Neural substrate of emotion in man : a study in methodology
type: CreativeWork
description: Emotional behaviour has several components, which include emotional perception, emotional expression, autonomic reactivity, and inner subjective experience. It is hypothesised that these different processes can be selectively disturbed after brain damage. However, emotional and cognitive deficits usually co-exist in a particular patient, and the relationship between cognition and emotion is discussed. Animal data indicate that, following an initial sensory analysis in primary and association cortex, a stimulus acquires emotional significance by interfacing with "limbic" processes through multimodal cortex. Emotional expressions also develop in the course of similar multistage integrations between motor and limbic processes. This suggests three possible relationships between cognitive and emotional deficit. First, an inability to either perceive or express emotion may be directly due to various primary "non-emotional" perceptuo-motor deficits. Secondly, damage to neural sites where limbic and sensori-motor systems interface may produce deficits which are simultaneously cognitive and emotional. For example, perseverative behaviour in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and inability to control emotional impulses may be different aspects of a single deficit, which is indissociably cognitive and emotional. Thirdly, there may be a class of "pure" emotional deficits, which are not associated with perceptuo-motor or cognitive deficit. Tests based on the above classification approach were used to assess the effect of lesion site on emotional functioning. Cognitive function, emotional perception, emotional expression, subjective response, and autonomic reactivity were assessed in 48 patients with focal brain lesions, and 10 matched non-brain injured controls. Patients with anterior lesions were impaired relative to posteriors and controls in emotional perception and expression. These frontal deficits remained after statistical control of lesion variables (size, aetiology, and de…
abstract: Emotional behaviour has several components, which include emotional perception, emotional expression, autonomic reactivity, and inner subjective experience. It is hypothesised that these different processes can be selectively disturbed after brain damage. However, emotional and cognitive deficits usually co-exist in a particular patient, and the relationship between cognition and emotion is discussed. Animal data indicate that, following an initial sensory analysis in primary and association cortex, a stimulus acquires emotional significance by interfacing with "limbic" processes through multimodal cortex. Emotional expressions also develop in the course of similar multistage integrations between motor and limbic processes. This suggests three possible relationships between cognitive and emotional deficit. First, an inability to either perceive or express emotion may be directly due to various primary "non-emotional" perceptuo-motor deficits. Secondly, damage to neural sites where limbic and sensori-motor systems interface may produce deficits which are simultaneously cognitive and emotional. For example, perseverative behaviour in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and inability to control emotional impulses may be different aspects of a single deficit, which is indissociably cognitive and emotional. Thirdly, there may be a class of "pure" emotional deficits, which are not associated with perceptuo-motor or cognitive deficit. Tests based on the above classification approach were used to assess the effect of lesion site on emotional functioning. Cognitive function, emotional perception, emotional expression, subjective response, and autonomic reactivity were assessed in 48 patients with focal brain lesions, and 10 matched non-brain injured controls. Patients with anterior lesions were impaired relative to posteriors and controls in emotional perception and expression. These frontal deficits remained after statistical control of lesion variables (size, aetiology, and de…
author: Weddell, Rodger Anthony
date published: 1986
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:13:59Z
provider: University of Edinburgh
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Edinburgh

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19402