title: Asymmetrical effects of unilateral right or left amygdala damage on auditory cortical processing of vocal emotions.
abstract: We tested whether human amygdala lesions impair vocal processing in intact cortical networks. In two functional MRI experiments, patients with unilateral amygdala resection either listened to voices and nonvocal sounds or heard binaural vocalizations with attention directed toward or away from emotional information on one side. In experiment 1, all patients showed reduced activation to voices in the ipsilesional auditory cortex. In experiment 2, emotional voices evoked increased activity in both the auditory cortex and the intact amygdala for right-damaged patients, whereas no such effects were found for left-damaged amygdala patients. Furthermore, the left inferior frontal cortex was functionally connected with the intact amygdala in right-damaged patients, but only with homologous right frontal areas and not with the amygdala in left-damaged patients. Thus, unilateral amygdala damage leads to globally reduced ipsilesional cortical voice processing, but only left amygdala lesions are sufficient to suppress the enhanced auditory cortical processing of vocal emotions.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; sascha.fruehholz@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frühholz
authors.affiliation: Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; Laboratory for Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hofstetter
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cristinzio
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saj
authors.affiliation: Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurology, Geneva University Hospital, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Margitta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seeck
authors.affiliation: Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; Laboratory for Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland; and.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vuilleumier
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland;
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grandjean
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D014831:Voice
keywords: amygdala; emotion; fMRI; lesion; voice