Psychology2016

Motivation and Emotion 375

(specifically, processing by the prefrontal cortex), we can override the direct route and take
control of our emotional responses (LeDoux, 1996; LeDoux & Phelps, 2008; Öhman, 2008).
LeDoux’s work also provides a mechanism for understanding psychological disor-
ders related to anxiety or fear. to Learning Objective 14.4. It is possible that the
direct route may be the primary processing pathway for individuals with anxiety disorders
and the indirect, cortical pathway is not able to override the processing initiated by the
direct route. This would result in difficulty or inability to control our anxieties or the inabil-
ity to extinguish fears we’ve already acquired (LeDoux, 1996; LeDoux & Phelps, 2008).
Besides the amygdala, other subcortical and cortical areas of the brain are involved in
the processing of emotional information (Frank et al., 2014; Treadway et al., 2014). Research
suggests that emotions may work differently depending on which side of the brain is
involved. One area of investigation has been the frontal lobes. Researchers have found that
positive emotions are associated with the left frontal lobe of the brain, whereas negative feel-
ings such as sadness, anxiety, and depression seem to be a function of the right frontal lobe
(R. J. Davidson, 2003; Garland et al., 2015; Geschwind & Iacoboni, 2007; Heilman, 2002). In
studies in which the electrical activity of the brain has been tracked using an electroenceph-
alograph, to Learning Objective 2.9, left frontal lobe activation has been associated
with pleasant emotions, while right frontal lobe activity has been associated with negative
emotional states (R. J. Davidson, 2003). Furthermore, increased left frontal lobe activity
has been found in individuals trained in meditation, and for the participants in this study,
greater left frontal lobe activity was accompanied by a reduction in their anxiety as well as a
boost in their immune system (Garland et al., 2015; R. J. Davidson et al., 2003).
The ability to interpret the facial expressions of others as a particular emotion also
seems to be a function of one side of the brain more than the other. Researchers have found
that when people are asked to identify the emotion on another person’s face, the right hemi-
sphere is more active than the left, particularly in women (Voyer & Rodgers, 2002). This

Thalamus

Low road

Endocrine response:

Hormonal secretions

Autonomic

arousal

Amygdala

High road

Cerebral cortex

Figure 9.6 The “Low Road” and “High Road”
When we are exposed to an emotion-provoking stimulus (such as a shark), the neural signals travel by two
pathways to the amygdala. The “low road” is the pathway underneath the cortex and is a faster, simpler path,
allowing for quick responses to the stimulus, sometimes before we are consciously aware of the nature of the
stimulus. The “high road” uses cortical pathways and is slower and more complex, but it allows us to recog-
nize the threat and, when needed, take more conscious control of our emotional responses. In this particular
example, the low road shouts, “Danger!” and we react before the high road says, “It’s a shark!”

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