Brain Imaging NeuroReport 0959-4965 # Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Left-hemisphere processing of emotional connotation during word generation Bruce Crosson, CA Krestin Radonovich, Joseph R. Sadek, Didem Go È kc Ëay, 1 Russell M. Bauer, Ira S. Fischler, 2 Margaret A. Cato, Leeza Maron, Edward J. Auerbach, 3 Samuel R. Browd 4 and Richard W. Briggs 3 University of Florida Brain Institute and Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Florida Health Science Center, Box 100165, Gainesville, FL 32610-0165; 1 Department of Computer Information Sciences and Engineering, 301 Computer Science Engineering, Gainesville, FL 32611; 2 Department of Psychology, 114 Psychology, Gainesville, FL 32611; 3 Department of Radiology, University of Florida Health Science Center, Box 100374, Gainesville, FL 32610-0374; 4 Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida Health Science Center, Box 100244, Gainesville, FL 32610-0244, USA CA Corresponding Author AREAS of the brain's left hemisphere involved in retrieving words with emotional connotations were studied with fMRI. Participants silently generated words from different semantic categories which evoked either words with emotional connotations or emotion- ally neutral words. Participants repeated emotionally neutral words as a control task. Compared with genera- tion of emotionally neutral words, generation of words with emotional connotations engaged cortices near the left frontal and temporal poles which are connected to the limbic system. Thus, emotional connotations of words are processed in or near cortices with access to emotional experience. NeuroReport 10:2449±2455 # 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Key words: Emotion; fMRI; Frontal pole; Language; Lim- bic system; Semantics; Temporal pole; Word generation Introduction Emotions, pleasant and unpleasant, have adaptive signi®cance [1]. They impel us to approach things essential for our survival (e.g. food, sex, af®liation) and to avoid things that threaten our survival (e.g. predators, other dangers). As a symbolic tool, we use language to communicate emotional signi®cance, often by implication. For example, `The grizzly bear lives in that cave' connotes a place to be avoided, though danger is not directly expressed. Are there specialized brain systems for distinguishing the emo- tional connotation of verbal stimuli? Functional neuroimaging and lesion studies have supported the concept that knowledge of an object's sensory attributes is processed in cortical regions proximal to those mediating perception of such attributes, and that knowledge of these attributes is critical for naming or describing the objects [2,3]. Similar claims have been made regarding cortex processing an action's movement parameters, i.e. that cortex that processes movement parameters for learned actions will be involved in naming those actions [4]. Indeed, some investigators have main- tained that category-speci®c de®cits for naming or recognizing objects result from impaired processing of attributes that distinguish category members (e.g. visual features for living things vs the function of non-living things) [5,6]. Applying this reasoning to emotional attributes, knowledge of emotional con- notations should be processed in cortex with access to emotional experience. The limbic system involves structures heavily connected to the hypothalamus such as the the amygdala, the hippocampus, and certain basal forebrain structures (nucleus accum- bens, extended amygdala). Because many limbic NeuroReport 10, 2449±2455 (1999) Vol 10 No 12 20 August 1999 2449