Facial affect manifested by multiple oscillations

Abstract

The present study describes electrophysiological differentiation of “Facial Expressions” by using the method of event-related oscillations (EROs). These measures were used to assess electrical manifestations of emotional expressions of 20 healthy subjects exposed to neutral, angry, and happy” faces. The present study extended previous analysis to frequency windows of delta (0.5–3.5 Hz) and theta (5–8.5 Hz) oscillations. No significant differences among responses to various face expression stimuli were observed, however, topological differences in response to all facial expressions were found. Delta oscillatory responses in the parietal–temporal–occipital locations were larger than the frontal and central locations, whereas theta oscillatory responses in the right temporal–occipital electrodes were larger than the right central electrodes. Assessment of topologically distributed multiple oscillations opens a new avenue for understanding of the electrophysiology of recognition of “faces” and “facial expressions”.