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Right Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus Lesions Disrupt Visual-emotional Integration
Institution:
 1Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. dlperez@partners.org.
2Department of Neurology and Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
3Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
4Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
5Department of Neurology, Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Publisher:
 HighWire
Publication Date:
 Jun-2016
Journal:
 Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
Volume Number:
 11
Issue Number:
 6
Pages:
 945-51
Citation:
 Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 Jun;11(6):945-51.
PubMed ID:
 26940563
PMCID:
 PMC4884310
Keywords:
 derealization, dissociative disorders, emotions, visual hypoemotionality
Appears in Collections:
NCIGT, SLICER
Sponsors:
 P41 EB015898/EB/NIBIB NIH HHS/United States
Generated Citation:
 Fischer D.B., Perez D.L., Prasad S., Rigolo L., O'Donnell L., Acar D., Meadows M-E., Baslet G., Boes A.D., Golby A.J., Dworetzky B.A. Right Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus Lesions Disrupt Visual-emotional Integration. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 Jun;11(6):945-51. PMID: 26940563. PMCID: PMC4884310.
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The mechanism by which the brain integrates visual and emotional information remains incompletely understood, and can be studied through focal lesions that selectively disrupt this process. To date, three reported cases of visual hypoemotionality, a vision-specific form of derealization, have resulted from lesions of the temporo-occipital junction. We present a fourth case of this rare phenomenon, and investigate the role of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) in the underlying pathophysiology. A 50-year-old right-handed male was found to have a right medial temporal lobe tumor following new-onset seizures. Interstitial laser ablation of the lesion was complicated by a right temporo-parieto-occipital intraparenchymal hemorrhage. The patient subsequently experienced emotional estrangement from visual stimuli. A lesion overlap analysis was conducted to assess involvement of the ILF by this patient's lesion and those of the three previously described cases, and diffusion tensor imaging was acquired in our case to further investigate ILF disruption. All four lesions specifically overlapped with the expected trajectory of the right ILF, and diminished structural integrity of the right ILF was observed in our case. These findings implicate the ILF in visual hypoemotionality, suggesting that the ILF is critical for integrating visual information with its emotional content.

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