Unconscious processing of emotions and the right hemisphere

Impact of text-only versus large text-and-picture alcohol warning formats: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study in French young male drinkers

BACKGROUND

Although the World Health Organization recommends visible and clear warning labels about the risks of alcohol consumption on containers and advertising, many of the currently used labels are too small to be visible. This study investigated the brain activity (using fMRI) and alcohol consumption intentions of French young men exposed to two warning formats displayed on alcoholic beverage advertisements: a small Text-only Alcohol Warning (TAW) currently used in many countries, and a larger text-and-picture alcohol warning (PAW).

METHODS

Seventy-four eligible 18-25-year-old male drinkers completed a face-to-face individual visit with a physician expert in addiction medicine. This was followed by the fMRI session during which they viewed 288 stimuli [96 alcohol advertisements with TAWs, the same 96 advertisements with PAWs, and 96 water advertisements (controls)] for 3 s each. If the advertisement made participants want ("yes")/do not want ("no") to consume the product, they pressed the corresponding button (self-report responses). The number of "yes" responses was compared between advertisement types with a paired sample t-test. Whole-brain and region-of-interest (ROI) analyses of the fMRI data were performed.

RESULTS

Whole-brain BOLD fMRI highlighted contrasting effects of PAWs and TAWs. Compared with TAWs, PAWs elicited more activation in the precuneus, angular gyrus, occipital, frontal and temporal areas, and less activation in the nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental areas, and putamen areas (regions of the reward circuit). The ROI analysis confirmed less activation in the reward circuit (left and right ventral tegmental areas, left and right nucleus accumbens) when viewing PAWs than TAWs. Analysis of the self-report responses indicated that the desire to consume the advertised alcohol product was lower when PAWs were viewed (compared with TAWs) (T = 8.18, p < 10-11).

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first fMRI study to assess the effect of different alcohol warning formats. Our findings show that compared with TAWs, stronger PAWs in advertisements elicited less activity in key regions of the reward system. This suggests that the effects may influence the desire to consume alcohol products (self-report response analysis). These results could help policymakers who are interested in developing more effective labeling measures that target young people.

The impact of brain lesions on health-related quality of life in patients with WHO CNS grade 3 or 4 glioma: a lesion-function and resting-state fMRI analysis

PURPOSE

In glioma patients, tumor development and multimodality therapy are associated with changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL). It is largely unknown how different types and locations of tumor- and treatment-related brain lesions, as well as their relationship to white matter tracts and functional brain networks, affect HRQoL.

METHODS

In 121 patients with pretreated gliomas of WHO CNS grades 3 or 4, structural MRI, O-(2-[¹⁸F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine (FET) PET, resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and self-reported HRQoL questionnaires (EORTC QLQ-C30/BN20) were obtained. Resection cavities, T1-enhancing lesions, T2/FLAIR hyperintensities, and lesions with pathologically increased FET uptake were delineated. Effects of tumor lateralization, involvement of white matter tracts or resting-state network nodes by different types of lesions and within-network rs-fMRI connectivity were analyzed in terms of their interaction with HRQoL scores.

RESULTS

Right hemisphere gliomas were associated with significantly less favorable outcomes in physical, role, emotional and social functioning, compared with left-sided tumors. Most functional HRQoL scores correlated significantly with right-sided white-matter tracts involvement by T2/FLAIR hyperintensities and with loss of within-network functional connectivity of right-sided nodes. Tumors of the left hemisphere caused significantly more communication deficits.

CONCLUSION

In pretreated high-grade gliomas, right hemisphere lesions are associated with reduced HRQoL scores in most functional domains except communication ability, compared to tumors of the left hemisphere. These relationships are mainly observed for T2/FLAIR lesions involving structural and functional networks in the right hemisphere. The data suggest that sparing the right hemisphere from treatment-related tissue damage may improve HRQoL in glioma patients.

Differential Hemispheric Lateralization of Emotions and Related Display Behaviors: Emotion-Type Hypothesis

There are two well-known hypotheses regarding hemispheric lateralization of emotions. The Right Hemisphere Hypothesis (RHH) postulates that emotions and associated display behaviors are a dominant and lateralized function of the right hemisphere. The Valence Hypothesis (VH) posits that negative emotions and related display behaviors are modulated by the right hemisphere and positive emotions and related display behaviors are modulated by the left hemisphere. Although both the RHH and VH are supported by extensive research data, they are mutually exclusive, suggesting that there may be a missing factor in play that may provide a more accurate description of how emotions are lateralization in the brain. Evidence will be presented that provides a much broader perspective of emotions by embracing the concept that emotions can be classified into primary and social types and that hemispheric lateralization is better explained by the Emotion-type Hypothesis (ETH). The ETH posits that primary emotions and related display behaviors are modulated by the right hemisphere and social emotions and related display behaviors are modulated by the left hemisphere.