This chapter explains how human beings infer emotional meaning from vocal signals. It reviews research on cerebral processes that contribute to the decoding of emotions from vocal cues such as speech prosody or nonverbal vocalizations like laughter. With the advent of modern brain imaging techniques, research has achieved substantial progress in delineating the neurobiological bases of (emotional) voice perception. In particular, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has contributed greatly to the understanding of how the brain processes emotional information in human voices. Despite the methodological limitations, however, empirical evidence and hypotheses reviewed in the chapter suggest the idea of two distinct modes of speech prosody processing, each implemented differently in the human brain: explicit processing and implicit processing. Suppression of limbic activation reflects a recruitment of emotion regulation processes that attenuate the automatic induction of emotional reactions associated with limbic activation in order to avoid emotional interference in goal-directed behavior.

This chapter presents new data suggesting that there are sensitive periods when particular brain regions may be most susceptible to the effects of abuse. New findings looking at the neurobiological correlates of exposure to other forms of adversity is considered including parental verbal abuse (PVA), peer verbal bullying (VB) and witnessing domestic violence (WDV). The effect of childhood trauma on the development of the left versus right hemisphere was investigated using electroencephalograph (EEG) coherence, which provides information regarding the nature of the brain's wiring and circuitry. Childhood maltreatment research has focused primarily on the effects of physical abuse (PA), sexual abuse (SA) or WDV. By comparison, PVA has received little attention as a specific form of abuse. Childhood adversity accounts for 50-75% of the population attributable risk for alcoholism, depression, suicidal behavior and drug abuse.