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The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article

Even if for many years hemispheric asymmetries have been considered as a uniquely human feature, an increasing number of studies have described hemispheric asymmetries for various behavioral functions in several nonhuman species. An aspect of animal lateralization that has attracted particular atten...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Gainotti, Guido
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8395003/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34439594
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11080975
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author Gainotti, Guido
author_facet Gainotti, Guido
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description Even if for many years hemispheric asymmetries have been considered as a uniquely human feature, an increasing number of studies have described hemispheric asymmetries for various behavioral functions in several nonhuman species. An aspect of animal lateralization that has attracted particular attention has concerned the hemispheric asymmetries for emotions, but human and animal studies on this subject have been developed as independent lines of investigation, without attempts for their integration. In this perspective article, after an illustration of factors that have hampered the integration between human and animal studies on emotional lateralization, I will pass to analyze components and stages of the processing of emotions to distinguish those which point to a continuum between humans and many animal species, from those which suggest a similarity only between humans and great apes. The right lateralization of sympathetic functions (involved in brain and bodily activities necessary in emergency situations) seems consistent across many animal species, whereas asymmetries in emotional communication and in structures involved in emotional experience, similar to those observed in humans, have been documented only in primates.
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spelling pubmed-83950032021-08-28 The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article Gainotti, Guido Brain Sci Review Even if for many years hemispheric asymmetries have been considered as a uniquely human feature, an increasing number of studies have described hemispheric asymmetries for various behavioral functions in several nonhuman species. An aspect of animal lateralization that has attracted particular attention has concerned the hemispheric asymmetries for emotions, but human and animal studies on this subject have been developed as independent lines of investigation, without attempts for their integration. In this perspective article, after an illustration of factors that have hampered the integration between human and animal studies on emotional lateralization, I will pass to analyze components and stages of the processing of emotions to distinguish those which point to a continuum between humans and many animal species, from those which suggest a similarity only between humans and great apes. The right lateralization of sympathetic functions (involved in brain and bodily activities necessary in emergency situations) seems consistent across many animal species, whereas asymmetries in emotional communication and in structures involved in emotional experience, similar to those observed in humans, have been documented only in primates. MDPI 2021-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC8395003/ /pubmed/34439594 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11080975 Text en © 2021 by the author. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gainotti, Guido
The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title_full The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title_fullStr The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title_full_unstemmed The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title_short The Difficult Integration between Human and Animal Studies on Emotional Lateralization: A Perspective Article
title_sort difficult integration between human and animal studies on emotional lateralization: a perspective article
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8395003/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34439594
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11080975
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