根据所考虑的情绪在情绪识别中发挥不同作用仍不清楚。在这里，我们使用经颅磁刺激（TMS）来阐明左右DLPFC在编码正面和负面情绪面部表情效价方面可能的因果作用。参与者需要指出一系列面孔显示的是正面还是负面表情，同时在右侧DLPFC、左侧DLPFC和一个对照部位（头顶）施加TMS。无论情绪类型如何，干扰左右DLPFC的活动都会使效价分类（与对照刺激相比）延迟到相似的程度。总体而言，我们未能通过使用TMS证明DLPFC中存在任何与效价相关的偏侧化。文中讨论了可能的方法学局限性。
