The right hemisphere recognises the bad guys

Abstract

Abstract This study examines emotional reactions and memory in patients with unilateral temporal and/or frontal lobe epilepsy using a sodium amytal testing procedure. Patients were presented with pictures of ordinary faces and accompanying biographical descriptions while either the right or the left cerebral hemisphere was deactivated. The biographies depicted the individual in the picture either as a pleasant, an unpleasant, or an everyday person. After the drug effect had worn off, the patients were tested for their memory for the faces, their memory for the words used in the biographical descriptions, and for their ratings of the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the individuals in the pictures. Results showed a superior recognition of faces that were associated with unpleasant biographies following left hemisphere injection (i.e. testing the right hemisphere). Although the content of the biographical information could not be recognised, the ratings of the faces associated with the unpleasant biographi...