The time course of emotional picture processing: an event-related potential study using a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm.

Chuanlin Zhu,Zhengyang Qi,Weiqi He,Wenbo Luo,Shengnan Yi,Lili Wang,Dongqing Song,Lei Zhan,Yuejia Luo

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00954

Abstract

The present study recorded event-related potentials using rapid serial visual presentation paradigm to explore the time course of emotionally charged pictures. Participants completed a dual-target task as quickly and accurately as possible, in which they were asked to judge the gender of the person depicted (task 1) and the valence (positive, neutral, or negative) of the given picture (task 2). The results showed that the amplitudes of the P2 component were larger for emotional pictures than they were for neutral pictures, and this finding represents brain processes that distinguish emotional stimuli from non-emotional stimuli. Furthermore, positive, neutral, and negative pictures elicited late positive potentials with different amplitudes, implying that the differences between emotions are recognized. Additionally, the time course for emotional picture processing was consistent with the latter two stages of a three-stage model derived from studies on emotional facial expression processing and emotional adjective processing. The results of the present study indicate that in the three-stage model of emotion processing, the middle and late stages are more universal and stable, and thus occur at similar time points when using different stimuli (faces, words, or scenes).

Highlights

Rapid responses to emotional arousal stimuli, especially potentially biologically relevant stimuli, such as snakes, tigers, or pictures of accidents, when attentional resources are limited, is believed to be evolutionarily significant to humans (Schupp et al, 2006; Vuilleumier and Pourtois, 2007)
event-related potential (ERP) Data Analysis P2 As showed in Figure 2, the P2 amplitudes revealed significant main effects of emotion type, F(2,34) = 8.83, p = 0.003, η2 = 0.525, and electrode, F(8,136) = 3.13, p = 0.026, η2 = 0.155, there was no significant interaction between emotional type and electrode
The behavioral data showed that the participants’ accuracy on negative pictures was higher than their accuracies on positive and neutral pictures. This is in line with the notion that negative stimuli are prioritized in emotion processing given their strong biological significance

Summary

Introduction

Rapid responses to emotional arousal stimuli, especially potentially biologically relevant stimuli, such as snakes, tigers, or pictures of accidents, when attentional resources are limited, is believed to be evolutionarily significant to humans (Schupp et al, 2006; Vuilleumier and Pourtois, 2007). Understanding the temporal characteristics of rapid emotion processing can help improve emotion recognition, allowing us to make the proper response. Many studies have explored the time course of emotion processing; in these studies, different stimuli, such as emotional words, facial expressions, and sounds, have been employed to induce different emotions. Given its high temporal resolution, the event-related potential (ERP) technique has been widely adopted in studies of emotion processing. Researchers have begun to investigate the timing of emotional facial expressions processing. The results of an ERP study by Utama et al (2009), which used emotional

Methods

Results

Conclusion