Transcranial magnetic stimulation of medial-frontal cortex impairs the processing of angry facial expressions

C J Harmer; K V Thilo; J C Rothwell; G M Goodwin

doi:10.1038/82854

Transcranial magnetic stimulation of medial-frontal cortex impairs the processing of angry facial expressions

Nat Neurosci. 2001 Jan;4(1):17-8. doi: 10.1038/82854.

Authors

C J Harmer¹, K V Thilo, J C Rothwell, G M Goodwin

Affiliation

¹ MRC Human Movement and Balance Unit, Institute of Neurology, 8-11 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK. catherine.harmer@psych.ox.ac.uk

PMID: 11135640
DOI: 10.1038/82854

Abstract

Growing evidence suggests that the recognition of different emotional states involves at least partly separable neural circuits. Here we assessed the discrimination of both anger and happiness in healthy subjects receiving transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the medial-frontal cortex or over a control site (mid-line parietal cortex). We found that TMS over the medial-frontal cortex impairs the processing of angry, but not happy, facial expressions of emotion.

Publication types

Clinical Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anger* / physiology
Discrimination, Psychological / physiology
Electric Stimulation / instrumentation*
Facial Expression*
Female
Frontal Lobe / anatomy & histology
Frontal Lobe / physiology*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Parietal Lobe / physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology
Photic Stimulation
Reaction Time / physiology
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation*