Self-Conscious Emotions and the Right Fronto-Temporal and Right Temporal Parietal Junction

Abstract

For more than two decades, research focusing on both clinical and non-clinical populations has suggested a key role for specific regions in the regulation of self-conscious emotions. It is speculated that both the expression and the interpretation of self-conscious emotions are critical in humans for action planning and response, communication, learning, parenting, and most social encounters. Empathy, Guilt, Jealousy, Shame, and Pride are all categorized as self-conscious emotions, all of which are crucial components to one’s sense of self. There has been an abundance of evidence pointing to the right Fronto-Temporal involvement in the integration of cognitive processes underlying the expression of these emotions. Numerous regions within the right hemisphere have been identified including the right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ), the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). In this review, we aim to investigate patient cases, in addition to clinical and non-clinical studies. We also aim to highlight these specific brain regions pivotal to the right hemispheric dominance observed in the neural correlates of such self-conscious emotions and provide the potential role that self-conscious emotions play in evolution.

The effects of prefrontal vs. parietal cortex transcranial direct current stimulation on craving, inhibition, and measures of self-esteem

“…Stimulation significantly reduced FA, thus improving inhibition performance. This agrees with previous studies regarding the DLPFC and the PFC as the central hub of cognitive control and inhibition ( Cieslik et al, 2013 ; Salehinejad et al, 2017 ; Maier et al, 2018 ; Lavarco et al, 2022 ). Though more pronounced in the DLPFC, there was also a correlation of the IPL with inhibition.…”

“…Both stocktickerIPL and DLPFC areas were linked to selfesteem trait. This confirms a right hemispheric dominance observed in neural correlates of self-conscious emotions (Devinsky, 2000;Lavarco et al, 2022). Our findings agree with previous research on self-esteem testing through tDCS (Pan et al, 2016;De Raedt et al, 2017).…”

“…Apart from craving and inhibition, frontoparietal areas have been linked to self-awareness ( Lavarco et al, 2022 ), body awareness ( Takeuchi et al, 2019 ), normal bodily self-consciousness ( Igelström and Graziano, 2017 ), self-appraisal ( Knyazev et al, 2021 ), and more specifically to self-esteem ( Agroskin et al, 2014 ). Resting-state fMRI research has revealed positive relations between the DLPFC and trait self-esteem ( Pan et al, 2016 ).…”

Developmental Autonomous Behavior: An Ethological Perspective to Understanding Machines

“…We are emotional and social creatures by nature, sharing the environment with others. Self-referential emotions such as pride, shame, guilt, jealousy, and empathy play a major role in how we act [186]- [188]. Human societies create a code of ethics to maintain the behavioral standards.…”

Editorial: Emotional lateralization and psychopathology

“…A follow-up brain stimulation study revealed that the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, either independently or through connections to the insula, is also a moderator of narcissistic tendencies ( 14 ). Lack of empathy is well mapped out in the right hemisphere, which accounts for a large affective component of narcissism ( 15 ).…”