POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MUSIC RECOGNITION REVEALS A SPECIALIZATION OF MESIO-TEMPORAL STRUCTURES IN EPILEPTIC PATIENTS

AMYGDALA INVOLVEMENT IN FACIAL NEGATIVE EMOTION processing seems to be lateralized. The aim of the present study was to verify the existence of this phenomenon in the music domain and to study asymmetrical processing of emotions by the anteromedial temporal structures. Thirteen epileptic patients with left unilateral resection in the temporal lobe including the amygdala, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and anterior temporal pole, and fourteen patients with the same right-sided temporal resection, were asked to identify the emotion conveyed by music selections (happiness, sadness, or anger), and to assess their arousal (relaxing/stimulating aspects) and valence (pleasantness/unpleasantness aspects). The results demonstrated asymmetrical processing of positive emotions towards the left whereas negative (sad and angry) excerpts were either less recognized or confounded in both right and left operations. It seems that this impairment of music emotion recognition is not linked to an impairment of arousal and valence judgments.