Handbook of Neuropsychology, 2nd Edition

The fifth volume in this series covers emotional behavior and its disorders. The introductory chapters deal with the basic theoretical and anatomical issues in the neuropsychological study of emotions. Both neurobiologically oriented and cognitively oriented theories of emotion are presented and both the detailed anatomo-clinical and theoretical aspects of the anatomical substrates of emotions are covered in depth. The central part of this volume addresses the problem of hemispheric asymmetries in emotional representation. The claims for right hemisphere dominance for emotions and emotional communication are contrasted with those assuming a different hemispheric specialization for positive vs. negative emotions and with models assuming asymmetric cortico-limbic control of human emotion. A final group of chapters examines the neural mechanisms of the stress response and reviews the main emotional disorders. Individual differences in the hemispheric control of the stress response are discussed and the neural mechanisms of affective/emotional disturbances are approached with neuropsychological methods and with functional neuroimaging techniques.