65ª Reunião Anual da SBPC

G. Ciências Humanas - 8. Psicologia - 9. Psicologia Experimental

HEMISPHERIC SPECIALIZATION FOR FAVORITE AND RIVAL SOCCER TEAM DIFFERS FROM THE PATTERN OBSERVED FOR INNATE EMOTIONS

Sarah Carvalho-Oliveira - Departamento de Neurobiologia - PPG em Neurociências - UFF Marcelo Rodrigues Coppo - Departamento de Neurobiologia - PPG em Neurociências - UFF Larissa Verônica Kamarowski - Departamento de Neurobiologia - PPG em Neurociências - UFF Luiz G Gawryszewski,. - Departamento de Neurobiologia - PPG em Neurociências - UFF

INTRODUÇÃO:

The right hemisphere has been considered as the dominant one for processing emotion. However, there are several results indicating that for both normal people and brain-injured patients, there is a hemispheric specialization in which the left hemisphere is dominant for positive emotions and the right, for negative emotions. These results were observed for a variety of stimuli, including faces expressing positive (happiness) and negative emotions (fear, anger). However, these results were derived from experiments using stimulus whose valence is innately determined.

OBJETIVO DO TRABALHO:

We used Preference for soccer team to evaluate the hemispheric specialization for processing stimuli whose affective valence is acquired.

MÉTODOS:

Figures of Favorite or Rival soccer team were centrally presented on a computer screen and MRT for pressing Left or Right key according to previous instructions was measured. The correct MRT were ranked in temporal order (shorter to longer MRTs) for each experimental condition and then divided into five equal-size bins (quintiles). The mean MRT of each quintile was submitted to ANOVA analyses, with Preference (Favorite/Rival), Key (Left/Right) and Quintile as within-subject factors.

RESULTADOS E DISCUSSÃO:

Our main finding was a Preference/Key interaction (F1,18 = 6,720, p < .02). Planned comparisons showed that for Favorite team, the Left key response (424 ms) is faster (p< .05) than Right key response (441 ms) and for Left key, Favorite team MRT (424 ms) is shorter (p< ,03) than Rival team MRT (443ms). These results show that the Left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere) responds faster to a positive stimulus (Favorite Team) than to a negative one (Rival Team) and that its response to the Favorite team is faster than when the right hand (controlled by the left hemisphere) executed the response.

CONCLUSÕES:

Our findings are in contradiction with the usual idea that the right hemisphere is specialized for the processing of negative emotions and the left hemisphere for positive emotions, suggesting that the inter-hemispheric difference for the processing of affective stimulus depends if its valence is innate or acquired.

Palavras-chave: Emotion, Hemispheric specialization, Manual reaction time.