“Research into how people recognize emotion has identified a brain region that seems to be involved in the perception of anger. It could be part of an extended circuit of specialized emotion-response areas, suggest the investigators.

There are a limited number of emotional facial expressions that are recognized by cultures throughout the world – the so-called universal emotions of sadness, disgust, fear, anger and happiness.

‘The fact that they are universally recognized suggests some element of ‘genetic homogeneity’,’ said Andy Calder, research scientist at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, UK. That is, all human brains may have an innate ability to recognize these emotions laid down by the genes.” BioMedNet The region, the ventral striatum, was identified by noting that patients who had suffered strokes particularly affecting that region had difficulty recognizing angry facial expressions in others. While the article does not discuss this, other brain regions in nondominant temporo-parietal areas relate to recognition of an angry tone of voice in spoken communication.