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Affective motivational direction drives asymmetric frontal hemisphere activation

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Abstract

Decades of research have shown that the left- and right-frontal cortical regions are asymmetrically involved in affective processing. Specifically, this past work has demonstrated that greater left-frontal activation is related to positive-approach, and greater right-frontal activation is related to negative-withdrawal. However, much of this past work confounded motivation and affective valence. The current experiment sought to illuminate whether frontal asymmetry is related to motivation or affective valence by examining frontal-lateralized late positive potentials (f-LPPs) and frontal cortical alpha power activation to approach-positive, approach-negative, and withdrawal-negative affects in the same participants. Results revealed that f-LPPs to approach-positive and approach-negative pictures were larger in left- (vs. right-) frontal regions, whereas f-LPPs to withdrawal-negative pictures did not differ between frontal regions. In addition, midline LPPs to approach-positive and approach-negative pictures related to greater left-frontal cortical activation. Together, these results suggest that greater relative left-frontal activation is associated with positive and negative approach-motivated states in the same participants. More broadly, these results are consistent with conceptual models that asymmetric hemisphere activation is related to motivational direction, rather than affective valence.

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Notes

  1. We conceptualize motivation as the impetus an organism experiences to go toward versus the motivation to freeze or move away. Approach motivation has been associated with the behavioral approach system (BAS; Gray 1970, 1987; Gray and McNaughton 2000), behavioral activation system (also BAS; Fowles 1987), or a behavioral facilitation system (Depue and Collins 1999). Withdrawal motivation has been associated with the behavioral inhibition system (BIS; Gray 1970, 1987). This system is thought to modulate reactions to aversive stimuli and generate negative affective states such as fear and anxiety. The distinct motivational responses to approach or avoid are inherent in affective responses.

  2. Some past research has investigated hemispheric asymmetry using beta frequency band power (Swann et al. 2009). The majority of this work has been focused on posterior asymmetry, but some has also examined frontal asymmetry (Hofman and Schutter 2012; Keune et al. 2012). We focused on the alpha band because the majority of studies examining frontal asymmetry have used the alpha band and frontal alpha asymmetry is supported by a variety of methods (e.g., lesion studies, TMS, fMRI).

  3. IAPS picture numbers: neutral pictures (2038, 2102, 2190, 2191, 2200, 2210, 2214, 2215, 2381, 2385, 2396, 2397, 2440, 2441, 2493, 2495, 2499, 2514, 2516, 2595, 2850, 2870, 2880, 2890, 5471, 5510, 5531, 5533, 5535, 5740, 6150, 7000, 7002, 7004, 7006, 7010, 7020, 7034, 7035, 7038, 7041, 7043, 7052, 7053, 7056, 7058, 7059, 7080, 7090, 7100, 7160, 7161, 7170, 7175, 7179, 7182, 7185, 7187, 7211, 7217, 7233, 7235, 7242, 7247, 7248, 7249, 7500, 7547, 7550, 7640, 7830, 7950, 9070); withdrawal-negative pictures (1270, 1274, 1275, 1280, 1617, 3017, 3061, 3160, 3210, 3215, 7359, 7360, 7361, 7380, 9008, 9042, 9110, 9180, 9182, 9301, 9320, 9341, 9373, 9390, 9432, 9440, 9480, 9490, 9582, 9592, 9594, 9830); and approach-positive pictures (1441, 1463, 1710, 1750, 1920, 2040, 2070, 2071, 2080, 2091, 2150, 2165, 2340, 2345, 2550, 4608, 4650, 4652, 4660, 4676, 4680, 4687, 4689, 4694, 4695, 7283, 7330, 7340, 7390, 7402, 7410, 7430).

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  1. Lee University, Cleveland, TN, USA

    Bryan D. Poole

  2. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Philip A. Gable

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Poole, B.D., Gable, P.A. Affective motivational direction drives asymmetric frontal hemisphere activation. Exp Brain Res 232, 2121–2130 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-3902-4

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