Abstract
Enhanced attention to fear expressions in adults is primarily driven by information from low as opposed to high spatial frequencies contained in faces. However, little is known about the role of spatial frequency information in emotion processing during infancy. In the present study, we examined the role of low compared to high spatial frequencies in the processing of happy and fearful facial expressions by using filtered face stimuli and measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in 7-month-old infants (N = 26). Our results revealed that infants’ brains discriminated between emotional facial expressions containing high but not between expressions containing low spatial frequencies. Specifically, happy faces containing high spatial frequencies elicited a smaller Nc amplitude than fearful faces containing high spatial frequencies and happy and fearful faces containing low spatial frequencies. Our results demonstrate that already in infancy spatial frequency content influences the processing of facial emotions. Furthermore, we observed that fearful facial expressions elicited a comparable Nc response for high and low spatial frequencies, suggesting a robust detection of fearful faces irrespective of spatial frequency content, whereas the detection of happy facial expressions was contingent upon frequency content. In summary, these data provide new insights into the neural processing of facial emotions in early development by highlighting the differential role played by spatial frequencies in the detection of fear and happiness.
Highlights
Fast and efficient processing of emotional information is crucial for human behavior as it enables adaptive responding during social interactions (Frith, 2009)
Between 350 ms and 600 ms we found a significant main effect of Frequency, (F(1,25) = 4.95, p = 0.035, ηp2 = 0.17, see Figure 3), showing a larger P400 amplitude for low compared to high spatial frequency (HSF) faces irrespective of emotional content (LSF: 11.89 ± 1.83 μV; HSF: 9.18 ± 1.92 μV)
We observed a significant difference between low spatial frequencies (LSF) and HSF images for happy faces (t(25) = −2.65, p = 0.014, r = 0.47) but not for fearful facial expressions (t(25) = 0.05, p = 0.96, r = 0.01)
Summary
Fast and efficient processing of emotional information is crucial for human behavior as it enables adaptive responding during social interactions (Frith, 2009). One important insight from this area of research is that magno- and parvocellular pathways in the visual system contribute in different ways to emotion processing. There is work to show that fast and efficient emotion processing is predominantly instantiated by the magnocellular pathway, whereas more detailed processing of facial information primarily involves the parvocellular pathway (Vuilleumier et al, 2003). Independent of emotional content, the magnocellular pathway is primarily responsible for the fast, yet coarse, processing of visual input, while the parvocellular pathway is mainly involved
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
