ABSTRACT

Few studies have examined the specific contribution of focal damage of the prefrontal cortex and executive dysfunction to emotion recognition deficits, with results reporting controversial findings. This study investigated the performance of 30 patients with prefrontal cortex damage and 30 matched controls on a battery of executive measures assessing processes of inhibition, flexibility, and planning and a task of emotion recognition with also a particular attention to the examination of the association between these domains. The results showed that compared with control participants, patients with prefrontal cortex damage were impaired in recognizing the three negative emotions of fear, sadness, and anger and were also impaired on all executive measures. Moreover, by examining the association between both these domains, using correlation and regression analyses, we noted that impaired performance in recognizing emotions of fear, sadness, and anger was predicted by impaired performances on the measures of inhibition and flexibility or “set-shifting” suggesting that the ability to recognize emotions could be at least to some extent cognitively mediated. Finally, using a voxel-based lesion technique, we identified a partially common prefrontal network underlying deficits on executive functions and emotions recognition centered on the ventral and medial parts of the prefrontal cortex, reflecting beyond the neural network involved in recognizing negative emotions per se that of the cognitive processes elicited by this emotion task.

摘要

很少有研究探讨前额皮质局部损伤和执行功能障碍对情绪识别缺陷的具体影响，其结果报告了有争议的发现。这项研究调查了 30 名前额皮质损伤患者和 30 名匹配对照者在一系列执行措施上的表现，评估抑制、灵活性、计划和情绪识别任务的过程，并特别关注检查这些之间的关联。域。结果显示，与对照组参与者相比，前额皮质受损的患者在识别恐惧、悲伤和愤怒三种负面情绪方面受到损害，并且在所有执行措施上也受到损害。此外，通过检查这两个域之间的关联，使用相关性和回归分析，我们注意到识别恐惧、悲伤和愤怒情绪的能力受损是通过抑制和灵活性或“设定转移”测量的能力受损来预测的，这表明识别情绪的能力至少可能是在某种程度上是认知介导的。最后，使用基于体素的损伤技术，我们确定了一个部分常见的前额叶网络，该网络在执行功能和情绪识别方面存在缺陷，集中在前额叶皮层的腹侧和内侧部分，反映了除了参与识别负面情绪本身的神经网络之外，由这种情绪任务引发的认知过程。愤怒是通过抑制和灵活性或“设定转移”测量的表现受损来预测的，这表明识别情绪的能力至少在某种程度上是认知介导的。最后，使用基于体素的损伤技术，我们确定了一个部分常见的前额叶网络，该网络在执行功能和情绪识别方面存在缺陷，集中在前额叶皮层的腹侧和内侧部分，反映了除了参与识别负面情绪本身的神经网络之外，由这种情绪任务引发的认知过程。愤怒是通过抑制和灵活性或“设定转移”测量的表现受损来预测的，这表明识别情绪的能力至少在某种程度上是认知介导的。最后，使用基于体素的损伤技术，我们确定了一个部分常见的前额叶网络，该网络在执行功能和情绪识别方面存在缺陷，集中在前额叶皮层的腹侧和内侧部分，反映了除了参与识别负面情绪本身的神经网络之外，由这种情绪任务引发的认知过程。