title: Individual differences in emotion lateralisation and the processing of emotional information arising from social interactions.
abstract: Previous research examining the possible association between emotion lateralisation and social anxiety has found conflicting results. In this paper two studies are presented to assess two aspects related to different features of social anxiety: fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and emotion regulation. Lateralisation for the processing of facial emotion was measured using the chimeric faces test. Individuals with greater FNE were more strongly lateralised to the right hemisphere for the processing of anger, happiness and sadness; and, for the processing of fearful faces the relationship was found for females only. Emotion regulation strategies were reduced to two factors: positive strategies and negative strategies. For males, but not females, greater reported use of negative emotion strategies is associated with stronger right hemisphere lateralisation for processing negative emotions. The implications for further understanding the neuropsychological processing of emotion in individuals with social anxiety are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway , University of London , Egham , Surrey , UK.
authors.forename: Victoria J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Bourne
authors.forename: Dawn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Watling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012044:Regression Analysis; D057566:Self Report; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chimeric faces; Emotion lateralisation; Emotion regulation; Fear of negative evaluation