Brain Regions involved in Recognizing Facial Expression

Brain structures that are involved in emotion recognition involve both perceptual processing and recognition of the emotional meaning of a stimulus. The model of face processing(Bruce & Young, 1986) suggests different psychological processes in facial emotion and identity recognition. Starting with the perceptual processing of the facial features of structural encoding follows by expression analysis and then to the cognitive system on the foundation of such information (Adolphs, 2002).

Expressed emotion understanding is a complex process that involves multiple strategies,

involving the amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, occipitotemporal cortices, basal ganglia, and right

parietal cortices (Adolphs, 2002; Eimer & Holmes, 2007). It appears that the right hemisphere is

important for the perception of emotions (Tucker & Frederick, 1989). People suffering right

hemispheric damage find it difficult to understand emotional expression in others (Heilman &

Bowers, 1990). Right somatosensory cortex lesions impaired participants to identify basic

emotions (Adolphs et al, 2000). Previous studies suggest that the hypothalamus is also involved in

producing emotions (Sano et al, 1970; Kucharska-Pietura et al, 2003; Siegel, 2005). Individuals

with a lesion in the amygdala, basal ganglia, orbitofrontal cortex, and anterior insula have

difficulties recognizing and experiencing fear, anger, and disgust, separately (Adolphs et al,

2005; Suzuki et al, 2006). The amygdala is crucial in the early-stage processing of facial

expressions (Calder & Young, 2005) and the perception of fear responses (Adolphs et al, 2005).

Bilateral amygdala lesion impairs the recognition of negative emotions such as anger, fear,

disgust and sadness (Graham et al, 2007).

However, a study by Adolphs et al, 1994) found that patients with bilateral amygdala

damage do not have impaired recognition of facial emotions but rather lack attention to the eye

region of the face. When given instructions to move their attention toward the eye region of

stimuli then they were able to recognize fear emotion (Adolphs et al, 2005). Individuals with

Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (AgCC) also exhibits a lack of fixations to the eye area that

produces deficiencies in emotion perception (Bridgman et al, 2014).

Furthermore, brain-imaging studies using fMRI show that when faces are shown, a

certain area in the temporal lobe, fusiform gyrus, or fusiform face area (FFA) is activated, and it

differs from the processing of non-face objects (McCarthy et al, 2007) is less active when faces

are shown upside down (Anderson, 2005).

The inferior frontal gyrus and posterior parietal cortex produce a mirror neuron system

for the motor segments of facial expressions, and it is suggested that the amygdala and insula

compose a supplementary mirror neuron system for emotional conditions (van der Gaag et al,

2007, p.179.). The human mirror neuron system is defined as a set of brain regions that are

active both when a participant acts and when observes the same action performed by another

(Rizzolatti & Craighero, 2004). It was first identified in macaque monkeys in the 1990s by a

group of neuropsychologists (Gallese et al, 1996). Brain imaging studies including EEG

provided evidence of a mirror neuron system in humans. The MNS activates in response to

both self-produced and observed actions (Rizzolatti, & Craighero, 2004). Studies show that

individuals with autism have dysfunctional mirror neuron system (Williams et al, 2001; Von

Hofsten & Rosander, 2012). That suggests that humans have a tendency to unconsciously mimic

the facial expressions of others that allow the social information to be delivered to the brain.

Rasa Ramanauske

Recognition of emotions from facial expressions: the role of gender, age, personality, and

empathy. 2016