Emotional processing in patients with single brain damage in the right hemisphere

Abstract Background The interest in the relationship between brain damage and social cognition has increased in recent years. The objectives of the present study were the following: (1) to evaluate and compare emotional facial recognition and subjective emotional experience in patients who have suffered a single ischemic stroke in the right hemisphere (RH) and in healthy people, (2) to analyze the relationship between both variables in both groups of subjects, and (3) to analyze the association between the cerebral location of the stroke and these two variables. Methods Emotional facial recognition and the subjective emotional experience of 41 patients who had suffered a single ischemic stroke in the RH and 45 volunteers without previous cerebrovascular pathology were evaluated. Results Brain damaged patients performed lower in facial emotional recognition and had a less intense subjective emotional response to social content stimuli compared to healthy subjects. Likewise, among patients with RH ischemic stroke, we observed negative associations between facial recognition of surprise and reactivity to unpleasant images, and positive associations between recognition of disgust and reactivity to pleasant images. Finally, patients with damage in the caudate nucleus of the RH presented a deficit in the recognition of happiness and sadness, and those with damage in the frontal lobe exhibited a deficit in the recognition of surprise, compared to those injured in other brain areas. Conclusions Emotional facial recognition and subjective emotional experience are affected in patients who have suffered a single ischemic stroke in the RH. Professionals caring for stroke patients should improve their understanding of the general condition of affected persons and their environment, assess for risk of depression, and facilitate their adaptation to work, family, and social environments