Neural bases of musical emotion: role of the temporal lobes.
SÉVERINE SAMSON

Whereas numerous studies demonstrated the role of medial temporal lobe structures in emotional processing of faces or vocal sounds, we still know very little about emotions induced by musical listening. In our studies, we reported neuropsychological data obtained in patients with unilateral temporal lobe lesion in tasks requiring emotional judgments of musical excerpts. We will discuss the specific role of the amygdala and of the parahippocampal cortex in different emotional judgments extending to the musical domain findings already reported in non musical contexts.