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Biomedical subjects

H S Asthana

Publications and source records attributed to H S Asthana.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Visual-field bias in the judgment of facial expression of emotion.

The left and right hemispheres of the brain are differentially related to the processing of emotions. Although there is little doubt that the right hemisphere is relatively superior for processing negative emotions, controversy exists over the hemispheric role in the processing of positive emotions. Eighty right-handed normal male participants were examined for visual-field (left-right) differences in the perception of facial expressions of emotion. Facial composite (RR, LL) and hemifacial (R, L) sets depicting emotion expressions of happiness and sadness were prepared. Pairs of such photographs were presented bilaterally for 150 ms, and participants were asked to select the photographs that looked more expressive. A left visual-field superiority (a right-hemisphere function) was found for sad facial emotion. A hemispheric advantage in the perception of happy expression was not found.

Adolescent↗

Hemiregional facial asymmetry in expression of emotion: a concept needs to be verified.

In most of the neuropsychological studies the left-right hemifacial asymmetry during expression of emotion has been reported, although the present author proposed a concept of hemiregional asymmetry and reported that greater left hemifacial involvement was specific to the lower region of the face and greater right hemifacial was specific to the upper region of the face. It is speculated that this differential hemifacial involvement is a function of the right hemisphere, and it is explained in terms of neural innervation to facial muscles. This speculation needs to be verified further to arrive at a general conclusion.

Dominance, Cerebral↗

Effects of lesion variables and emotion type on the perception of facial emotion.

The purpose of this study was to consider the effects of valence, motoric direction (i.e., approach/withdrawal), and arousal on the perception of facial emotion in patients with unilateral cortical lesions. We also examined the influence of lesion side, site, and size on emotional perception. Subjects were 30 right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) and 30 left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) male patients with focal lesions restricted primarily to the frontal, temporal, or parietal lobe. Patient groups were comparable on demographic and clinical neurological variables. Subjects were tested for their ability to match photographs of four facial emotional expressions: happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. Overall, RHD patients were significantly more impaired than LHD patients in perceiving facial emotion. Lesion side, but not site, was associated with motoric direction and valence dimensions. RHD patients had specific deficits relative to LHD patients in processing negative and withdrawal emotions; there were no group differences for positive/approach emotions. Lesion size was not significantly correlated with accuracy of emotional perception.

Analysis of Variance↗

Visuospatial and affect recognition deficit in depression.

BACKGROUND: Theorists differ in their opinion whether interpersonal difficulties in depression is associated more with perceptual impairment or with emotional bias. The present study intended to resolve such differences of opinion. METHOD: Major depressives, general medical patients, and non-patient controls were administered three visuospatial and two affective tasks to examine the nature of performance deficit associated with each group. RESULTS: Major depressives were found significantly impaired in both visuospatial and affective tasks in comparison to general medical patients, who in turn, were impaired than non-patient controls. CONCLUSION: Major depressives' perceptual deficit is pervasive and not specific to affective categories. LIMITATION: The study could have been more informative if more psychiatric groups had been included as subjects. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Improvement in depressives' ability for visuospatial and affective tasks may be considered as a marker of their clinical improvement.

Adult↗

Right hemisphere damage impairs the ability to process emotional expressions of unusual faces.

Patients with focal brain damage, right and left hemisphere damage, and nonpatient controls were asked to match photographs of emotion expressions that were depicted in unusual (line drawings, strange, and schematic) and normal (usual) representations of faces with the target emotion expressions of normal face. Nonpatient controls were significantly superior to right hemisphere damaged patients in matching photographs of emotion expressions that were depicted in line drawings of normal face and schematic face.

Adult↗

Hemifacial asymmetry in emotion expressions.

We examined asymmetry in posed facial expression of emotions: happy and sad. Hemifacial composite photographs, left-left and right-right, were prepared, and subjects rated these for intensity of expressed emotion. Overall, left-left composites were judged to have expressed emotions relatively more intensely than the right-right composites. The significant Sex x Emotion interaction revealed that female expressors were judged as more expressive than male expressors in expressing sad facial emotion. Sex difference in expression of happy facial emotion was not significant.

Adult↗

Hemiregional variations in facial expression of emotions.

This study examined expressiveness of facial regions during posed expressions of two basic emotions: happy and sad. Two types of composite photographs were prepared: hemifacial composites of left-left (LL) or right-right (RR); and hemiregional composites involving a left-left composite in the upper part and a right-right composite in the lower part (LL/RR) of the face or vice versa (RR/LL). Participants ranked photographs of an emotion expression: normal orientation (RL), mirror reversed (LR), left facial composite (LL), right facial composite (RR) and hemiregional composites (RR/LL; LL/RR), in order of expressiveness. The hemiregional composite RR/LL was judged as most expressive followed by LL. The findings are explained in terms of the neuroanatomy of fibre projections from the left and right cerebral hemispheres to the facial muscles.

Adult↗

Cerebral laterality in affect and affective illness: a review.

It is generally claimed that affect processing is a right hemisphere function. It is also claimed that right hemisphere dysfunction is characteristic of depressive illness. These claims are not accepted without controversy, and it has been found that the relationship between affect processing and affective illness in terms of intra- and interhemispheric role is not straightforward. Two types of studies were reviewed in this context: behavioral and electrophysiological. Potential confounding effects are discussed.

Affect↗

Asymmetry in emotional face: its role in intensity of expression.

Normal subjects rated expressiveness of two posed facial emotions, happy and sad; the photographs were stratified in terms of intensity of expression and were prepared in composite (right-right, left-left), normal, and mirror-reversed facial orientations. The left side of the face was more expressive for intermediate intensity expressions of happiness and for least intense expressions of happiness and sadness. The right side of the face was more expressive for most intense expressions of happiness and sadness.

Adult↗

Judgment of facial expression of emotion in unilateral brain-damaged patients.

Patients with unilateral brain damage and normal controls were asked to give (1) inter-emotion judgment within the photographs of six facial emotions in terms of mutual similarities, and (2) intra-emotion judgment within the hemifacial composite photographs of an emotion in terms of intensity of expression. Right brain-damaged patients could differentiate between the emotion of happiness and all other emotions. Left brain-damaged patients differentiated between aroused-nonaroused emotions. Normal controls differentiated between positive-negative as well as aroused-nonaroused emotions. Left-left facial composites were judged to have expressed more intensely than right-right facial composites or normal/mirror-reversed facial orientations of emotions (except fear) by any group (p >.05).

Journal Article↗

Degree of asymmetry in lateral preferences: eye, foot, ear.

Lateral asymmetry in eye, foot, and ear preference was measured using a 15-item questionnaire administered to 442 subjects. Degree and magnitude of asymmetry were greatest for eye, followed by foot and ear. Intercorrelations of lateral preferences were all positive and significant. Two primary factors, eyedness and earedness, were established.

Adult↗

Role of cerebral hemispheres and regions in processing hemifacial expression of emotion: evidence from brain-damage.

Patients with focal brain-damage, right or left hemisphere-damage (RHD/LHD) and anterior or posterior region-damage (ARD/PRD), and normal controls (NC) were asked to match the photographs of (left-right) hemifacial expressions of emotions, positive (happy-surprise), negative-aroused (fear-anger), negative-nonaroused (sad-disgust). Findings indicated that (a) NC subjects were significantly superior to brain-damaged patients; the difference between RHD and LHD patients was nonsignificant, and (b) ARD patients were significantly inferior to PRD patients who, in turn, were significantly inferior to NC subjects, in the perceptual matching task with hemifacial affective stimuli.

Adult↗

Right brain damage impairs recognition of negative emotions.

Patients with right or left hemisphere-damage and normal control groups were asked to judge facial emotions from photographs presented in two orientations--upright, inverted. Responses were elicited with a matching and a verbal labelling task. Normal controls were significantly superior in the judgment of facial emotions than left hemisphere-damaged patients, who in turn were significantly superior than right hemisphere-damaged patients. Negative-aroused (fear, anger) and negative-nonaroused (sadness, disgust) facial expressions were recognized with significantly greater accuracy by left hemisphere-damaged patients compared to right hemisphere-damaged patients; the group difference in performance was nonsignificant for positive (happiness, surprise) emotions.

Adult↗

Bilateral transfer deficit in schizophrenia.

Right-handed chronic schizophrenics, left-handed normals, and right-handed normals were tested on a measure of bilateral transfer of motor skill in contralateral hands. Schizophrenics compared with normals showed significantly poor bilateral transfer of skill in terms of errors committed; the group difference was nonsignificant in terms of response time. Results suggested a breakdown in perceptual-motor coordination in schizophrenia.

Adult↗