1
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Wang X, Lee HK, Tong SX. Temporal dynamics and neural variabilities underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Brain Res 2024; 1840:149030. [PMID: 38821334 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2024.149030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2024] [Revised: 05/23/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/02/2024]
Abstract
This study investigated the neural dynamics underlying the interplay between emotion and inhibition in Chinese autistic children. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded from 50 autistic and 46 non-autistic children during an emotional Go/Nogo task. Based on single-trial ERP analyses, autistic children, compared to their non-autistic peers, showed a larger Nogo-N170 for angry faces and an increased Nogo-N170 amplitude variation for happy faces during early visual perception. They also displayed a smaller N200 for all faces and a diminished Nogo-N200 amplitude variation for happy and neutral faces during inhibition monitoring and preparation. During the late stage, autistic children showed a larger posterior-Go-P300 for angry faces and an augmented posterior-Nogo-P300 for happy and neutral faces. These findings clarify the differences in neural processing of emotional stimuli and inhibition between Chinese autistic and non-autistic children, highlighting the importance of considering these dynamics when designing intervention to improve emotion regulation in autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Wang
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
| | - Hyun Kyung Lee
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Shelley Xiuli Tong
- Human Communication, Learning, and Development, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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2
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Chalk PT, Pegna AJ. Predictability modulates the early neural coding of spatially unattended fearful faces. Cortex 2024; 179:286-300. [PMID: 39216289 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 07/18/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
In this study, we assessed whether predictability affected the early processing of facial expressions. To achieve this, we measured lateralised early- and mid-latency event-related potentials associated with visual processing. Twenty-two participants were shown pairs of bilaterally presented fearful, happy, angry, or scrambled faces. Participants were required to identify angry faces on a spatially attended side whilst ignoring happy, fearful, and scrambled faces. Each block began with the word HAPPY or FEARFUL which informed participants the probability at which these faces would appear. Attention effects were found for the lateralised P1, suggesting that emotions do not modulate the P1 differentially, nor do predictions relating to emotions. Pairwise comparisons demonstrated that, when spatially unattended, unpredicted fearful faces produced larger lateralised N170 amplitudes compared to predicted fearful faces and unpredicted happy faces. Finally, attention towards faces increased lateralised EPN amplitudes, as did both fearful expressions and low predictability. Thus, we demonstrate that the N170 and EPN are sensitive to top-down predictions relating to facial expressions and that low predictability appears to specifically affect the early encoding of fearful faces when unattended, possibly to initiate attentional capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip T Chalk
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
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3
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Li S, Zhang Y, Li H, Hao B, He W, Luo W. Is processing superiority a universal trait for all threats? Divergent impacts of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces on attentional capture. Cortex 2024; 177:37-52. [PMID: 38833819 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Fearful, angry, and disgusted facial expressions are evolutionarily salient and convey different types of threat signals. However, it remains unclear whether these three expressions impact sensory perception and attention in the same way. The present ERP study investigated the temporal dynamics underlying the processing of different types of threatening faces and the impact of attentional resources employed during a perceptual load task. Participants were asked to judge the length of bars superimposed over faces presented in the center of the screen. A mass univariate statistical approach was used to analyze the EEG data. Behaviorally, task accuracy was significantly reduced following exposure to fearful faces relative to neutral distractors, independent of perceptual load. The ERP results revealed that the P1 amplitude over the right hemisphere was found to be enhanced for fearful relative to disgusted faces, reflecting the rapid and coarse detection of fearful cues. The N170 responses elicited by fearful, angry, and disgusted faces were larger than those elicited by neutral faces, suggesting the largely automatic and preferential processing of threats. Furthermore, the early posterior negativity (EPN) component yielded increased responses to fearful and angry faces, indicating prioritized attention to stimuli representing acute threats. Additionally, perceptual load exerted a pronounced influence on the EPN and late positive potential (LPP), with larger responses observed in the low perceptual load condition, indicating goal-directed cognitive processing. Overall, the early sensory processing of fearful, angry, and disgusted faces is characterized by differential sensitivity in capturing attention automatically, despite the importance of these facial signals for survival. Fearful faces produce a strong interference effect and are processed with higher priority than angry and disgusted ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuaixia Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Yihan Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Hui Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Bin Hao
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
| | - Wenbo Luo
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China; Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Province, Dalian, China.
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4
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Schmuck J, Voltz E, Gibbons H. You're Beautiful When You Smile: Event-Related Brain Potential (ERP) Evidence of Early Opposite-Gender Bias in Happy Faces. Brain Sci 2024; 14:739. [PMID: 39199434 PMCID: PMC11353154 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14080739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2024] [Revised: 07/18/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 09/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Studies of social cognition have shown gender differences regarding human face processing. One interesting finding is the enhanced processing of opposite-gender faces at different time stages, as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Crucially, from an evolutionary perspective, such a bias might interact with the emotional expression of the face. To investigate this, 100 participants (50 female, 50 male) completed an expression-detection task while their EEG was recorded. In three blocks, fearful, happy and neutral faces (female and male) were randomly presented, with participants instructed to respond to only one predefined target expression level in each block. Using linear mixed models, we observed both faster reaction times as well as larger P1 and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes for women compared to men, supporting a generally greater female interest in faces. Highly interestingly, the analysis revealed an opposite-gender bias at P1 for happy target faces. This suggests that participants' attentional templates may include more opposite-gender facial features when selectively attending to happy faces. While N170 was influenced by neither the face nor the participant gender, LPP was modulated by the face gender and specific combinations of the target status, face gender and expression, which is interpreted in the context of gender-emotion stereotypes. Future research should further investigate this expression and attention dependency of early opposite-gender biases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Henning Gibbons
- Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111 Bonn, Germany; (J.S.); (E.V.)
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5
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Li C, Xuan Y, Bruns P, Fu X. The role of arousal in the estimation of time-to-collision of threatening stimuli. Psych J 2024; 13:376-386. [PMID: 38655599 PMCID: PMC11169760 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
The accurate estimation of time-to-collision (TTC) is essential for the survival of organisms. Previous studies have revealed that the emotional properties of approaching stimuli can influence the estimation of TTC, indicating that approaching threatening stimuli are perceived to collide with the observers earlier than they actually do, and earlier than non-threatening stimuli. However, not only are threatening stimuli more negative in valence, but they also have higher arousal compared to non-threatening stimuli. Up to now, the effect of arousal on TTC estimation remains unclear. In addition, inconsistent findings may result from the different experimental settings employed in previous studies. To investigate whether the underestimation of TTC is attributed to threat or high arousal, three experiments with the same settings were conducted. In Experiment 1, the underestimation of TTC estimation of threatening stimuli was replicated when arousal was not controlled, in comparison to non-threatening stimuli. In Experiments 2 and 3, the underestimation effect of threatening stimuli disappeared when compared to positive stimuli with similar arousal. These findings suggest that being threatening alone is not sufficient to explain the underestimation effect, and arousal also plays a significant role in the TTC estimation of approaching stimuli. Further studies are required to validate the effect of arousal on TTC estimation, as no difference was observed in Experiment 3 between the estimated TTC of high and low arousal stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caiwen Li
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive ScienceInstitute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Yuming Xuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive ScienceInstitute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
| | - Patrick Bruns
- Biological Psychology and NeuropsychologyUniversity of HamburgHamburgGermany
| | - Xiaolan Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive ScienceInstitute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijingChina
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6
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Wynn JK, Clayson PE, Green MF, Jimenez A, Lee J, Reavis EA, Horan WP. Neurophysiological indices of face processing in people with psychosis and their siblings: An event-related potential study. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:1863-1876. [PMID: 37160716 PMCID: PMC10632544 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
People with schizophrenia experience difficulties with social interactions. One contributor to these social deficits is dysfunction in processing facial features and facial emotional expressions. However, it is not known whether face processing deficits are evident in those with other psychotic disorders or in those genetically at-risk for psychosis (i.e., first-degree relatives of those with psychosis). We assessed event-related potentials (ERPs) during a facial and emotion processing task in 100 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or another psychotic condition (PSY), 32 of their siblings (SIB) and 45 healthy comparison participants (CTL). In separate blocks, participants identified the sex (male or female) or emotion (happy, angry, neutral) of faces. In a comparison condition, participants indicated whether buildings had one or two floors. ERPs were examined in two stages. First, we compared ERPs across the emotion, sex and building identification conditions. Second, we compared ERPs among the three different facial emotions. PSY exhibited significantly lower amplitudes over parietal-occipital regions between 111 and 151 ms when viewing faces but not buildings than CTL, consistent with a face-selective N170 ERP component deficit. The SIB group was intermediate for faces, but not significantly different than PSY or CTL. During emotion identification, all three groups showed increased N170 amplitudes to angry and happy versus neutral expressions, with no group differences. In follow up analyses, we examined differences between PSY with or without affective psychosis, and differences between those with schizophrenia versus other psychotic disorders; there were no significant differences in these analyses. Face processing deficits assessed with ERPs were observed in a group of diverse psychotic disorders, though deficits were not seen to be modulated by facial emotion expression. Additionally, N170 deficits are not evident in siblings of those with PSY.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan K. Wynn
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Peter E. Clayson
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Department of Psychology, University of South Florida,
Tampa, FL
| | - Michael F. Green
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Amy Jimenez
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Junghee Lee
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Alabama,
Birmingham
| | - Eric A. Reavis
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
| | - William P. Horan
- VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles,
CA
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
- VeraSci, Durham, NC
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7
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Ziereis A, Schacht A. Validation of scrambling methods for vocal affect bursts. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:3089-3101. [PMID: 37673809 PMCID: PMC11133081 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02222-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/08/2023]
Abstract
Studies on perception and cognition require sound methods allowing us to disentangle the basic sensory processing of physical stimulus properties from the cognitive processing of stimulus meaning. Similar to the scrambling of images, the scrambling of auditory signals is aimed at creating stimulus instances that are unrecognizable but have comparable low-level features. In the present study, we generated scrambled stimuli of short vocalizations taken from the Montreal Affective Voices database (Belin et al., Behav Res Methods, 40(2):531-539, 2008) by applying four different scrambling methods (frequency-, phase-, and two time-scrambling transformations). The original stimuli and their scrambled versions were judged by 60 participants for the apparency of a human voice, gender, and valence of the expressions, or, if no human voice was detected, for the valence of the subjective response to the stimulus. The human-likeness ratings were reduced for all scrambled versions relative to the original stimuli, albeit to a lesser extent for phase-scrambled versions of neutral bursts. For phase-scrambled neutral bursts, valence ratings were equivalent to those of the original neutral burst. All other scrambled versions were rated as slightly unpleasant, indicating that they should be used with caution due to their potential aversiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Ziereis
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
| | - Anne Schacht
- Department for Cognition, Emotion and Behavior, Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
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8
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Luo X, Zhao D, Gao Y, Yang Z, Wang D, Mei G. Implicit weight bias: shared neural substrates for overweight and angry facial expressions revealed by cross-adaptation. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae128. [PMID: 38566513 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
The perception of facial expression plays a crucial role in social communication, and it is known to be influenced by various facial cues. Previous studies have reported both positive and negative biases toward overweight individuals. It is unclear whether facial cues, such as facial weight, bias facial expression perception. Combining psychophysics and event-related potential technology, the current study adopted a cross-adaptation paradigm to examine this issue. The psychophysical results of Experiments 1A and 1B revealed a bidirectional cross-adaptation effect between overweight and angry faces. Adapting to overweight faces decreased the likelihood of perceiving ambiguous emotional expressions as angry compared to adapting to normal-weight faces. Likewise, exposure to angry faces subsequently caused normal-weight faces to appear thinner. These findings were corroborated by bidirectional event-related potential results, showing that adaptation to overweight faces relative to normal-weight faces modulated the event-related potential responses of emotionally ambiguous facial expression (Experiment 2A); vice versa, adaptation to angry faces relative to neutral faces modulated the event-related potential responses of ambiguous faces in facial weight (Experiment 2B). Our study provides direct evidence associating overweight faces with facial expression, suggesting at least partly common neural substrates for the perception of overweight and angry faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xu Luo
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Huaxi University Town, Guian New District, Guiyang 550025China
| | - Danning Zhao
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Huaxi University Town, Guian New District, Guiyang 550025China
| | - Yi Gao
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 654 Cherry St NW, Atlanta, GA 30332, United States
| | - Zhihao Yang
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Huaxi University Town, Guian New District, Guiyang 550025China
| | - Da Wang
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Huaxi University Town, Guian New District, Guiyang 550025China
| | - Gaoxing Mei
- School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University, Huaxi University Town, Guian New District, Guiyang 550025China
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9
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Chen Y, Stephani T, Bagdasarian MT, Hilsmann A, Eisert P, Villringer A, Bosse S, Gaebler M, Nikulin VV. Realness of face images can be decoded from non-linear modulation of EEG responses. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5683. [PMID: 38454099 PMCID: PMC10920746 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56130-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Artificially created human faces play an increasingly important role in our digital world. However, the so-called uncanny valley effect may cause people to perceive highly, yet not perfectly human-like faces as eerie, bringing challenges to the interaction with virtual agents. At the same time, the neurocognitive underpinnings of the uncanny valley effect remain elusive. Here, we utilized an electroencephalography (EEG) dataset of steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) in which participants were presented with human face images of different stylization levels ranging from simplistic cartoons to actual photographs. Assessing neuronal responses both in frequency and time domain, we found a non-linear relationship between SSVEP amplitudes and stylization level, that is, the most stylized cartoon images and the real photographs evoked stronger responses than images with medium stylization. Moreover, realness of even highly similar stylization levels could be decoded from the EEG data with task-related component analysis (TRCA). Importantly, we also account for confounding factors, such as the size of the stimulus face's eyes, which previously have not been adequately addressed. Together, this study provides a basis for future research and neuronal benchmarking of real-time detection of face realness regarding three aspects: SSVEP-based neural markers, efficient classification methods, and low-level stimulus confounders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonghao Chen
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Tilman Stephani
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Anna Hilsmann
- Department of Vision and Imaging Technologies, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany
- Visual Computing Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Peter Eisert
- Department of Vision and Imaging Technologies, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany
- Visual Computing Group, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arno Villringer
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- MindBrainBody Institute at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sebastian Bosse
- Department of Vision and Imaging Technologies, Fraunhofer HHI, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Gaebler
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- MindBrainBody Institute at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Vadim V Nikulin
- Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
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10
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Santiago AF, Kosilo M, Cogoni C, Diogo V, Jerónimo R, Prata D. Oxytocin modulates neural activity during early perceptual salience attribution. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2024; 161:106950. [PMID: 38194846 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
Leading hypotheses of oxytocin's (OT) role in human cognition posit that it enhances salience attribution. However, whether OT exerts its effects predominantly in social (vs non-social) contexts remains debatable, and the time-course of intranasal OT's effects' on salience attribution processing is still unknown. We used the social Salience Attribution Task modified (sSAT) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled intranasal OT (inOT) administration, between-subjects design, with 54 male participants, to test existing theories of OT's role in cognition. Namely, we aimed to test whether inOT would differently affect salience attribution processing of social stimuli (expressing fearfulness) and non-social stimuli (fruits) made relevant via monetary reinforcement, and its neural processing time-course. During electroencephalography (EEG) recording, participants made speeded responses to emotional social (fearful faces) and non-emotional non-social (fruits) stimuli - which were matched for task-relevant motivational salience through their (color-dependent) probability of monetary reinforcement. InOT affected early (rather than late, P3b and LPP) EEG components, increasing N170 amplitude (p = .041) and P2b latency (p .001; albeit not of P1), regardless of stimuli's (emotional) socialness or reinforcement probability. Fear-related socialness affected salience attribution processing EEG (p .05) across time (N170, P2b and P3b), being later modulated by reinforcement probability (LPP). Our data suggest that OT's effects on neural activity during early perception, may exist irrespective of fear-related social- or reward-contexts. This partially supports the tri-phasic model of OT (which posits OT enhances salience attribution in an early perception stage regardless of socialness), and not the social salience nor the general approach-withdrawal hypotheses of OT, for early salience processing event-related potentials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreia F Santiago
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; William James Center for Research, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Maciej Kosilo
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Carlotta Cogoni
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Vasco Diogo
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS_Iscte, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Rita Jerónimo
- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL), CIS_Iscte, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Diana Prata
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.
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11
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Moses E, Nelson N, Taubert J, Pegna AJ. Oxytocin differentially modulates the early neural responses to faces and non-social stimuli. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae010. [PMID: 38372627 PMCID: PMC10876073 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2023] [Revised: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) alters social cognition partly through effects on the processing and appraisal of faces. It is debated whether the hormone also impacts the processing of other, non-social, visual stimuli. To this end, we conducted a randomized, counter-balanced, double-blind, placebo (PL)-controlled within-subjects' electro-encephalography (EEG) study with cismale participants (to control for gender dimorphic hormonal effects; n = 37). Participants received intranasal OT (24IU) and completed a one-back task viewing emotional (fearful/ happy) and neutral faces, and threat (snakes/spiders) and non-threat (mushrooms/flowers) non-social stimuli. OT differentially impacted event-related potentials (ERP)s to faces and non-social stimuli. For faces regardless of emotion, OT evoked greater occipital N1 and anterior P1 amplitudes at ∼155 ms than after PL, and lead to sustained differences over anterior, bilateral parietal and occipital sites from 205 ms onwards. For all non-social stimuli, OT evoked greater right parietal N1 amplitudes, and later only impacted threat stimuli over right parietal and occipital sites. None of these OT-induced modulations was related to individual anxiety levels. This pattern of results indicates that OT differentially modulates the processing of faces and non-social stimuli, and that the hormone's effect on visual processing and cognition does not occur as a function of non-clinical levels of anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Moses
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
| | - Nicole Nelson
- School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Jessica Taubert
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
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12
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Teng CL, Cong L, Wang W, Cheng S, Wu M, Dang WT, Jia M, Ma J, Xu J, Hu WD. Disrupted properties of functional brain networks in major depressive disorder during emotional face recognition: an EEG study via graph theory analysis. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1338765. [PMID: 38415279 PMCID: PMC10897049 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1338765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed abnormal brain networks in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) in emotional processing. While any cognitive task consists of a series of stages, little is yet known about the topology of functional brain networks in MDD for these stages during emotional face recognition. To address this problem, electroencephalography (EEG)-based functional brain networks of MDD patients at different stages of facial information processing were investigated in this study. First, EEG signals were collected from 16 patients with MDD and 18 age-, gender-, and education-matched normal subjects when performing an emotional face recognition task. Second, the global field power (GFP) method was employed to divide group-averaged event-related potentials into different stages. Third, using the phase transfer entropy (PTE) approach, the brain networks of MDD patients and normal individuals were constructed for each stage in negative and positive face processing, respectively. Finally, we compared the topological properties of brain networks of each stage between the two groups using graph theory approaches. The results showed that the analyzed three stages of emotional face processing corresponded to specific neurophysiological phases, namely, visual perception, face recognition, and emotional decision-making. It was also demonstrated that depressed patients showed abnormally decreased characteristic path length at the visual perception stage of negative face recognition and normalized characteristic path length in the stage of emotional decision-making during positive face processing compared to healthy subjects. Furthermore, while both the MDD and normal groups' brain networks were found to exhibit small-world network characteristics, the brain network of patients with depression tended to be randomized. Moreover, for patients with MDD, the centro-parietal region may lose its status as a hub in the process of facial expression identification. Together, our findings suggested that altered emotional function in MDD patients might be associated with disruptions in the topological organization of functional brain networks during emotional face recognition, which further deepened our understanding of the emotion processing dysfunction underlying MDD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Lin Teng
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Lin Cong
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wei Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shan Cheng
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min Wu
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Science, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wei-Tao Dang
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Min Jia
- Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jin Ma
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Jin Xu
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, Institute of Health and Rehabilitation Science, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wen-Dong Hu
- Department of Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
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13
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Yu Z, Moses E, Kritikos A, Pegna AJ. Looming Angry Faces: Preliminary Evidence of Differential Electrophysiological Dynamics for Filtered Stimuli via Low and High Spatial Frequencies. Brain Sci 2024; 14:98. [PMID: 38275518 PMCID: PMC10813450 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14010098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Looming motion interacts with threatening emotional cues in the initial stages of visual processing. However, the underlying neural networks are unclear. The current study investigated if the interactive effect of threat elicited by angry and looming faces is favoured by rapid, magnocellular neural pathways and if exogenous or endogenous attention influences such processing. Here, EEG/ERP techniques were used to explore the early ERP responses to moving emotional faces filtered for high spatial frequencies (HSF) and low spatial frequencies (LSF). Experiment 1 applied a passive-viewing paradigm, presenting filtered angry and neutral faces in static, approaching, or receding motions on a depth-cued background. In the second experiment, broadband faces (BSF) were included, and endogenous attention was directed to the expression of faces. Our main results showed that regardless of attentional control, P1 was enhanced by BSF angry faces, but neither HSF nor LSF faces drove the effect of facial expressions. Such findings indicate that looming motion and threatening expressions are integrated rapidly at the P1 level but that this processing relies neither on LSF nor on HSF information in isolation. The N170 was enhanced for BSF angry faces regardless of attention but was enhanced for LSF angry faces during passive viewing. These results suggest the involvement of a neural pathway reliant on LSF information at the N170 level. Taken together with previous reports from the literature, this may indicate the involvement of multiple parallel neural pathways during early visual processing of approaching emotional faces.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Alan J. Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; (Z.Y.); (E.M.); (A.K.)
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14
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Gu H, Du S, Jin P, Wang C, He H, Zhao M. The role of leadership level in college students' facial emotion recognition: evidence from event-related potential analysis. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:73. [PMID: 38117413 PMCID: PMC10733243 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00523-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
While the role of emotion in leadership practice is well-acknowledged, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the behavioral distinctions between individuals with varying levels of leadership and the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms at play. This study utilizes facial emotion recognition in conjunction with electroencephalograms to explore the temporal dynamics of facial emotion recognition processes among college students with high and low levels of leadership. The results showed no significant differences in the amplitude of P1 during the early stage of facial emotion recognition between the two groups. In the middle stage of facial emotion recognition, the main effect of group was significant on the N170 component, with higher N170 amplitude evoked in high-leadership students than low-leadership students. In the late stage of facial emotion recognition, low-leadership students evoked greater LPP amplitude in the temporal-parietal lobe when recognizing happy facial emotions compared to high-leadership students. In addition, time-frequency results revealed a difference in the alpha frequency band, with high-leadership students exhibiting lower alpha power than low-leadership students. The results suggest differences in the brain temporal courses of facial emotion recognition between students with different leadership levels, which are mainly manifested in the middle stage of structural encoding and the late stage of delicate emotional processing during facial emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huang Gu
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475000, China
| | - Shunshun Du
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475000, China
- Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
- Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China
| | - Peipei Jin
- School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China
| | - Chengming Wang
- Zhengzhou Polytechnic Vocational College, Zhengzhou, 451150, China
| | - Hui He
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475000, China
| | - Mingnan Zhao
- Tianjin University of Sport, Tianjin, 301617, China.
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15
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Itier RJ, Durston AJ. Mass-univariate analysis of scalp ERPs reveals large effects of gaze fixation location during face processing that only weakly interact with face emotional expression. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17022. [PMID: 37813928 PMCID: PMC10562468 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44355-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Decoding others' facial expressions is critical for social functioning. To clarify the neural correlates of expression perception depending on where we look on the face, three combined gaze-contingent ERP experiments were analyzed using robust mass-univariate statistics. Regardless of task, fixation location impacted face processing from 50 to 350 ms, maximally around 120 ms, reflecting retinotopic mapping around C2 and P1 components. Fixation location also impacted majorly the N170-P2 interval while weak effects were seen at the face-sensitive N170 peak. Results question the widespread assumption that faces are processed holistically into an indecomposable perceptual whole around the N170. Rather, face processing is a complex and view-dependent process that continues well beyond the N170. Expression and fixation location interacted weakly during the P1-N170 interval, supporting a role for the mouth and left eye in fearful and happy expression decoding. Expression effects were weakest at the N170 peak but strongest around P2, especially for fear, reflecting task-independent affective processing. Results suggest N170 reflects a transition between processes rather than the maximum of a holistic face processing stage. Focus on this peak should be replaced by data-driven analyses of the epoch using robust statistics to fully unravel the early visual processing of faces and their affective content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxane J Itier
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
| | - Amie J Durston
- Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
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16
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Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Beyond facial expressions: A systematic review on effects of emotional relevance of faces on the N170. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 153:105399. [PMID: 37734698 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2023] [Revised: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/17/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
The N170 is the most prominent electrophysiological signature of face processing. While facial expressions reliably modulate the N170, there is considerable variance in N170 modulations by other sources of emotional relevance. Therefore, we systematically review and discuss this research area using different methods to manipulate the emotional relevance of inherently neutral faces. These methods were categorized into (1) existing pre-experimental affective person knowledge (e.g., negative attitudes towards outgroup faces), (2) experimentally instructed affective person knowledge (e.g., negative person information), (3) contingency-based affective learning (e.g., fear-conditioning), or (4) the immediate affective context (e.g., emotional information directly preceding the face presentation). For all categories except the immediate affective context category, the majority of studies reported significantly increased N170 amplitudes depending on the emotional relevance of faces. Furthermore, the potentiated N170 was observed across different attention conditions, supporting the role of the emotional relevance of faces on the early prioritized processing of configural facial information, regardless of low-level differences. However, we identified several open research questions and suggest venues for further research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
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17
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Schmuck J, Schnuerch R, Kirsten H, Shivani V, Gibbons H. The influence of selective attention to specific emotions on the processing of faces as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14325. [PMID: 37162391 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Event-related potential studies using affective words have indicated that selective attention to valence can increase affective discrimination at early perceptual stages. This effect most likely relies on neural associations between perceptual features of a stimulus and its affective value. Similar to words, emotional expressions in human faces are linked to specific visual elements. Therefore, selectively attending to a given emotion should allow for the preactivation of neural networks coding for the emotion and associated first-order visual elements, leading to enhanced early processing of faces expressing the attended emotion. To investigate this, we employed an expression detection task (N = 65). Fearful, happy, and neutral faces were randomly presented in three blocks while participants were instructed to respond only to one predefined target level of expression in each block. Reaction times were the fastest for happy target faces, which was accompanied by an increased occipital P1 for happy compared with fearful faces. The N170 yielded an arousal effect (emotional > neutral) while both components were not modulated by target status. In contrast, the early posterior negativity (EPN) arousal effect tended to be larger for target compared with nontarget faces. The late positive potential (LPP) revealed large effects of status and expression as well as an interaction driven by an increased LPP specifically for nontarget fearful faces. These findings tentatively indicate that selective attention to facial affect may enhance early emotional processing (EPN) even though further research is needed. Moreover, late controlled processing of facial emotions appears to involve a negativity bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Schmuck
- Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | | | - Hannah Kirsten
- Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
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18
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Eiserbeck A, Maier M, Baum J, Abdel Rahman R. Deepfake smiles matter less-the psychological and neural impact of presumed AI-generated faces. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16111. [PMID: 37752242 PMCID: PMC10522659 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-42802-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
High-quality AI-generated portraits ("deepfakes") are becoming increasingly prevalent. Understanding the responses they evoke in perceivers is crucial in assessing their societal implications. Here we investigate the impact of the belief that depicted persons are real or deepfakes on psychological and neural measures of human face perception. Using EEG, we tracked participants' (N = 30) brain responses to real faces showing positive, neutral, and negative expressions, after being informed that they are either real or fake. Smiling faces marked as fake appeared less positive, as reflected in expression ratings, and induced slower evaluations. Whereas presumed real smiles elicited canonical emotion effects with differences relative to neutral faces in the P1 and N170 components (markers of early visual perception) and in the EPN component (indicative of reflexive emotional processing), presumed deepfake smiles showed none of these effects. Additionally, only smiles presumed as fake showed enhanced LPP activity compared to neutral faces, suggesting more effortful evaluation. Negative expressions induced typical emotion effects, whether considered real or fake. Our findings demonstrate a dampening effect on perceptual, emotional, and evaluative processing of presumed deepfake smiles, but not angry expressions, adding new specificity to the debate on the societal impact of AI-generated content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Eiserbeck
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
- Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Martin Maier
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany.
- Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Julia Baum
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rasha Abdel Rahman
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany
- Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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19
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Huang J, Yang L, Li K, Li Y, Dai L, Wang T. Reduced attentional inhibition for peripheral distractors of angry faces under central perceptual load in deaf individuals: evidence from an event-related potentials study. Front Hum Neurosci 2023; 17:1162488. [PMID: 37662637 PMCID: PMC10469715 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1162488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Studies have shown that deaf individuals distribute more attention to the peripheral visual field and exhibit enhanced visual processing for peripheral stimuli relative to hearing individuals. This leads to better detection of peripheral target motion and simple static stimuli in hearing individuals. However, when threatening faces that represent dangerous signals appear as non-targets in the periphery, it remains unclear whether deaf individuals would retain an advantage over hearing individuals in detecting them. Methods In this study, 23 deaf and 28 hearing college students were included. A modified perceptual load paradigm and event-related potentials (ERPs) were adopted. In the task, participants were instructed to search for a target letter in a central letter array, while task-irrelevant face distractors (happy, neutral, and angry faces) were simultaneously presented in the periphery while the central perceptual load was manipulated. Results Behavioral data showed that angry faces slowed deaf participants' responses to the target while facilitating the responses of hearing participants. At the electrophysiological level, we found modulation of P1 amplitude by central load only in hearing individuals. Interestingly, larger interference from angry face distractors was associated with higher P1 differential amplitude only in deaf individuals. Additionally, the amplitude of N170 for happy face distractors was smaller than that for angry and neutral face distractors in deaf participants. Conclusion The present data demonstrates that, despite being under central perceptual load, deaf individuals exhibit less attentional inhibition to peripheral, goal-irrelevant angry faces than hearing individuals. The result may reflect a compensatory mechanism in which, in the absence of auditory alertness to danger, the detection of visually threatening information outside of the current attentional focus has a high priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Huang
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Psychological Diagnosis and Education Technology for Children With Special Needs, Chongqing, China
| | - Linhui Yang
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Changsha Special Education School, Changsha, China
| | - Kuiliang Li
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Psychological Diagnosis and Education Technology for Children With Special Needs, Chongqing, China
| | - Yaling Li
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Psychological Diagnosis and Education Technology for Children With Special Needs, Chongqing, China
| | - Lan Dai
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Banan Special Education School, Chongqing, China
| | - Tao Wang
- School of Education Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Chongqing Key Laboratory of Psychological Diagnosis and Education Technology for Children With Special Needs, Chongqing, China
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20
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Qiu Z, Becker SI, Xia H, Hamblin-Frohman Z, Pegna AJ. Fixation-related electrical potentials during a free visual search task reveal the timing of visual awareness. iScience 2023; 26:107148. [PMID: 37408689 PMCID: PMC10319232 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
It has been repeatedly claimed that emotional faces readily capture attention, and that they may be processed without awareness. Yet some observations cast doubt on these assertions. Part of the problem may lie in the experimental paradigms employed. Here, we used a free viewing visual search task during electroencephalographic recordings, where participants searched for either fearful or neutral facial expressions among distractor expressions. Fixation-related potentials were computed for fearful and neutral targets and the response compared for stimuli consciously reported or not. We showed that awareness was associated with an electrophysiological negativity starting at around 110 ms, while emotional expressions were distinguished on the N170 and early posterior negativity only when stimuli were consciously reported. These results suggest that during unconstrained visual search, the earliest electrical correlate of awareness may emerge as early as 110 ms, and fixating at an emotional face without reporting it may not produce any unconscious processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zeguo Qiu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Stefanie I. Becker
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Hongfeng Xia
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | | | - Alan J. Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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21
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Brockhoff L, Elias EA, Bruchmann M, Schindler S, Moeck R, Straube T. The effects of visual perceptual load on detection performance and event-related potentials to auditory stimuli. Neuroimage 2023; 273:120080. [PMID: 37011716 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Load Theory states that perceptual load prevents, or at least reduces, the processing of task-unrelated stimuli. This study systematically examined the detection and neural processing of auditory stimuli unrelated to a visual foreground task. The visual task was designed to create continuous perceptual load, alternated between low and high load, and contained performance feedback to motivate participants to focus on the visual task instead of the auditory stimuli presented in the background. The auditory stimuli varied in intensity, and participants signaled their subjective perception of these stimuli without receiving feedback. Depending on stimulus intensity, we observed load effects on detection performance and P3 amplitudes of the event-related potential (ERP). N1 amplitudes were unaffected by perceptual load, as tested by Bayesian statistics. Findings suggest that visual perceptual load affects the processing of auditory stimuli in a late time window, which is associated with a lower probability of reported awareness of these stimuli.
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22
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Bruchmann M, Mertens L, Schindler S, Straube T. Potentiated early neural responses to fearful faces are not driven by specific face parts. Sci Rep 2023; 13:4613. [PMID: 36944705 PMCID: PMC10030637 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31752-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Prioritized processing of fearful compared to neutral faces is reflected in increased amplitudes of components of the event-related potential (ERP). It is unknown whether specific face parts drive these modulations. Here, we investigated the contributions of face parts on ERPs to task-irrelevant fearful and neutral faces using an ERP-dependent facial decoding technique and a large sample of participants (N = 83). Classical ERP analyses showed typical and robust increases of N170 and EPN amplitudes by fearful relative to neutral faces. Facial decoding further showed that the absolute amplitude of these components, as well as the P1, was driven by the low-frequency contrast of specific face parts. However, the difference between fearful and neutral faces was not driven by any specific face part, as supported by Bayesian statistics. Furthermore, there were no correlations between trait anxiety and main effects or interactions. These results suggest that increased N170 and EPN amplitudes to task-irrelevant fearful compared to neutral faces are not driven by specific facial regions but represent a holistic face processing effect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany.
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.
| | - Léa Mertens
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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23
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Brockhoff L, Vetter L, Bruchmann M, Schindler S, Moeck R, Straube T. The effects of visual working memory load on detection and neural processing of task-unrelated auditory stimuli. Sci Rep 2023; 13:4342. [PMID: 36927846 PMCID: PMC10020478 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-31132-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
While perceptual load has been proposed to reduce the processing of task-unrelated stimuli, theoretical arguments and empirical findings for other forms of task load are inconclusive. Here, we systematically investigated the detection and neural processing of auditory stimuli varying in stimulus intensity during a stimuli-unrelated visual working memory task alternating between low and high load. We found, depending on stimulus strength, decreased stimulus detection and reduced P3, but unaffected N1 amplitudes of the event-related potential to auditory stimuli under high as compared to low load. In contrast, load independent awareness effects were observed during both early (N1) and late (P3) time windows. Findings suggest a late neural effect of visual working memory load on auditory stimuli leading to lower probability of reported awareness of these stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Brockhoff
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany.
| | - Laura Vetter
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Robert Moeck
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Von-Esmarch-Str. 52, 48149, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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24
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Li X, Vuoriainen E, Xu Q, Astikainen P. The effect of sad mood on early sensory event-related potentials to task-irrelevant faces. Biol Psychol 2023; 178:108531. [PMID: 36871812 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2023.108531] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Abstract
It has been shown that the perceiver's mood affects the perception of emotional faces, but it is not known how mood affects preattentive brain responses to emotional facial expressions. To examine the question, we experimentally induced sad and neutral mood in healthy adults before presenting them with task-irrelevant pictures of faces while an electroencephalography was recorded. Sad, happy, and neutral faces were presented to the participants in an ignore oddball condition. Differential responses (emotional - neutral) for the P1, N170, and P2 amplitudes were extracted and compared between neutral and sad mood conditions. Emotional facial expressions modulated all the components, and an interaction effect of expression by mood was found for P1: an emotional modulation to happy faces, which was found in neutral mood condition, disappeared in sad mood condition. For N170 and P2, we found larger response amplitudes for both emotional faces, regardless of the mood. The results add to the previous behavioral findings showing that mood already affects low-level cortical feature encoding of task-irrelevant faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueqiao Li
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - Elisa Vuoriainen
- Human Information Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Social Sciences / Psychology, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
| | - Qianru Xu
- Center for Machine Vision and Signal Analysis, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
| | - Piia Astikainen
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research, Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
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25
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Vormbrock R, Bruchmann M, Menne L, Straube T, Schindler S. Testing stimulus exposure time as the critical factor of increased EPN and LPP amplitudes for fearful faces during perceptual distraction tasks. Cortex 2023; 160:9-23. [PMID: 36680924 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 12/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Fearful facial expressions are prioritized across different information processing stages, as evident in early, intermediate, and late components of event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Recent studies showed that, in contrast to early N170 modulations, mid-latency (Early Posterior Negativity, EPN) and late (Late Positive Potential, LPP) emotional modulations depend on the attended perceptual feature. Nevertheless, several studies reported significant differences between emotional and neutral faces for the EPN or LPP components during distraction tasks. One cause for these conflicting findings might be that when faces are presented sufficiently long, participants attend to task-irrelevant features of the faces. In this registered report, we tested whether the presentation duration of faces is the critical factor for differences between reported emotional modulations during perceptual distraction tasks. To this end, 48 participants were required to discriminate the orientation of lines overlaid onto fearful or neutral faces, while face presentation varied (100 msec, 300 msec, 1,000 msec, 2,000 msec). While participants did not need to pay attention to the faces, we observed main effects of emotion for the EPN and LPP, but no interaction between emotion and presentation duration. Of note, unregistered exploratory tests per presentation duration showed no significant EPN and LPP emotion differences during short durations (100 and 300 msec) but significant differences with longer durations. While the presentation duration seems not to be a critical factor for EPN and LPP emotion effects, future studies are needed to investigate the role of threshold effects and the applied analytic designs to explain conflicting findings in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ria Vormbrock
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Lucas Menne
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
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26
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Chen Z, Qin Y, Peng M, Zhao W, Shi X, Lai D, Yin E, Yan Y, Yao D, Liu T. Event-related potential patterns of selective attention modulated by perceptual load. Brain Behav 2023; 13:e2907. [PMID: 36786695 PMCID: PMC10013938 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.2907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION A high perceptual load can effectively prevent attention from being drawn to irrelevant stimuli; however, the neural pattern underlying this process remains unclear. METHODS This study adopted a perceptual load paradigm to examine the temporal processes of attentional modulation by incorporating conditions of perceptual load, distractor-target compatibility, and eccentricity. RESULTS The behavioral results showed that a high perceptual load significantly reduced attentional distraction caused by peripheral distractors. The event-related potential results further revealed that shorter P2 latencies were observed for peripheral distractors than for central distractors under a high perceptual load and that a suppressed compatibility effect with increasing load was reflected by the P3 component. CONCLUSION These findings suggested that (1) P2 and P3 components effectively captured different sides of attentional processing modulated by load (i.e., the filter processing of the object and the overall attentional resource allocation) and (2) response patterns of selective attention modulated by perceptual load were influenced by eccentricity. Our electrophysiological evidence confirmed the behavioral findings, indicating the neural mechanisms of attentional modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo Chen
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Yun Qin
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.,Sichuan Institute for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Chengdu, China
| | - Maoqin Peng
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Wei Zhao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Xuqian Shi
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Danwei Lai
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Erwei Yin
- The Defense Innovation Institute, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Ye Yan
- The Defense Innovation Institute, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Dezhong Yao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.,Sichuan Institute for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Chengdu, China
| | - Tiejun Liu
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Lab for Neuroinformation, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.,Sichuan Institute for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Chengdu, China
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27
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Yu Z, Kritikos A, Pegna AJ. Up close and emotional: Electrophysiological dynamics of approaching angry faces. Biol Psychol 2023; 176:108479. [PMID: 36566011 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that looming emotional faces are processed rapidly by the neural system, and that this apparent approach further interacts with emotion, causing an enhanced neural response for angry expressions. However, previous research has not demonstrated unequivocally if these effects are due to low-level visual features, or if they are indeed due to the emotional content of the stimuli. To address this question, the current study presented upright and inverted angry and neutral faces, which either expanded or contracted in size on a constant depth-cued background, such that they appeared to approach or retreat from the viewer. EEG/ERP measures were used to identify the time course of brain activity for these stimuli. The results showed that when faces were upright, both the P1 and N170 were enhanced for angry expressions, with the P1 being further increased with looming angry faces. The inversion of the faces caused an increase in both the P1 and N170 amplitudes, but no modulation was found for emotions. These findings show an early modulation of brain activity for upright looming angry faces and rule out the influence of low-level visual features as a contributing factor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhou Yu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia.
| | - Ada Kritikos
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia.
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28
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Nagornova ZV, Shemyakina NV. Impact of Competitive Conditions on Amplitudes of Event-Related Potentials during Verbal Creative and Noncreative Task Performance. J EVOL BIOCHEM PHYS+ 2023. [DOI: 10.1134/s0022093023010039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/15/2023]
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29
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Jacques C, Caharel S. The time course of categorical perception of facial expressions. Neuropsychologia 2022; 177:108424. [PMID: 36400243 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2021] [Revised: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Decoding emotions on others' faces is one of the most important functions of the human brain, which has been widely studied in cognitive neuroscience. However, the precise time course of facial expression categorization in the human brain is still a matter of debate. Here we used an original paradigm to measure categorical perception of facial expression changes during event-related potentials (ERPs) recording, in which a face stimulus dynamically switched either to a different expression (between-category condition) or to the same expression (within-category condition), the physical distance between the two successive faces being equal across conditions. The switch between faces generated a negative differential potential peaking at around 160 ms over occipito-temporal regions, similar in term of latency and topography to the well-known face-selective N170 component. This response was larger in the condition where the switch occurred between faces that were perceived as having different facial expressions compared to the same expression. In addition, happy expressions were categorized around 20 ms faster than fearful expressions (respectively, 135 and 156 ms). These findings provide evidence that changes of facial expressions are categorically perceived as early as 160 ms following stimulus onset over the occipito-temporal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corentin Jacques
- Université Catholique de Louvain, Psychological Science Research Institute (IPSY), Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
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30
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Li S, Li Y, Liu S, He W, Luo W. Emotional Valence in the Eye Region Modulates the Attentional Blink in a Task-Dependent Manner: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12121665. [PMID: 36552125 PMCID: PMC9775517 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12121665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Although emotional expressions conveyed by the eye regions are processed efficiently, little is known regarding the relationship between emotional processing of isolated eye regions and temporal attention. In this study, we conducted three rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiments with varying task demands (emotion discrimination, eye detection, eyes ignored) related to the first target (T1) to investigate how the perception of emotional valence in the eye region (T1: happy, neutral, fearful) impacts the identification of a second target (T2: neutral houses). Event-related potential (ERP) findings indicated that fearful stimuli reliably increased N170 amplitude regardless of the emotional relevance of task demands. The P3 component exhibited enhanced responses to happy and fearful stimuli in the emotion discrimination task and to happy eye regions in the eye detection task. Analysis of T2-related ERPs within the attentional blink period revealed that T2 houses preceded by fearful and happy stimuli elicited larger N2 and P3 amplitudes than those preceded by neutral stimuli only in the emotion discrimination task. Together, these findings indicate that attention to affective content conveyed by the eyes can not only amplify the perceptual analysis of emotional eye regions but also facilitate the processing of a subsequent target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuaixia Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Yiwen Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Shuaicheng Liu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Weiqi He
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, China
- Correspondence:
| | - Wenbo Luo
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian 116029, China
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31
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Impact of face outline, parafoveal feature number and feature type on early face perception in a gaze-contingent paradigm: A mass-univariate re-analysis of ERP data. NEUROIMAGE: REPORTS 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ynirp.2022.100148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/07/2022]
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32
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No trait anxiety influences on early and late differential neuronal responses to aversively conditioned faces across three different tasks. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1157-1171. [PMID: 35352267 PMCID: PMC9458573 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-00998-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe human brain's ability to quickly detect dangerous stimuli is crucial in selecting appropriate responses to possible threats. Trait anxiety has been suggested to moderate these processes on certain processing stages. To dissociate such different information-processing stages, research using classical conditioning has begun to examine event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to fear-conditioned (CS +) faces. However, the impact of trait anxiety on ERPs to fear-conditioned faces depending on specific task conditions is unknown. In this preregistered study, we measured ERPs to faces paired with aversive loud screams (CS +) or neutral sounds (CS −) in a large sample (N = 80) under three different task conditions. Participants had to discriminate face-irrelevant perceptual information, the gender of the faces, or the CS category. Results showed larger amplitudes in response to aversively conditioned faces for all examined ERPs, whereas interactions with the attended feature occurred for the P1 and the early posterior negativity (EPN). For the P1, larger CS + effects were observed during the perceptual distraction task, while the EPN was increased for CS + faces when deciding about the CS association. Remarkably, we found no significant correlations between ERPs and trait anxiety. Thus, fear-conditioning potentiates all ERP amplitudes, some processing stages being further modulated by the task. However, the finding that these ERP differences were not affected by individual differences in trait anxiety does not support theoretical accounts assuming increased threat processing or reduced threat discrimination depending on trait anxiety.
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33
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Influence of affective verbal context on emotional facial expression perception of social anxiety. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 181:141-149. [PMID: 36108800 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that the perception of ambiguous facial expressions for individuals with social anxiety was influenced by the affective verbal context. However, it is still unknown how emotional facial expressions are perceived by individuals with social anxiety in the context of the verbal context. In this study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) technology to examine how individuals with social anxiety perceive emotional facial expressions in positive and negative contexts. The results showed that: (1) Within the negative verbal contexts, the amplitude of P1 induced by facial expressions in the social anxiety group was significantly higher than that induced by the healthy control group; The N170 amplitude induced by facial expressions in social anxiety group was less negative than that in the healthy control group, and was not affected by the context. (2) The social anxiety group had significantly higher LPP in negative contexts elicited by angry expressions than by happy expressions. This study proved that the perception of emotional facial expressions was influenced by top-down information in the early and late stages of visual perception for individuals with social anxiety.
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34
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Li S, Ding R, Zhao D, Zhou X, Zhan B, Luo W. Processing of emotions expressed through eye regions attenuates attentional blink. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 182:1-11. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2021] [Revised: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
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35
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Miki K, Takeshima Y, Kida T, Kakigi R. The ERP and psychophysical changes related to facial emotion perception by expertise in Japanese hospitality, "OMOTENASHI". Sci Rep 2022; 12:9089. [PMID: 35701462 PMCID: PMC9197832 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11905-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the emotion perception process based on hospitality expertise. Forty subjects were divided into the OMOTENASHI group working at inns considered to represent the spirit of hospitality, OMOTENASHI in Japan, and CONTROL group without experience in the hospitality industry. We presented neutral, happy, and angry faces to investigate P100 and N170 by these faces, and psychophysical changes by the favor rating test to evaluate emotional perception. In the favor rating test, the score was significantly smaller (less favorable) in OMOTENASHI than in CONTROL. Regarding event-related potential components, the maximum amplitude of P100 was significantly larger for a neutral face at the right occipital electrode in OMOTENASHI than in CONTROL, and it was significantly larger for an angry face at both occipital electrodes in OMOTENASHI than in CONTROL. However, the peak latency and maximum amplitude of N170 were not significantly different between OMOTENASHI and CONTROL at both temporal electrodes for each emotion condition. Differences on the favor rating test and P100 in OMOTENASHI suggested that workers at inns may more quickly notice and be more sensitive to the facial emotion of guests due to hospitality training, and/or that hospitality expertise may increase attention to emotion by top-down and/or bottom-up processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kensaku Miki
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan. .,Integrative Physiology, College of Nursing, Aichi Medical University, 1-1 Yazakokarimata, Nagakute, Aichi, 480-1195, Japan. .,School of Nursing, Japanese Red Cross Toyota College of Nursing, Toyota, Aichi, Japan.
| | - Yasuyuki Takeshima
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Kida
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan.,Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, Kaugai, Aichi, Japan
| | - Ryusuke Kakigi
- Department of Integrative Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
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36
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Schindler S, Richter TS, Bruchmann M, Busch NA, Straube T. Effects of task load, spatial attention, and trait anxiety on neuronal responses to fearful and neutral faces. Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e14114. [PMID: 35652518 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2021] [Revised: 04/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
There is an ongoing debate on how different components of the event-related potential (ERP) to threat-related facial expressions are modulated by attentional conditions and interindividual differences in trait anxiety. In the current study (N = 80), we examined ERPs to centrally presented, task-irrelevant fearful and neutral faces, while participants had to solve a face-unrelated visual task, which differed in difficulty and spatial position. Critically, we used a fixation-controlled experimental design and ensured the spatial attention manipulation by spectral analysis of the EEG. Besides the factors emotion, spatial attention, and perceptual load, we also investigated correlations between trait anxiety and ERPs. While P1 emotion effects were insignificant, the N170 was increased to fearful faces regardless of load and spatial attention conditions. During the EPN time window, a significantly increased negativity for fearful faces was observed only during low load and spatial attention to the face. We found no significant relationship between ERPs and trait anxiety, questioning the hypothesis of a general hypersensitivity toward fearful expressions in anxious individuals. These results show a high resistance of the N170 amplitude increase for fearful faces to spatial attention and task load manipulations. By contrast, the EPN modulation by fearful faces index a resource-dependent stage of the ERP, requiring both spatial attention at the location of faces and low load of the face-irrelevant task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Theresa Sofie Richter
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Niko A Busch
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Institute of Psychology, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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37
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Naumann S, Bayer M, Dziobek I. Preschoolers' Sensitivity to Negative and Positive Emotional Facial Expressions: An ERP Study. Front Psychol 2022; 13:828066. [PMID: 35712205 PMCID: PMC9197498 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.828066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The study examined processing differences for facial expressions (happy, angry, or neutral) and their repetition with early (P1, N170) and late (P3) event-related potentials (ERPs) in young children (N = 33). EEG was recorded while children observed sequentially presented pairs of facial expressions, which were either the same (repeated trials) or differed in their emotion (novel trials). We also correlated ERP amplitude differences with parental and child measures of socio-emotional competence (emotion recognition, empathy). P1 amplitudes were increased for angry and happy as compared to neutral expressions. We also detected larger P3 amplitudes for angry expressions as compared to happy or neutral expressions. Repetition effects were evident at early and late processing stages marked by reduced P1 amplitudes for repeated vs. novel happy expressions, but enhanced P3 amplitudes for repeated vs. novel facial expressions. N170 amplitudes were neither modulated by facial expressions nor their repetition. None of the repetition effects were associated with measures of socio-emotional competence. Taken together, negative facial expressions led to increased neural activations in early and later processing stages, indicative of enhanced saliency to potential threating stimuli in young children. Processing of repeated facial expression seem to be differential for early and late neural stages: Reduced activation was detected at early neural processing stages particularly for happy faces, indicative of effective processing for an emotion, which is most familiar within this age range. Contrary to our hypothesis, enhanced activity for repeated vs. novel expression independent of a particular emotion were detected at later processing stages, which may be linked to the creation of new memory traces. Early and late repetition effects are discussed in light of developmental and perceptual differences as well as task-specific load.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Naumann
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mareike Bayer
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Isabel Dziobek
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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38
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Yu Z, Kritikos A, Pegna AJ. Enhanced early ERP responses to looming angry faces. Biol Psychol 2022; 170:108308. [PMID: 35271956 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Although the brain is known to process threatening emotional stimuli and looming motion rapidly, little is known about how the emotion and motion interact. To address this question, two experiments were carried out which presented angry and neutral emotional faces on a depth-cued background that induced the perception of distance, or a non-cued background. Furthermore, faces either expanded or contracted in size such that they appeared to approach or recede from the viewer. EEG/ERP measures were used to identify the time course of brain activity for these looming and receding, angry and neutral emotional faces. The results of both experiments revealed that the P1 was enhanced by looming angry faces on the depth-cued background, compared to neutral approaching faces, as well as all receding faces, indicating an early interaction of emotion and motion within 100 ms of presentation. Angry expressions were also found to enhance the N170 regardless of movement. These findings suggest that processing of threat and looming motion interact at the very early stages of visual processing. Furthermore, as the modulating effect of looming motion on angry expressions only arose on the depth-cued background, the findings highlight the importance of approaching movements rather than sole increases in the retinal size of the stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhou Yu
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia
| | - Ada Kritikos
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia
| | - Alan J Pegna
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia.
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39
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Feature-based attention interacts with emotional picture content during mid-latency and late ERP processing stages. Biol Psychol 2022; 170:108310. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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40
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Brockhoff L, Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Effects of perceptual and working memory load on brain responses to task-irrelevant stimuli: Review and implications for future research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 135:104580. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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41
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Bruchmann M, Schindler S, Dinyarian M, Straube T. The role of phase and orientation for ERP modulations of spectrum-manipulated fearful and neutral faces. Psychophysiology 2021; 59:e13974. [PMID: 34792184 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Prioritized processing of fearful compared to neutral faces has been proposed to result from evolutionary adaptation of the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) to the features of emotionally relevant faces and/or vice versa. However, it is unknown whether a stimulus merely has to feature the amplitude spectrum of a fearful face to be prioritized or whether the relevant spatial frequencies have to occur with specific phases and orientations. Prioritized processing is indexed by specific increases of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) of the EEG and occurs throughout different early processing stages, indexed by emotion-related modulations of the P1, N170, and EPN. In this pre-registered study, we manipulated phase and amplitude properties of the Fourier spectra of neutral and fearful faces to test the effect of phase coherence (PC, face vs. scramble) and orientation coherence (OC, original vs. rotational average) and their interactions with differential emotion processing. We found that differential emotion processing was not present at the level of P1 but strongly affected N170 and EPN. In both cases, intact phase coherence was required for enhanced processing of fearful faces. OC did not interact with emotion. While faces produced the typical N170 effect, we observed a reversed effect for scrambles. Additional exploratory independent component analysis (ICA) suggests that this reversal could signal a mismatch between an early "perceptual hypothesis" and feedback of configural information. In line with our expectations, fearful-neutral differences for the N170 and EPN depend on configural information, i.e., recognizable faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Mandana Dinyarian
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
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42
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Schindler S, Busch N, Bruchmann M, Wolf MI, Straube T. Early ERP functions are indexed by lateralized effects to peripherally presented emotional faces and scrambles. Psychophysiology 2021; 59:e13959. [PMID: 34687461 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A large body of research suggests that early event-related potentials (ERPs), such as the P1 and N1, are potentiated by attention and represent stimulus amplification. However, recent accounts suggest that the P1 is associated with inhibiting the irrelevant visual field evidenced by a pronounced ipsilateral P1 during sustained attention to peripherally presented stimuli. The current EEG study further investigated this issue to reveal how lateralized ERP findings are modulated by face and emotional information. Therefore, participants were asked to fixate the center of the screen and pay sustained attention either to the right or left visual field, where angry or neutral faces or their Fourier phase-scrambled versions were presented. We found a bilateral P1 to all stimuli with relatively increased, but delayed, ipsilateral P1 amplitudes to faces but not to scrambles. Explorative independent component analyses dissociated an earlier lateralized larger contralateral P1 from a later bilateral P1. By contrast, the N170 showed a contralateral enhancement to all stimuli, which was most pronounced for neutral faces attended in the left hemifield. Finally, increased contralateral alpha power was found for both attended hemifields but was not significantly related to poststimulus ERPs. These results provide evidence against a general inhibitory role of the P1 but suggest stimulus-specific relative enhancements of the ipsilateral P1 for the irrelevant visual hemifield. The lateralized N170, however, is associated with stimulus amplification as a function of facial features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Niko Busch
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Institute of Psychology, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maren-Isabel Wolf
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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43
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Wolf MI, Bruchmann M, Pourtois G, Schindler S, Straube T. Top-Down Modulation of Early Visual Processing in V1: Dissociable Neurophysiological Effects of Spatial Attention, Attentional Load and Task-Relevance. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:2112-2128. [PMID: 34607356 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 08/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Until today, there is an ongoing discussion if attention processes interact with the information processing stream already at the level of the C1, the earliest visual electrophysiological response of the cortex. We used two highly powered experiments (each N = 52) and examined the effects of task relevance, spatial attention, and attentional load on individual C1 amplitudes for the upper or lower visual hemifield. Bayesian models revealed evidence for the absence of load effects but substantial modulations by task-relevance and spatial attention. When the C1-eliciting stimulus was a task-irrelevant, interfering distracter, we observed increased C1 amplitudes for spatially unattended stimuli. For spatially attended stimuli, different effects of task-relevance for the two experiments were found. Follow-up exploratory single-trial analyses revealed that subtle but systematic deviations from the eye-gaze position at stimulus onset between conditions substantially influenced the effects of attention and task relevance on C1 amplitudes, especially for the upper visual field. For the subsequent P1 component, attentional modulations were clearly expressed and remained unaffected by these deviations. Collectively, these results suggest that spatial attention, unlike load or task relevance, can exert dissociable top-down modulatory effects at the C1 and P1 levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maren-Isabel Wolf
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University Ghent, Belgium.,Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Gilles Pourtois
- Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University Ghent, Belgium
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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44
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Schindler S, Gutewort L, Bruchmann M, Moeck R, Straube T. Nonlinear Effects of Linearly Increasing Perceptual Load on ERPs to Emotional Pictures. Cereb Cortex Commun 2021; 1:tgaa040. [PMID: 34296109 PMCID: PMC8153054 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The prioritized processing of emotional as compared to neutral stimuli is reflected in enlarged event-related potentials (ERPs). However, perceptual load theory proposes that under conditions of high perceptual load, information processing is attenuated or abolished. The parametrical effects of load on ERPs to emotional pictures are unknown. To shed light on this question, the current preregistered ERP study (N = 30) systematically investigated the effects of load on ERPs to task-irrelevant negative, neutral, and positive pictures. Crucially, while perceptual input was held constant, perceptual load was systematically manipulated so that it increased linearly across 4 load levels, which was evident in behavioral data. In contrast, load effects on ERP differences between emotional and neutral stimuli did not follow a linear function. For the N1, early posterior negativity and late positive potential, a nonlinear function with reversed emotion effects at the third load level provided the best fit. These findings do not only show that perceptual load attenuates emotional picture processing but also suggest that active processes are initiated to reduce distraction by emotional information. Moreover, these effects of perceptual load on emotional ERP components appear to deviate from theoretically expected functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster D-48149, Germany
| | - Laura Gutewort
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster D-48149, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster D-48149, Germany
| | - Robert Moeck
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster D-48149, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Münster D-48149, Germany
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45
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Maffei A, Goertzen J, Jaspers-Fayer F, Kleffner K, Sessa P, Liotti M. Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Covert Versus Overt Processing of Happy, Fearful and Sad Facial Expressions. Brain Sci 2021; 11:942. [PMID: 34356176 PMCID: PMC8329921 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11070942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 07/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of the influence of task demands on the processing of happy, sad, and fearful expressions were investigated in a within-subjects study that compared a perceptual distraction condition with task-irrelevant faces (e.g., covert emotion task) to an emotion task-relevant categorization condition (e.g., overt emotion task). A state-of-the-art non-parametric mass univariate analysis method was used to address the limitations of previous studies. Behaviorally, participants responded faster to overtly categorized happy faces and were slower and less accurate to categorize sad and fearful faces; there were no behavioral differences in the covert task. Event-related potential (ERP) responses to the emotional expressions included the N170 (140-180 ms), which was enhanced by emotion irrespective of task, with happy and sad expressions eliciting greater amplitudes than neutral expressions. EPN (200-400 ms) amplitude was modulated by task, with greater voltages in the overt condition, and by emotion, however, there was no interaction of emotion and task. ERP activity was modulated by emotion as a function of task only at a late processing stage, which included the LPP (500-800 ms), with fearful and sad faces showing greater amplitude enhancements than happy faces. This study reveals that affective content does not necessarily require attention in the early stages of face processing, supporting recent evidence that the core and extended parts of the face processing system act in parallel, rather than serially. The role of voluntary attention starts at an intermediate stage, and fully modulates the response to emotional content in the final stage of processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Maffei
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Jennifer Goertzen
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Fern Jaspers-Fayer
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Killian Kleffner
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
| | - Paola Sessa
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
| | - Mario Liotti
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; (A.M.); (P.S.)
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Via Orus 2/B, 35129 Padova, Italy
- Laboratory of Affective and Developmental Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A1S6, Canada; (J.G.); (F.J.-F.); (K.K.)
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46
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Bruchmann M, Schindler S, Heinemann J, Moeck R, Straube T. Increased early and late neuronal responses to aversively conditioned faces across different attentional conditions. Cortex 2021; 142:332-341. [PMID: 34343902 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 05/26/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Faces with emotional information-by virtue of their expression or their history of affective learning-are prioritized during neuronal processing as compared to neutral faces. Classical conditioning studies have shown that aversively conditioned (CS+) faces potentiate different face processing stages as evidenced by increased early and late event-related potential (ERPs) components. However, it is unknown whether and how ERP modulations depend on certain attentional conditions. To examine this question, this preregistered study investigated ERPs to faces paired with aversive screams or neutral sounds under three tasks with increasing attention to CS + relevant features of the face: Participants (N = 40) had to discriminate either the orientation of superimposed lines, perceived gender, or the CS association. We found potentiation of the N170, the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), and, most remarkably, the Late Positive Potential (LPP) to CS + faces regardless of task condition. This finding suggests that, in contrast to other types of emotional information and learning, classical conditioning boosts early and late processing stages, even if no explicit attention to the face information or the CS association is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Jana Heinemann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Robert Moeck
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
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47
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Li X. Recognition Characteristics of Facial and Bodily Expressions: Evidence From ERPs. Front Psychol 2021; 12:680959. [PMID: 34290653 PMCID: PMC8287205 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.680959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In the natural environment, facial and bodily expressions influence each other. Previous research has shown that bodily expressions significantly influence the perception of facial expressions. However, little is known about the cognitive processing of facial and bodily emotional expressions and its temporal characteristics. Therefore, this study presented facial and bodily expressions, both separately and together, to examine the electrophysiological mechanism of emotional recognition using event-related potential (ERP). Participants assessed the emotions of facial and bodily expressions that varied by valence (positive/negative) and consistency (matching/non-matching emotions). The results showed that bodily expressions induced a more positive P1 component and a shortened latency, whereas facial expressions triggered a more negative N170 and prolonged latency. Among N2 and P3, N2 was more sensitive to inconsistent emotional information and P3 was more sensitive to consistent emotional information. The cognitive processing of facial and bodily expressions had distinctive integrating features, with the interaction occurring in the early stage (N170). The results of the study highlight the importance of facial and bodily expressions in the cognitive processing of emotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiao Li
- Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
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48
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Steinweg AL, Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Moeck R, Straube T. Reduced early fearful face processing during perceptual distraction in high trait anxious participants. Psychophysiology 2021; 58:e13819. [PMID: 33755207 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Fearful facial expressions are prioritized across different stages of information processing as reflected by early, mid-latency, and late components of event-related brain potentials (ERP). Trait anxiety has been proposed to modulate these responses, but it is yet unclear how such modulations depend on feature-based attention. In this preregistered study (N = 80), we investigated the effects of trait anxiety on ERP differences between fearful and neutral faces across three different tasks. Participants had to discriminate either the orientation of lines overlaid onto the faces, the gender of the face, or the emotional expression, thus increasing attention to emotionally relevant facial features across the tasks. Fearful versus neutral faces elicited increased P1 and N170 amplitudes across tasks and potentiated amplitudes when attention was directed to faces (early posterior negativity [EPN]) or the expression (EPN and late positive potential). Higher trait anxiety was related to smaller EPN differences between fearful and neutral faces during the perceptual discrimination task. This early relationship suggests reduced instead of amplified processing of fearful faces for high trait anxious participants under perceptual distraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Lena Steinweg
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Robert Moeck
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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49
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Schindler S, Tirloni C, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Face and emotional expression processing under continuous perceptual load tasks: An ERP study. Biol Psychol 2021; 161:108056. [PMID: 33636248 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 02/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
High perceptual load is thought to impair already the early stages of visual processing of task-irrelevant visual stimuli. However, recent studies showed no effects of perceptual load on early ERPs in response to task-irrelevant emotional faces. In this preregistered EEG study (N = 40), we investigated the effects of continuous perceptual load on ERPs to fearful and neutral task-irrelevant faces and their phase-scrambled versions. Perceptual load did not modulate face or emotion effects for the P1 or N170. In contrast, larger face-scramble and fearful-neutral differentiation were found during low as compared to high load for the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN). Further, face-independent P1, but face-dependent N170 emotional modulations were observed. Taken together, our findings show that P1 and N170 face and emotional modulations are highly resistant to load manipulations, indicating a high degree of automaticity during this processing stage, whereas the EPN might represent a bottleneck in visual information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
| | - Clara Tirloni
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Italy
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
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50
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Schindler S, Wolf M, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Fearful face scrambles increase early visual sensory processing in the absence of face information. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 53:2703-2712. [DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2020] [Revised: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Schindler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
| | - Maren‐Isabel Wolf
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience University of Muenster Muenster Germany
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