Perception of masculinized or feminized men’s faces and its relation to the menstrual cycle phase of women: Electrophysiological evidence

Abstract

ABSTRACT Facial perception involves several brain areas: occipital to process visual stimuli, temporal to regulate emotions, and frontal and parietal to activate attention. Emotional processing relates to theta and delta bands in the temporal and frontal areas. We used a longitudinal design with twelve women to investigate whether the absolute power (AP) of areas involved in face perception changed in response to masculinized and feminized men’s faces during the LFP and LP. Results show that the perception of masculinized faces, when compared with feminized faces, modified the AP of delta in the occipital area; the AP of delta, theta, and alpha in the temporal area; and the AP of delta, alpha, and beta in the frontal and parietal areas during the LFP, but not the LP. Furthermore, AP was greater for masculinized faces during the LFP than during the LP. These findings provide new insights into the cortical activity underlying facial masculinity perception during the LFP and LP.