The Left or the Right Hemisphere Theory - Case Study Example

Hemispheric specialisation in anger processing Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date It is depicted that, if the left or the right hemisphere is specialized for certain functions or processes, there are high chances that these processes will be performed more efficiently in the dominant sphere than the other (Aljuhanayaet al 2010). It is therefore clear that, the human brain is anatomically and functionally asymmetric. In the same case, research depicts that, the asymmetrical functioning relates to emotions, mostly prefrontal cortical territories. This in the long run has resulted to diversified view of the emotional asymmetry, like the right hemisphere theory and valence theory (Harmon-Jones and Sigelman 2001) The right hemisphere theory dictates that, this hemisphere concentrates on all form of emotional expressions. In accordance to observations conducted with brain damaged patients confirm this for the right hemisphere dominance of emotion perception. Research also notes that, emotions are deeply expressed on the left side of the face which means that, the contra-lateral right hemisphere is much involved in such facial expressions (Aue et al 2011). Valence theory states that, positive emotions are believed to associate with the activation of the left hemisphere, while negative ones are associated with the activation of the right one. Studies depict that, female and male process emotions differently. It is clear that, women are more emotionally expressive than men which maybe attributed to the substantial differences in socialization. They also display stronger psycho-physiological responses to emotional stimuli (Natale, Gur & Gur 1983). Additionally it is also noted that, there is always hemispheric lateralization especially when there is high intensity condition which reveal that, the left hemisphere has close correlation to emotions such as joy and anger and has reversed privilege for withdrawal related emotions such as fear and sadness. The right hemisphere is however more inclined to low intensity conditions. The have been used to measure the trait anger of certain individuals and results showed that, trait anger is positively related with relatively greater left than right frontal brain activity (Harmon-Jones 2004). Another study also conducted to assess the relationship between anger and relative left frontal brain activity was also conducted by Harmon-Jones (2004) found out that, individuals with high levels of trait anger might end up calling anger a positive emotion, and this attitude towards anger may be the cause of anger being associated with left frontal activity. Using low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) Brune, Bahramali and Hennessy (2006) discovered that, the STS region in female is involved in the recognition of sex dependent anger, and angry female and male faces were processed in different hemispheres. In the same study it was concluded that, sex differences in the coding of facial expression, where female were dominated the males at the identification of affect from nonverbal cues of face, body and voice. This research concluded that, male and female faces are processed in opposite hemispheres, which is a clear reflection of the different adaptive significant of male and female threats for females. The medial and other prefrontal cortex regions of the brain play a very big role in anger processing, while the amygdale does not. The amygdale is the central emotional computer that performs the primary appraisal of the emotional significance of emotional stimuli. Is has been depicted that left frontal activation is related to approach while the right one is related to withdrawal (Natale, Gur & Gur 1983). The right fontal EEG asymmetry when there is a negative affect task is correlated to more fear and sadness that any other average levels of asymmetry. Jie-He and collegues (2010) found out that, there is a close relationship between anger and left frontal asymmetry, and approach related anger to be precise. There is an assumption that there are gender differences that go with anger. However, substantial research depicts that man and women experience and express anger in a similar frequency, intensity and for similar reasons, but is also stated that, men have the highest probability of displaying aggression, which in some instances is conflated with anger. It has been proven that, parenting behaviour have positive correlation with the child outcomes. For example, parents who a fond of hitting their children have high chances of becoming aggressive. In the same case, biological parents pass along genes and social influences to their offspring and therefore there might be genetic effects on the emotional aspect of an individual. Family characteristics such as the parent’s socioeconomic status, maternal age at the birth of a child, family structure also contribute to the emotional development of an individual and therefore there are chances of causing detrimental effects such as anger or aggressiveness. Borrowing from cross sectional and longitudinal studies, it is evident that high levels of hostility and conflict, recurrent episodes of anger and aggression among family members increase the risk of diverse emotional and behavioural outcomes in individuals like aggression, conduct disorder and depression just to mention but a few (Sergerie, Chochol & Armony 2008). Emotions and behaviour are somehow learnt but genes play a very vital role in this complex matrix of causes. A study with adopted children found out that, living with adoptive parents who committed crimes is less likely risky that just having the genes from a person who commit crime. A further study on genes stated that genes with some neurotransmitters for instance serotonin or even enzymes, monoamine oxidise A which regulate mood and aggression, when there are traumatic experiences, there is an increase of anti social behaviour. A prominent model in research on the hemispheric lateralization of emotion depict that, emotions with approach tendencies like anger rely on the left anterior hemispheric processing and those which are associated with withdrawal tendencies such as fear are associated with the right anterior hemispheric processing (Aue et al 2011). In another study using the Chemeric Faces Test, whereby the emotions were separated in regard to their valence suggested that, the right hemisphere is dominant for processing negative emotion while the left one is associated with processing positive emotion. It was also observed that patients with right hemisphere damage were impaired when processing positive effect and those with left hemisphere damage were impaired when processing negative effect (Bourne 2009). Research conducted by Sander and collegues (2005) stated that, the amygdale and the middle STS somehow respond to the emotional cues of anger in voices while the OFC and cuneus exhibit a differential response to the very same emotional event due to selective function. This therefore means that, the multiple levels of processing are involved in the appraisal of an emotional event. In the same study, by the se of dichotic listening paradigm, it was found that there is a close relationship between brain regions responding to anger prosody independently of the current task relevance, maybe the attended ear side. Additionally, anger prosody lead to an increased activation in the middle portion of STS as compared with neutral prosody, which was a clear indication of the fact that, there is a specific hemisphere that processes anger. It can be exonerated that, the prefrontal cortex of the brain located behind the forehead keeps emotions in proportion. This therefore entails that, if the amygdale handles emotions, then the prefrontal cortex is responsible if handling judgement (Aljuhanayaet al 2010). This in the long run entails that, there are some people who can contain their emotions. This is affected by helping the prefrontal cortex get the upper hand over the amygdale which helps them control their reactions towards anger. This is also done through relaxation techniques which work towards reducing arousal and decrease your amygdala activity and then use cognitive control techniques which play a very vital role in judgment to override emotional reactions. Research designed by Harmon-Jones and Sigelman (2001) acknowledges that, anger which is a negative emotional state is more concentrated at the left prefrontal region which is mostly involved in the positive effect. The left prefrontal cortex is involved in anger and some changes in the brain occur which result to aggression. It has also been proven that, even people who are mentally healthy can experience consequential acts of aggression. However, some people are more prone to anger than others. In actual facts, people respond to identical provocations very differently (Denson, Pedersen & Ronquillo 2009). This is explained by the existence of two aggressive personality dimensions, general aggression and displaced aggression. Aggressive personality is characterised by frequent anger and direct retaliation in response to interpersonal provocation in both laboratory experiments and real life. Displaced aggression is whereby an individual responds to insults with rumination instead of immediate aggression, and taking aggressive urges to innocent (Denson, Pedersen & Ronquillo 2009). It is therefore clear that, some people get angrier than others. Conclusively, right hemispheric specialization in emotional processing has diverse correlations. The right hemisphere is more accurate in judging emotional valence than the left hemisphere which is said to be more biased. In the same case, females are found to read negative emotions less accurately than males, mostly in male faces. Angry male and female faces are selectively processed in opposite hemispheres in young females subject to the decoding of the threat stimuli. Additionally, the way a person is brought up and the experiences in life impact the emotional part of life. Those who have suffered in life are more prone to anger than others. Individuals do not get angry in the same level. Some are immediate and other are displaced which determine how and the level in which individuals get angry. It is therefore worth concluding that, there is close relationship between hemispheric specializations in anger processing. References Abeer Aljuhanaya; Elizabeth Milnea; D. Michael Burtb; Olivier Pascalisa. 2010. 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