The author analyzed the role of consciousness in emotional face comprehension. The author recorded psychophysiological measures of event-related potentials (ERPs), elicited by supraliminal and subliminal stimuli when participants viewed emotional facial expressions of 4 emotions or neutral stimuli. The author analyzed an ERP emotion-specific effect (N200 peak variation; temporal interval was 180-300 ms poststimulus) in terms of peak amplitude and latency variables. The results indicated 4 important findings. First, there was an emotional-specific ERP deflection only for emotional stimuli, not for neutral stimuli. Second, the unaware information processing was quite similar to that of aware in terms of peak morphology, but not in terms of latency. In fact, unconscious stimulation produced a more delayed peak variation than did conscious stimulation. Third, valence of facial stimulus (positive or negative) was supraliminally and subliminally decoded because it was showed by differences of peak deflection between negative high arousing (fear and anger) and low arousing (happiness, sadness, and neutral) stimuli. Finally, the author found a more posterior distribution of ERP as a function of emotional content of the stimulus. Cortical lateralization (right or left) was not correlated to conscious or unconscious stimulation. The author discussed the functional significance of her results in terms of supraliminal and subliminal conditions.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/mono.132.2.129-150 | DOI Listing |
J Affect Disord
January 2025
Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; NHC and CAMS Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Affiliated Mental Health Center & Hangzhou Seventh People's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address:
Previous research on major depressive disorder (MDD) has largely focused on cognitive biases and abnormalities in cortico-limbic circuitry during emotional face processing. However, it remains unclear whether these abnormalities start at early perceptual stages via subcortical pathways and how comorbid social anxiety influences this process. Here, we investigated subcortical mechanisms in emotional face processing using a psychophysical method that measures monocular advantage (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoc Cogn Affect Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Regensburg University.
Facial emotional expressions are crucial in face-to-face social interactions, and recent findings have highlighted their interactive nature. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This EEG study investigated whether the interactive exchange of facial expressions modulates socio-emotional processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSchizophrenia (Heidelb)
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
Facial stimuli are relevant social cues for humans and essential signals for adequate social interaction. Impairments in face processing are well-documented in schizophrenia and linked to symptomatology, yet the underlying neural dynamics remain unclear. Here, we investigated the processing and underlying neural temporal dynamics of task-irrelevant emotional face stimuli using combined EEG/fMRI in 14 individuals with schizophrenia and 14 matched healthy controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
The built environments we move through are a filter for the stimuli we experience. If we are in a darker or a lighter room or space, a neutrally valenced sound could be perceived as more unpleasant or more pleasant. Past research suggests a role for the layout and lighting of a space in impacting how stimuli are rated, especially on bipolar valence scales.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDev Sci
March 2025
Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK.
Contagious crying in infants has been considered an early marker of their sensitivity to others' emotions, a form of emotional contagion, and an early basis for empathy. However, it remains unclear whether infant distress in response to peer distress is due to the emotional content of crying or acoustically aversive properties of crying. Additionally, research remains severely biased towards samples from Europe and North America.
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