Emotion and the Brain-Anatomy and Theory: An Introduction to the Special Section

This article begins with a neuroanatomical perspective for neuropsychological research on emotion. Neuroanatomical structures underlying emotion and their interrelationships are considered, including interhemispheric and intrahemispheric factors. Next, a theoretical model (the componential approach) is proposed for the neuropsychological study of emotional processing. The model is described as it applies to processing modes, communication channels, emotional dimensions, and discrete emotions. The Introduction concludes with an overview of each article in the special section on emotion. The premise is that emotion consists of a number of processing modes that utilize different brain systems. Each article focuses on a different component: perception, expression, physiology, arousal and activation, and subjective experience. Our conceptual framework emanates from the laterality literature and from contemporary emotion theory.