Brain mechanisms for processing perceived emotional vocalizations in humans

Scott, S. K., Sauter, D., & McGettigan, C. (2009). Brain mechanisms for processing perceived emotional vocalizations in humans. In S. M. Brudzynski (Ed.), Handbook of mammalian vocalization: An integrative neuroscience approach (pp. 187-198). London: Academic Press.
Humans express emotional information in their facial expressions and body movements, as well as in their voice. In this chapter we consider the neural processing of a specific kind of vocal expressions, non-verbal emotional vocalizations e.g. laughs and sobs. We outline evidence, from patient studies and functional imaging studies, for both emotion specific and more general processing of emotional information in the voice. We relate these findings to evidence for both basic and dimensional accounts of the representations of emotion. We describe in detail an fMRI study of positive and negative non-verbal expressions of emotion, which revealed that prefrontal areas involved in the control of oro-facial movements were also sensitive to different kinds of vocal emotional information.
Publication type
Book chapter
Publication date
2009

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