Abstract
Humans make various kinds of decisions about which emotions they perceive from others. Although it might seem like a split‐second phenomenon, deliberating over which emotions we perceive unfolds across several stages of decisional processing. Neurocognitive models of general perception postulate that our brain first extracts sensory information about the world then integrates these data into a percept and lastly interprets it. The aim of the present study was to build an evidence‐based neurocognitive model of perceptual decision‐making on others' emotions. We conducted a series of meta‐analyses of neuroimaging data spanning 30 years on the explicit evaluations of others' emotional expressions. We find that emotion perception is rather an umbrella term for various perception paradigms, each with distinct neural structures that underline task‐related cognitive demands. Furthermore, the left amygdala was responsive across all classes of decisional paradigms, regardless of task‐related demands. Based on these observations, we propose a neurocognitive model that outlines the information flow in the brain needed for a successful evaluation of and decisions on other individuals' emotions.Highlights Emotion classification involves heterogeneous perception and decision‐making tasksDecision‐making processes on emotions rarely covered by existing emotions theoriesWe propose an evidence‐based neuro‐cognitive model of decision‐making on emotionsBilateral brain processes for nonverbal decisions, left brain processes for verbal decisionsLeft amygdala involved in any kind of decision on emotions
Highlights
The process of perceiving and identifying emotions signaled by others is often a split-second instance of emotion perception
The present study tried to address the existing gaps in the literature of emotion perception, namely the general lack of acknowledgment concerning the heterogeneity of perceptual tasks (Elliott et al, 2011; Ong et al, 2015) and how the brain idiosyncratically computes the various perceptual decisions on emotions
We reviewed the neuroimaging literature of emotion perception spanning 30 years
Summary
The process of perceiving and identifying emotions signaled by others is often a split-second instance of emotion perception This apparently rapid action is the outcome of multiple stages of decision-making based on various levels of neural and cognitive processing. This decisional process might differ according to the specific requirements of certain contexts and situations. Other contexts might only require rating the intensity of emotions regardless of the emotion perceived (i.e., emotional intensity rating). These different types of decisions on perceived emotions are assumed to imply different neurocognitive mechanisms (Figure 1)
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