Quantifiable Effect of Handedness on Hemifacial Expression
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Keywords
Psychology, Handedness, Neuroscience
Biography
Laura Yost received her B.A. in Psychology from Marshall University in 2020 and is completing the final semester of her M.A. in Psychology with a certificate in behavioral statistics. She conducts research under the supervision of Drs. Jonathan Day-Brown and Melissa Atkins. Her work focuses on the relationship between functional cerebral asymmetry and handedness.
Major
Psychology
Advisor for this project
Jonathan Day-Brown, Ph.D. & Melissa Atkins, Ph.D.
Abstract
Hemispheric lateralization is a brain organization principle suggesting specific functions are processed primarily by one cerebral hemisphere or the other. Current theories assume that lateralized brain is an organized brain. In most individuals, emotional processes are primarily controlled by the right cerebral hemisphere. There is considerable evidence to support this using various methodological approaches; this study proposes to exploit one of the most classically described outputs of emotion: facial expressions.
Research on facial expression has demonstrated that emotion is expressed more intensely in the left hemiface. Given that motor control is contralateral, emotion centers have been found to reside in the right cerebral hemisphere. Prior research on lateralization has been conducted exclusively on right-handed individuals. The exclusion of left-handed participants makes the organization of basic processes unclear, and thus no assumption can be made based on current theories of lateralization. Further investigation into the outputs of emotional processing of these individuals will offer insight into the development and organization of left-handed individuals’ brains. Not only is this the first examination of emotion processes and hemispheric lateralization as it relates to facial expression, but this is the first attempt to quantitatively measure facial expression intensity as it relates to hemispheric lateralization.
Quantifiable Effect of Handedness on Hemifacial Expression
Hemispheric lateralization is a brain organization principle suggesting specific functions are processed primarily by one cerebral hemisphere or the other. Current theories assume that lateralized brain is an organized brain. In most individuals, emotional processes are primarily controlled by the right cerebral hemisphere. There is considerable evidence to support this using various methodological approaches; this study proposes to exploit one of the most classically described outputs of emotion: facial expressions.
Research on facial expression has demonstrated that emotion is expressed more intensely in the left hemiface. Given that motor control is contralateral, emotion centers have been found to reside in the right cerebral hemisphere. Prior research on lateralization has been conducted exclusively on right-handed individuals. The exclusion of left-handed participants makes the organization of basic processes unclear, and thus no assumption can be made based on current theories of lateralization. Further investigation into the outputs of emotional processing of these individuals will offer insight into the development and organization of left-handed individuals’ brains. Not only is this the first examination of emotion processes and hemispheric lateralization as it relates to facial expression, but this is the first attempt to quantitatively measure facial expression intensity as it relates to hemispheric lateralization.
