Taking a Darwinian perspective, some researchers propose that emotions are innate programs that increase the likelihood of behaviors that promote survival. Because many behaviors are shaped by cognitive processes, such as attention, memory, or conceptualization, the influence of emotions on these processes has moved into the spot light of emotion research over the past few years.

 

In the Brain and Behaviour lab, we are particularly interested in the role emotions play during interpersonal communication and the impact of inter-individual variables such as gender and age on emotion. For example, previous studies in our lab using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) showed that listeners differentiate between neutral and emotionally charged vocal expressions within 200 ms of stimulus onset. Moreover, unattended emotional expressions attract attention more effectively than neutral expressions, particularly in female listeners. Results from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) show that the observed processing enhancement for emotional expressions is mediated by a region in the STS that has been associated with higher order auditory processing of voice and speech. Furthermore, emotionally relevant structures such as the amygdala and orbito-frontal cortex as well as medial  and inferior frontal cortex respond more strongly to emotional as compared to neutral expressions.

 

In light of the observed gender differences in vocal emotional processing, current research efforts focus on specifying their developmental course, a potential role of cultural and biological factors, as well as implications for emotional disorders known to favor one gender over the other (e.g., social phobia).

 

If you would like to contribute to this research as a participant, research assistant, or collaborator please contact Annett Schirmer.