Neurobiological correlates of emotional processing in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review of experimental studies

•We systematically reviewed experimental studies on emotional processing in PD.•Multiple modalities of emotional processing are disturbed in PD patients.•Neurobiological deficits are present in ventral regions of affective neurocircuitry.•PD patients can cognitively modulate emotional responses despite reduced dopamine.•PD can serve as a prolific neurobiological model for studying human emotional behavior.

Deficits in emotional processing in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have received increasing interest over the past decades. In this systematic review, we present the results of 18 behavioral studies that have examined the neurobiological base of emotional processing in PD. Multiple aspects of emotional processing have been studied, using a variety of research methods. Deficits in PD are mainly related to autonomic and perceptive processing of intense emotional stimuli, which is accompanied by structural and functional neurobiological abnormalities in predominantly ventral regions of affective neurocircuitry. These structures are more strongly dependent on dopaminergic neurotransmission than the dorsal structures of affective neurocircuitry, which are more related to the cognitive and regulatory aspects of emotion and appear to remain largely intact in PD patients. Considering the importance of active dopaminergic neurotransmission, PD can serve as a prolific model for studying the neurobiological correlates of normal human emotional behavior as well as psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and apathy. Moreover, the fact that PD patients are able to cognitively regulate or modulate their emotional responses despite reduced dopamine supplies, can have important implications for the treatment of affective disorders not only in PD patients but in the general population likewise.