Contralateral smile and laughter, but no mirth, induced by electrical stimulation of the cingulate cortex.
The cerebral representation of laughter is dissociated. The emotional aspects seem to be processed in the temporal lobe; whereas the motor features apparently rely on the frontal cortex. In a few prior studies of patients in whom laughter was elicited by electrical stimulation (ES), it always was associated with mirth. We report a patient in whom ES in the right cingulate gyrus elicited smile and laughter, but no mirth. At low voltages, smiling was seen first contralaterally and became bilateral with increasing currents. Our observation supports the concept of the motor representation of laughter in the mesial frontal cortex.
Sperli
Francesca
F
Presurgical Epilepsy Evaluation Unit, Functional Neurology and Neurosurgery Program of the University Hospitals Lausanne and Geneva, 24 rue Micheli-du-Crest, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Spinelli
Laurent
L
Pollo
Claudio
C
Seeck
Margitta
M
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D003545:Cysteine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007845:Laughter / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012904:Smiling / Q000502:physiology*; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon
D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; C059659:technetium Tc 99m bicisate; D003545:Cysteine