title: Cerebellum and processing of negative facial emotions: cerebellar transcranial DC stimulation specifically enhances the emotional recognition of facial anger and sadness.
abstract: Some evidence suggests that the cerebellum participates in the complex network processing emotional facial expression. To evaluate the role of the cerebellum in recognising facial expressions we delivered transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. A facial emotion recognition task was administered to 21 healthy subjects before and after cerebellar tDCS; we also tested subjects with a visual attention task and a visual analogue scale (VAS) for mood. Anodal and cathodal cerebellar tDCS both significantly enhanced sensory processing in response to negative facial expressions (anodal tDCS, p=.0021; cathodal tDCS, p=.018), but left positive emotion and neutral facial expressions unchanged (p>.05). tDCS over the right prefrontal cortex left facial expressions of both negative and positive emotion unchanged. These findings suggest that the cerebellum is specifically involved in processing facial expressions of negative emotion.
authors.affiliation: le Neurotecnologie ed i Disordini del Movimento, Fondazione IRCCS Cà Granda, Centro Clinico per la Neurostimolazione, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ferrucci
authors.forename: Gaia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giannicola
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fumagalli
authors.forename: Paulo Sergio
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Boggio
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallett
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zago
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Priori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
references.citation: Emotion. 2004 Jun;4(2):189-200
references.pmid: 15222855
references.citation: Brain. 1999 May;122 ( Pt 5):883-93
references.pmid: 10355673
references.citation: Neuropsychologia. 2007 Mar 25;45(6):1331-41
references.pmid: 17123557
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 1999 Oct;156(10):1618-29
references.pmid: 10518175
references.citation: J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2009 Jan;34(1):60-5
references.pmid: 19125214
references.citation: J Exp Psychol Gen. 2009 Nov;138(4):535-45
references.pmid: 19883135
references.citation: Neuropsychol Rev. 2003 Sep;13(3):113-43
references.pmid: 14584908
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 1978 Oct;13(5):501-29
references.pmid: 728506
references.citation: Cerebellum. 2009 Mar;8(1):28-34
references.pmid: 18855096
references.citation: Stud Rockefeller Inst Med Res Repr. 1947;132:1-548
references.pmid: 20261884
references.citation: BMC Neurosci. 2005 Apr 08;6:23
references.pmid: 15819988
references.citation: J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1996 Spring;8(2):139-46
references.pmid: 9081548
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2009 Jul 15;29(28):9115-22
references.pmid: 19605648
references.citation: J Pers Soc Psychol. 1997 May;72(5):1017-33
references.pmid: 9150582
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1999 Mar;7(4):481-91
references.pmid: 10076093
references.citation: Cogn Emot. 2000 Jan 1;14(1):61-92
references.pmid: 17401453
references.citation: Brain. 2002 Oct;125(Pt 10):2238-47
references.pmid: 12244081
references.citation: J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2004 Summer;16(3):367-78
references.pmid: 15377747
references.citation: J Physiol. 2005 Oct 15;568(Pt 2):653-63
references.pmid: 16037080
references.citation: J Nerv Ment Dis. 1977 Nov;165(5):300-17
references.pmid: 303280
references.citation: Brain. 1998 Apr;121 ( Pt 4):561-79
references.pmid: 9577385
references.citation: Eur J Orthod. 2005 Feb;27(1):32-47
references.pmid: 15743861
references.citation: Prog Brain Res. 2006;156:443-56
references.pmid: 17015095
references.citation: Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2001 Apr;11(2):213-26
references.pmid: 11275483
references.citation: Neurosci Lett. 2003 Jan 16;336(2):73-6
references.pmid: 12499043
references.citation: Neuroimage. 2009 Jan 15;44(2):489-501
references.pmid: 18835452
references.citation: Psychol Bull. 1994 Mar;115(2):288-99
references.pmid: 8165273
references.citation: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1992 Jan 29;335(1273):63-9
references.pmid: 1348139
references.citation: Brain Res. 2008 Feb 15;1194:37-44
references.pmid: 18191116
references.citation: Clin Neurophysiol. 2003 Apr;114(4):589-95
references.pmid: 12686266
references.citation: J Physiol. 2000 Sep 15;527 Pt 3:633-9
references.pmid: 10990547
references.citation: Behav Brain Res. 1985 Apr;15(2):159-76
references.pmid: 3994832
references.citation: Am J Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;162(6):1203-5
references.pmid: 15930071
references.citation: J Neurosurg. 1969 Aug;31(2):172-86
references.pmid: 4896130
references.citation: J Cogn Neurosci. 2008 Sep;20(9):1687-97
references.pmid: 18345990
references.citation: Cortex. 2010 Feb;46(2):161-9
references.pmid: 18691703
references.citation: Q J Exp Psychol. 1980 Feb;32(1):3-25
references.pmid: 7367577
references.citation: Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2002 Apr;12(2):169-77
references.pmid: 12015233
references.citation: Cerebellum. 2005;4(4):290-4
references.pmid: 16321885