- LONDON (ANI) -- Scientists
have discovered that the left side of the brain is more involved in emotionally-charged
information.
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- A new study of the information procession in the brain
has found that the left side of the brain alone appears to take responsibility
for decoding the literal meaning of emotional messages.
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- But it seems that the brain's right hemisphere plays
a role in assessing the tone in which the message is delivered - a concept
known technically as prosody. The findings are based on measuring how fast
blood flows to the tissues of the brain.
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- A greater velocity implies more activity in that area
of the brain because brain cells, when active, require an increased supply
of oxygen and glucose, both of which are carried in the blood.
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- A team from Ghent University in Belgium used a technique
called transcranial doppler ultrasonography to measure blood flow velocity
in the brain's left and right middle cerebral arteries, says a BBC report.
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- The researchers asked 36 participants, hooked up to ultrasound
monitors, to identify the emotion conveyed in dozens of pre-recorded sentences.
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- The volunteers were asked either to focus on the actual
meaning of the words, or on the emotion conveyed by how they were spoken.
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- Each sentences had just one of four basic emotional meanings
(happy, sad, angry or afraid) or was neutral.
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- Actors spoke the sentences with either an emotional or
neutral tone.
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- As they listened to the sentences, participants pointed
to the appropriate emotion on a card listing them, using both fingers to
minimize setting off one side of the brain only.
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- The researchers found that when participants were asked
to focus on the meaning of what was said, blood flow velocity went up significantly
on the left side of the brain.
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- But when attention was shifted to how it was said, velocity
also went up markedly on the right side of the brain.
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- However, it did not go down on the left - suggesting
that both sides of the brain play a role in helping to label the emotions.
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- Lead researcher Professor Guy Vingerhoets told BBC News
Online: "It appears that we have a different pattern of cerebral activity
devoted to the emotional 'what' and the emotional 'how' of the spoken message.
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