title: Negative emotions impact lateral prefrontal cortex activation during theory of mind: An fNIRS study.
abstract: The lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) plays a critical role in inhibiting self-perspective information, which is necessary for theory of mind (ToM) processing. Additionally, previous research has indicated that negative emotions interfere with lPFC activation during executive tasks. In this study, we hypothesized that negative emotions would inhibit lPFC activation during a ToM task. While female participants performed the director task following the observation of emotionally laden movies (neutral/negative/positive), their prefrontal hemodynamic activity was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy. After viewing the neutral movie, bilateral lPFC activity was significantly enhanced during ToM process compared to the control condition. In contrast, after viewing the negative movie, left lPFC activity during ToM process was significantly impaired. These results were interpreted to support the idea that negative emotions interfere with inhibition of self-perspective information through inactivation of the lPFC.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan.|b Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences , Tokyo , Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Himichi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.affiliation: a Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Graduate School of Education , Kyoto University , Kyoto , Japan.
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nomura
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology; D009040:Motion Pictures; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Executive function; Lateral prefrontal cortex; Negative emotion; Perspective-taking; Theory of mind