title: Specific brain networks during explicit and implicit decoding of emotional prosody.
abstract: To better define the underlying brain network for the decoding of emotional prosody, we recorded high-resolution brain scans during an implicit and explicit decoding task of angry and neutral prosody. Several subregions in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and bilateral in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were sensitive to emotional prosody. Implicit processing of emotional prosody engaged regions in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and bilateral IFG subregions, whereas explicit processing relied more on mid STG, left IFG, amygdala, and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, whereas some bilateral pSTG regions and the amygdala showed general sensitivity to prosody-specific acoustical features during implicit processing, activity in inferior frontal brain regions was insensitive to these features. Together, the data suggest a differentiated STG, IFG, and subcortical network of brain regions, which varies with the levels of processing and shows a higher specificity during explicit decoding of emotional prosody.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, CH-1205 Genèva, Switzerland. sascha.fruehholz@unige.ch
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frühholz
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ceravolo
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grandjean
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult