Brunyé, Tad T.

Cavanagh, Sarah R.

Propper, Ruth E.

English

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Digital Commons @ Assumption University Psychology Department Faculty Works Psychology Department 2014 Hemispheric Bases for Emotion and Memory Tad T. Brunyé Tufts University Sarah R. Cavanagh Assumption College, scavanagh@assumption.edu Ruth E. Propper Montclair State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.assumption.edu/psychology-faculty  Part of the Cognitive Neuroscience Commons Recommended Citation Brunyé, T. T.; Cavanagh, S. R. ; and Propper, R. E. (2014). Hemispheric Bases for Emotion and Memory. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8: 997. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00997 This Editorial is brought to you for free and open access by the Psychology Department at Digital Commons @ Assumption University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Psychology Department Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Assumption University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@assumption.edu.                                                          HUMAN NEUROSCIENCEEDITORIALpublished: 05 December 2014doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00997Hemispheric bases for emotion and memoryTadT. Brunyé1,2*, Sarah R. Cavanagh3 and Ruth E. Propper 41 Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA2 Cognitive Sciences, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), Natick, MA, USA3 Department of Psychology, Assumption College,Worcester, MA, USA4 Department of Psychology, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, USA*Correspondence: tbrunye@alumni.tufts.eduEdited and reviewed by:Hauke R. Heekeren, Freie Universität Berlin, GermanyKeywords: emotion, brain, memory, laterality, hemispheresThe goal of this Research Topic was to bring together diverse sci-entific perspectives on lateralized brain mechanisms underlyingemotion, motivation, and memory. The Topic resulted in eightarticles, three of which report original research and five of whichreview and synthesize past research with the aim of developingnew hypotheses and theory. A range of international experts withdiverse backgrounds, theoretical perspectives, and experimentalmethods contributed to the Topic. Contributions strongly reflectthis diversity, ranging from examining pupil dilation in response toviewing Rembrandt portraits to understanding how caffeine sup-plementation influences levels of spatial processing. In all cases,the authors developed strong, empirically guided insights intothe lateralized brain mechanisms underlying behavioral effects.Two primary themes emerge to guide and constrain continuingresearch.The first theme is related to dynamic interhemispheric inter-actions that subserve emotion, motivational states, and memory.Elizabeth Shobe’s article, Independent and Collaborative Contribu-tions of the Cerebral Hemispheres to Emotional Processing (Shobe,2014) proposes a framework for understanding the interactionof lateralized brain mechanisms for identifying and understand-ing emotional stimuli and engaging in higher-order emotionalprocessing. Under this framework, the right hemisphere engagessubcortical structures with the goal of identifying and compre-hending positive and negative emotional stimuli, whereas the lefthemisphere contributes to higher-level processing such as emotionregulation and adaptation. Critically, dynamic interhemisphericinteractions provide the left hemisphere with the information itneeds to execute relatively strategic processes. Spielberg and col-leagues emphasize the importance of lateralized approach versusavoidance networks in guiding human behavior. In their arti-cle, Hierarchical Brain Networks Active in Approach and Avoid-ance Goal Pursuit (Spielberg et al., 2013), the authors proposea hierarchical model consisting of four levels: tactical, strategic,system, and temperamental, following a neurally inspired abstrac-tion gradient along posterior to anterior areas of the prefrontalcortex. Right hemisphere regions process and update avoidancegoals, and left hemisphere regions govern approach goals. Themodel dictates both intrahemispheric interactions across hierar-chical layers, and also interhemispheric interactions that cut acrossboth abstraction levels and motivational states; together, theseinteractions guide, constrain, and update goal-directed behaviorover time.Two particular original research contributions also fit the themerelated to interhemispheric interaction. The first is Parker and col-leagues’ Effects of Saccadic Bilateral Eye Movements on Episodicand Semantic Autobiographical Memory Fluency (Parker et al.,2013), demonstrating that horizontal saccadic eye movementsenhance episodic but not semantic autobiographical memoryretrieval. In accounting for these results, the authors point to thehemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry (HERA; Habib et al.,2003) model and its suggestion that episodic memory retrievaldepends on efficient and dynamic interhemispheric interactions.They also suggest that saccadic eye movements may induce tran-sient increases in executive function that serve to direct attentiontoward recalling specific episodic details, which is a unique propo-sition that will likely motivate subsequent research expanding thenature and scope of dependent measures used in these types ofexperiments. The second original research contribution fittingthe theme of interhemispheric interaction is provided by Edlinand colleagues in their article Memory for Hand-use Depends onConsistency of Handedness (Edlin et al., 2013), demonstrating thatinconsistent handedness enhances episodic memory for manualactions. Inconsistent-handers more frequently engage bilateralmotor regions of the brain, and also have larger corpora callosa rel-ative to consistent-handers, suggesting that increased hemisphericinteraction may underlie these reported effects.The second theme that emerged from this Research Topic isidentifying and characterizing lateralized processes in both humanbeings and non-human primates. In this theme, very diverse con-tributions were made characterizing the universality of lateralizedemotion perception and expression across primates on the oneand hand, and artistically, nutritionally, and clinically alteringlevels of lateralized task engagement on the other. Lindell con-tributed a review article, Continuities in Emotion Lateralizationin Human and Non-human Primates (Lindell, 2013), providingcompelling evidence that both human beings and non-human pri-mates, including rhesus macaques and chimpanzees, use primarilyright hemisphere brain mechanisms for generating and perceivingfacial emotions, suggesting some universality of lateralized emo-tional expression and perception. Two other reviews examined lat-eralized contributions to perception and memory. First, Willmentand Golby (2013) support a material-specific model of how focalpathology and surgical management of temporal lobe epilepsy canresult in predictable memory deficits, with left and right temporalregions mediating verbal and non-verbal memories, respectively.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience www.frontiersin.org December 2014 | Volume 8 | Article 997 | 1                                                         Brunyé et al. Lateralization in emotion and memorySuch material-specific links can inform preoperative fMRI mem-ory mapping aimed at predicting and managing post-operativememory outcomes. This is an exciting prospect, and demonstratesa promising avenue for transitioning research on lateralized emo-tion and memory to high stakes clinical settings. Second, Schirillo(2013) demonstrates that viewing male Rembrandt portraits reli-ably produced pupil dilations when the portraits were rated as lowor high in valence. The author suggests that right lateralized brainmechanisms responsible for emotion perception may explain whysome artists may choose to depict the right cheek of male figures,but the left cheek of female figures, perhaps promoting percep-tions of dominance in male figures. The final contribution relatedto identifying and characterizing lateralized processes was pro-vided by Giles and colleagues in their article Caffeine PromotesGlobal Spatial Processing in Habitual and Non-habitual CaffeineConsumers (Giles et al., 2013). The authors found that increasingdoses of caffeine promoted memory for distal but not proximallandmark relationships during a spatial memory test. They suggestthat such global enhancement may be related to caffeine-inducedupregulation of brain dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine,neurotransmitter systems that may be higher density in rightversus left hemisphere brain regions.The diverse articles published under this Research Topicadvance theoretical positions related to interactive contributionsof brain hemispheres toward a broad range of cognitive functionsrelated to emotion and memory, and highlight important char-acteristics of lateralized mechanisms in human and non-humanprimates. Relatively, integrated perspectives on brain involvementacross a range of cognitive tasks provide stimulating theoreticalframeworks for reconciling a range of experimental findings andmotivating future research. Specific outstanding questions raisedby the Research Topic include:(1) How might other individual differences modulate lateralizedand bilaterally interactive brain mechanisms involved in pro-cessing specialized information types and maintaining andupdating motivational states and goals?(2) Contrasting accounts of hemispheric differences in affectiveand motivational processing were presented. How can wedevise research paradigms to test the relative validity of thesemodels?(3) Much of this work infers lateralized processes from behavior,but how might functional connectivity analyses advance ourunderstanding, for instance by exploring interhemisphericcommunication as a result of saccadic eye movements orinconsistent handedness?(4) How might a wider range of nutritional influences, includingpsychostimulants and amino acids, bias attention, perception,and memory toward particular information types, motiva-tional states, arousal, and mood states, or levels of focus?(5) How can better understanding lateralized and bilateral inter-active brain processes inform applied interventions for clinicalor performance-based domains, including predicting surgi-cal outcomes, and informing targeted neuromodulation (i.e.,TMS, tDCS)?REFERENCESEdlin, J. M., Carris, E. K., and Lyle, K. B. (2013). Memory for hand-use dependson consistency of handedness. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:555. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00555Giles, G. E., Mahoney, C. R., Brunyé, T. T., Taylor, H. A., and Kanarek, R. B. (2013).Caffeine promotes global spatial processing in habitual and non-habitual caffeineconsumers. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:694. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00694Habib, R., Nyberg, L., and Tulving, E. (2003). Hemispheric asymmetries of memory:the HERA model revisisted. Trends Cogn. Sci. 7, 241–245. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00110-4Lindell, A. K. (2013). Continuities in emotion lateralization in human and non-human primates. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:464. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00464Parker, A., Parkin, A., and Dagnall, N. (2013). Effects of saccadic bilateral eye move-ments on episodic and semantic autobiographical memory fluency. Front. Hum.Neurosci. 7:630. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00630Schirillo, J. A. (2013). Pupil dilations reflect why Rembrandt biased female portraitsleftward and males rightward. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:938. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00938Shobe, E. R. (2014). Independent and collaborative contributions of the cerebralhemispheres to emotional processing. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:230. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00230Spielberg, J. M., Heller, W., and Miller, G. A. (2013). Hierarchical brain networksactive in approach and avoidance goal pursuit. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:284.doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00284Willment, K. C., and Golby, A. (2013). Hemispheric lateralization interrupted:material-specific memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy. Front. Hum. Neu-rosci. 7:546. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00546Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was conductedin the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construedas a potential conflict of interest.Received: 14October 2014; accepted: 23November 2014; published online: 05December2014.Citation: Brunyé TT, Cavanagh SR and Propper RE (2014) Hemispheric bases foremotion and memory. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:997. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00997This article was submitted to the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.Copyright © 2014 Brunyé, Cavanagh and Propper. This is an open-access article dis-tributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Theuse, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the originalauthor(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited,in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction ispermitted which does not comply with these terms.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience www.frontiersin.org December 2014 | Volume 8 | Article 997 | 2

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