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.

Details

Title
Potentiated early neural responses to fearful faces are not driven by specific face parts
Author
Bruchmann, Maximilian 1 ; Mertens, Léa 2 ; Schindler, Sebastian 1 ; Straube, Thomas 1 

 University of Muenster, Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, Münster, Germany (GRID:grid.5949.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2172 9288); University of Muenster, Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Münster, Germany (GRID:grid.5949.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2172 9288) 
 University of Muenster, Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, Münster, Germany (GRID:grid.5949.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2172 9288) 
Pages
4613
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2789150824
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.