NEURONS OF THE RIGHT AND LEFT PREFRONTAL CORTICAL AREAS AND STIMULATION OF THE EMOTIOGENIC ZONES

The effect of emotions on unit activity of the prefrontal cortex (righ t and left hemispheres) was studied in rats under conditions of stimul ation of emotionally positive (lateral hypothalamic area) and negative (dorsomedial tegmentum) structures, The stimulation produced changes in unit activity of both the right and left hemispheres. Asymmetry was revealed in neuronal responses of the right and left areas of the pre frontal cortex: during emotionally positive stimulation the unit activ ity in the left cortex was more intensive, and the neurons of the righ t cortex were more active during the negative stimulation. In case of the negative emotional stimulation the greater asymmetry in neuronal r esponses was observed at contralateral stimulation, at the positive st imulation both the left and right localizations were equally effective .