Right hemisphere cells process emotions.

• Position: Brain - Prefrontal cortex research - Brief Article

A region at the front of the brain's right hemisphere, the prefrontal cortex, plays a critical role in how the human brain processes emotions. Data from previous studies of brain lesions (areas of damage that alter the brain's ability to generate normal emotions) and data from functional brain imaging studies have delineated the extent of the area involved. However, a University of Iowa, Iowa City, study is the first to investigate human emotion processing by the right prefrontal cortex at the level of individual brain cells.

A rare surgical situation allowed the researchers to record the activity of individual brain cells (neurons) in an awake, alert patient as he was shown images designed to elicit an emotional response. The patient was undergoing neurosurgery to treat epilepsy, which had not responded well to medication. Usually, electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes placed on the scalp would be used to pinpoint where in the brain the epileptic seizures are localized. In this case, though, that approach did not work, so for treatment purposes the surgeon implanted depth electrodes into the patient's brain to monitor where the seizures originated.

Monitoring single neurons within the right prefrontal cortex, the researchers found that these cells responded remarkably rapidly to...