Channels of emotional expression in patients with unilateral brain damage
J. C. Borod, E. Koff, M. P. Lorch and M. Nicholas
The contribution of facial, intonational, and speech channels to
spontaneous emotional expression was examined in right brain-damaged (RBD),
left brain-damaged (LBD), and normal control (NC) subjects. Subjects were
videotaped while viewing and responding to a series of emotionally laden
slides; the videotapes were then rated for the three channels of
communication. Overall, RBDs used facial expression and intonation less
frequently than the other two groups. When the speech output channel was
analyzed, oral expression of feelings in the RBDs, relative to the LBDs and
NCs, was less appropriate, more propositional than prosodic, and more
descriptive than affective. When the ratings for the three channels of
communication were examined, facial expression and intonation were
significantly correlated for all subjects.
