Neural correlates of impaired emotional face recognition in cerebellar lesions

Impaired Emotion Recognition after Left Hemispheric Stroke: A Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature

“…For example, lesions to left or right temporal cortex lead to impaired emotion recognition [26]. However, lesions to the basal ganglia [27, 28], the cerebellum [29], the thalamus [30], the right inferior parietal cortex, and the anterior infracalcarine cortex [18] can have the same consequence. It is well known that activity in the amygdala has been strongly linked to recognition of fear [16], and a lesion of the amygdala causes an impairment in fear recognition [31–33].…”

The Role of the Cerebellum in Unconscious and Conscious Processing of Emotions: A Review

“…This idea is supported by neurophysiological data that show a connection between the cerebellum and higher-order cerebral domains [84,85]. Whereas cerebellar input to autonomic pathways travels along a closed neuronal loop, event-related potentials (ERP) data has characterized the cerebellum in higher-order emotional processing as an active interface with large-scale cerebral pathways that are involved in emotionally conscious processes, including recognition and response to cues with emotional valence.…”

“…Whereas cerebellar input to autonomic pathways travels along a closed neuronal loop, event-related potentials (ERP) data has characterized the cerebellum in higher-order emotional processing as an active interface with large-scale cerebral pathways that are involved in emotionally conscious processes, including recognition and response to cues with emotional valence. Impairments in visual emotional attention [84] and emotional face recognition [85] have been reported in subjects affected by cerebellar hemispheres damage.…”

“…Moreover, neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies have shown the involvement of the cerebellum in conscious processing of emotional facial expressions [69,81,85].…”

The Cerebellum in Social Cognition

“…However, sub-analyses revealed difficulties in selecting the facial expression matching a specific emotion, naming the emotional expression of prosody that may or may not correspond to the semantic content, and matching faces to prosody with similar emotional expression. Furthermore, absent late positive event-related potential on electroencephalography (EEG) during processing of emotional face expressions in patients with cerebellar stroke indicated the network for interpretation of emotional information may be altered after cerebellar damage (Adamaszek et al, 2015). A patient with massive bilateral ponto-cerebellar ischemia was impaired on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), along with other ToM deficits (Roldan Gerschcovich et al, 2011).…”