Cerebellar activity and connectivity during the experience of disgust and happiness

Abstract

Previous research indicates that distinct subregions of the cerebellum are involved in the processing of different primary emotions. How this is achieved in terms of connectional specificity with other brain areas still needs to be elucidated.We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging in order to investigate cerebellar activation and connectivity relevant for the processing of two basic emotions. Thirty-four healthy women were presented with pictures that specifically elicited happiness and disgust with the instruction to rate the intensity of the experienced feelings. The contrasting of both affective conditions showed that disgust evoked activation of the vermis and the cerebellar hemispheres, whereas happiness-associated activation was restricted to the posterior cerebellum. Both emotions provoked increased connectivity of the cerebellum with limbic regions. The observed extended connectivity patterns can explain why cerebellar lesions are able to produce pronounced changes of affective experience in the afflicted patients.