An emotion-based facial expression word activates laughter module in the human brain: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
We report an fMRI experiment demonstrating that visualization of onomatopoeia, an emotion-based facial expression word, highly suggestive of laughter, heard by the ear, significantly activates both the extrastriate visual cortex near the inferior occipital gyrus and the premotor (PM)/supplementary motor area (SMA) in the superior frontal gyrus while non-onomatopoeic words under the same task that did not imply laughter do not activate these areas in humans. We tested the specific hypothesis that an activation in extrastriate visual cortex and PM/SMA would be modulated by image formation of onomatopoeia implying laughter and found the hypothesis to be true.
Osaka
Naoyuki
N
Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. osaka@psy.bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Osaka
Mariko
M
Kondo
Hirohito
H
Morishita
Masanao
M
Fukuyama
Hidenao
H
Shibasaki
Hiroshi
H
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology