Talking in Fury: The Cortico-Subcortical Network Underlying Angry Vocalizations

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics

Background:

• The neural underpinnings of vocal emotion perception are well-documented.
• However, the brain mechanisms governing the expression of vocal emotions remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the neural basis of vocal emotion expression.
• To differentiate brain activity during repeated versus evoked emotional vocalizations.
• To identify brain regions associated with producing angry vocalizations.

Main Methods:

• Participants were instructed to repeat and to evoke (express) high-arousing angry vocalizations.
• Functional neuroimaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
• Pupil size was monitored as a physiological indicator of arousal.

Main Results:

• Repeating vocalizations activated the left middle superior temporal gyrus (STG), suggesting auditory memory involvement.
• Evoked angry vocalizations engaged the left hippocampus (long-term memory retrieval), inferior frontal cortex (IFC), and dorsal basal ganglia (BG).
• The amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were also activated during angry expressions, with ACC activity correlating with pupil dilation (arousal).

Conclusions:

• Vocal emotion expression involves distinct neural pathways compared to simple vocal repetition.
• The hippocampus, IFC, and BG play key roles in retrieving and producing emotional vocalizations.
• The ACC and amygdala are involved in the generation and arousal associated with emotional vocal output.