Processing Of Facial Expressions Research Articles

Low Spatial Frequency Sensitivity and Emotional Face Processing in Adolescents: An Event-related Potential Study

ABSTRACT Slow maturation of visual pathways transmitting low spatial frequency (LSF) information may contribute to inaccurate facial emotion recognition in adolescence. We recorded ERPs from adolescents and adults to upright and inverted happy faces, fearful faces, and chairs, which were unfiltered, contained only LSFs, or only high spatial frequencies. P100s and N170s were larger for adolescents than adults, with the greatest effect size for LSF stimuli. For LSFs only, adolescents showed a larger N170 inversion effect for happy than for fearful faces, but adults showed the opposite response. Thus, immaturities in LSF pathways appear to impact facial expression processing in adolescents.

Unpleasant Food Odors Modulate the Processing of Facial Expressions: An Event-Related Potential Study.

In real-life situations, emotional information is often expressed through multiple sensory channels, with cross-talk between channels. Previous research has established that odor environments regulate the recognition of facial expressions. Therefore, this study combined event-related potentials (ERPs) with a facial emotion recognition task to investigate the effect of food odor context on the recognition of facial expressions and its time course. Fifty-four participants were asked to identify happy, fearful, and neutral faces in an odor context (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral). Electroencephalography (EEG) was performed to extract event-related potentials (ERPs). Behaviorally, unpleasant food odors triggered faster recognition of facial expressions, especially fearful ones. ERP results found that in the early stage, unpleasant food odors within 80–110 ms evoked a larger P100 amplitude than pleasant food odors and no odors, which showed that the unpleasant odor environment promoted the rapid processing of facial expressions. Next, the interaction between odor environment and facial expressions occurred during the middle stage, and the fearful expression evoked a smaller VPP (vertex positive potential) amplitude than the happy and neutral expressions when exposed to the unpleasant food odor environment. This result indicates that unpleasant odor environment consumed fewer cognitive resources when judging fearful expression, showing the promoting effect of mood coherence effect. These findings provided evidence for how people chose odor environments to facilitate the recognition of facial expressions, and highlighted the advantages of unpleasant food odors in communicating emotional information across the olfactory and visual pathways.

Updating facial emotional expressions in working memory: Differentiating trait anxiety and depressiveness

Individual differences in updating emotional facial expressions in working memory are not fully understood. Here we focused on the effects of high trait anxiety and high depressiveness in men and women on updating schematic emotional facial expressions (sad, angry, scheming, happy, neutral). A population representative sample of young adults was divided into four emotional disposition groups based on STAI-T and MADRS cut-offs: high anxiety (HA, n = 41), high depressiveness (HD, n = 31), high depressiveness & high anxiety (HAHD, n = 65) and control (CT, n = 155). Participants completed a 2-back task with schematic emotional faces, and valence/arousal ratings and verbal recognition tasks. A novel approach was used to separate encoding from retrieval. We found an interaction of emotional dispositions and emotional faces in updating accuracy. HD group made more errors than HA when encoding happy schematic faces. Other differences between emotional dispositions on updating measures were found but they were not specific to any emotional facial expression. Our findings suggest that there is a minor happy disadvantage in HD in contrast to HA which can be seen in lower accuracy for visual encoding of happy faces, but not in retrieval accuracy, the speed of updating, nor perception of emotional content in happy faces. These findings help to explain differences and similarities between high trait anxiety and high depressiveness in working memory and processing of facial expressions. The results are discussed in relation to prevalent theories of information processing in anxiety and depression.

Is It Fear? Similar Brain Responses to Fearful and Neutral Faces in Infants with a Heightened Likelihood for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show atypical processing of facial expressions. Research with autistic toddlers suggests that abnormalities in processing of spatial frequencies (SFs) contribute to such differences. The current event-related-potential (ERP) study investigated differences between 10-month-old infants with high- and low-likelihood for ASD in SF processing and in discrimination of fearful and neutral faces, filtered to contain specific SF. Results indicate no group differences in general processing of higher (HSF, detailed) and lower-SF (LSF, global) information. However, unlike low-likelihood infants, high-likelihood infants do not discriminate between facial expressions when either the LSF or HSF information is available. Combined with previous findings in toddlers, the current results indicate a developmental delay in efficient processing of facial expressions in ASD.

Processing Facial Expressions That Conflict With Their Meanings to an Observer: An Event Related Potential Study

As social signals, identical facial expressions can be perceived differently, even oppositely, depending on the circumstances. Fast and accurate understanding of the information conveyed by others’ facial expressions is crucial for successful social interaction. In the current study, we used electroencephalographic analysis of several event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how the brain processes the facial expressions of others when they indicate different self-outcomes. In half of the trial blocks, a happy face indicated “Win” and an angry face indicated “Lose.” In the other half of the blocks, the rule was reversed. The results showed that the N170 could distinguish expression valence and the N300 could distinguish outcome valence. The valence of the expression (happy or angry) and the valence of the outcome (Win or Loss) interacted with each other in the early, automatic perceptual processing stage (N1) as well as in the later, cognitive evaluation stage (P300). Standardized Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA) results indicated that the N1 modulation only occurred for happy faces, which may relate to automatic emotion regulation, while the interaction on P300 was significant only for angry faces, which might be associated with the regulation of negative emotions.

Brain Responses to Emotional Infant Faces in New Mothers and Nulliparous Women

The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is associated with a series of neurophysiological, psychological, and behavioral changes that allow women to better adapt to their new role as mothers. Infants communicate their needs and physiological states mainly through salient emotional expressions, and maternal responses to infant signals are critical for infant survival and development. In this study, we investigated the whole brain functional response to emotional infant faces in 20 new mothers and 22 nulliparous women during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. New mothers showed higher brain activation in regions involved in infant facial expression processing and empathic and mentalizing networks than nulliparous women. Furthermore, magnitudes of the activation of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left fusiform gyrus, recruited during facial expression processing, were positively correlated with empathic concern (EC) scores in new mothers when viewing emotional (happy-sad) faces contrasted to neutral faces. Taken together, these results indicate that the experience of being a mother affects human brain responses in visual and social cognitive brain areas and in brain areas associated with theory-of-mind related and empathic processing.

In context: emotional intent and temporal immediacy of contextual descriptions modulate affective ERP components to facial expressions.

In this study, we explored how contextual information about threat dynamics affected the electrophysiological correlates of face perception. Forty-six healthy native Swedish speakers read verbal descriptions signaling an immediate vs delayed intent to escalate or deescalate an interpersonal conflict. Each verbal description was followed by a face with an angry or neutral expression, for which participants rated valence and arousal. Affective ratings confirmed that the emotional intent expressed in the descriptions modulated emotional reactivity to the facial stimuli in the expected direction. The electrophysiological data showed that compared to neutral faces, angry faces resulted in enhanced early and late event-related potentials (VPP, P300 and LPP). Additionally, emotional intent and temporal immediacy modulated the VPP and P300 similarly across angry and neutral faces, suggesting that they influence early face perception independently of facial affect. By contrast, the LPP amplitude to faces revealed an interaction between facial expression and emotional intent. Deescalating descriptions eliminated the LPP differences between angry and neutral faces. Together, our results suggest that information about a person’s intentions modulates the processing of facial expressions.

Acute administration of methylphenidate differentially affects cortical processing of emotional facial expressions in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder children as studied by functional near-infrared spectroscopy.

Significance: It has been reported that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairment in the recognition of angry but not of happy facial expressions, and they show atypical cortical activation patterns in response to facial expressions. However, little is known about neural mechanisms underlying the impaired recognition of facial expressions in school-aged children with ADHD and the effects of acute medication on their processing of facial expressions.Aim: We aimed to investigate the possibility that acute administration of methylphenidate (MPH) affects processing of facial expressions in ADHD children.Approach: We measured the hemodynamic changes in the bilateral temporo-occipital areas of ADHD children observing the happy and angry facial expressions before and 1.5 h after MPH or placebo administration in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design study.Results: We found that, regardless of medication, happy expressions induced increased oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) responses in the right inferior occipital region but not in the superior temporal region. For angry expressions, oxy-Hb responses increased after MPH administration, but not after placebo administration, in the left inferior occipital area, whereas there was no significant activation before MPH administration.Conclusions: Our results suggest that (1) ADHD children consistently recruit the right inferior occipital regions to process happy expressions and (2) MPH administration to ADHD children enhances cortical activation in the left inferior occipital regions when they process angry expressions.

Valence-dependent Disruption in Processing of Facial Expressions of Emotion in Early Visual Cortex—A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Our visual inputs are often entangled with affective meanings in natural vision, implying the existence of extensive interaction between visual and emotional processing. However, little is known about the neural mechanism underlying such interaction. This exploratory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study examined the possible involvement of the early visual cortex (EVC, Area V1/V2/V3) in perceiving facial expressions of different emotional valences. Across three experiments, single-pulse TMS was delivered at different time windows (50-150 msec) after a brief 10-msec onset of face images, and participants reported the visibility and perceived emotional valence of faces. Interestingly, earlier TMS at ∼90 msec only reduced the face visibility irrespective of displayed expressions, but later TMS at ∼120 msec selectively disrupted the recognition of negative facial expressions, indicating the involvement of EVC in the processing of negative expressions at a later time window, possibly beyond the initial processing of fed-forward facial structure information. The observed TMS effect was further modulated by individuals' anxiety level. TMS at ∼110-120 msec disrupted the recognition of anger significantly more for those scoring relatively low in trait anxiety than the high scorers, suggesting that cognitive bias influences the processing of facial expressions in EVC. Taken together, it seems that EVC is involved in structural encoding of (at least) negative facial emotional valence, such as fear and anger, possibly under modulation from higher cortical areas.

The relationship between early and recent life stress and emotional expression processing: A functional connectivity study

The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals characterized by two factors: the levels of stress experienced in early life and in adulthood. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing. Hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. The interaction between early and recent stress was related to alterations during the processing of emotional expressions mainly in to the cerebellum, middle temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. For cumulative stress levels, such alterations were observed in functional connectivity to the middle temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, precuneus, precentral and postcentral gyri, anterior and posterior cingulate gyri, and Heschl’s gyrus. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress.

Pushing the Limits of EEG: Estimation of Large-Scale Functional Brain Networks and Their Dynamics Validated by Simultaneous fMRI.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the technique of choice for detecting large-scale functional brain networks and to investigate their dynamics. Because fMRI measures brain activity indirectly, electroencephalography (EEG) has been recently considered a feasible tool for detecting such networks, particularly the resting-state networks (RSNs). However, a truly unbiased validation of such claims is still missing, which can only be accomplished by using simultaneously acquired EEG and fMRI data, due to the spontaneous nature of the activity underlying the RSNs. Additionally, EEG is still poorly explored for the purpose of mapping task-specific networks, and no studies so far have been focused on investigating networks’ dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) with EEG. Here, we started by validating RSNs derived from the continuous reconstruction of EEG sources by directly comparing them with those derived from simultaneous fMRI data of 10 healthy participants, and obtaining an average overlap (quantified by the Dice coefficient) of 0.4. We also showed the ability of EEG to map the facial expressions processing network (FEPN), highlighting regions near the posterior superior temporal sulcus, where the FEPN is anchored. Then, we measured the dFC using EEG for the first time in this context, estimated dFC brain states using dictionary learning, and compared such states with those obtained from the fMRI. We found a statistically significant match between fMRI and EEG dFC states, and determined the existence of two matched dFC states which contribution over time was associated with the brain activity at the FEPN, showing that the dynamics of FEPN can be captured by both fMRI and EEG. Our results push the limits of EEG toward being used as a brain imaging tool, while supporting the growing literature on EEG correlates of (dynamic) functional connectivity measured with fMRI, and providing novel insights into the coupling mechanisms underlying the two imaging techniques.

Emotional appraisal processing of computer-generated facial expressions: an functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.

The current study aims to investigate whether computer generated (CG) expressions of emotion evoke similar emotional appraisal processing in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) compared to real human expressions, as well as how speech cues would influence the processing. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure the neural activations in the prefrontal cortex during emotion recognition task. Thirty normal participants were asked to view videos of dynamic facial expressions and selected the emotions that were best matches with the expressions. CG expressions evoked less activation in the lOFC comparing to real human expressions. Furthermore, speech cues increased the activation in the lOFC for CG expressions but not real expressions. Comparing to real expressions, CG expressions evoked less appraisal processing related to motivational values although this disadvantage can be compensated to some extent by presenting the expressions with speech cues.

空间频率影响恐惧面孔表情加工的神经通路

空间频率影响恐惧面孔表情加工的神经通路

Pre-attentive dysfunction of processing emotional faces in interictal migraine revealed by expression-related visual mismatch negativity

BackgroundSeveral investigations have indicated emotional processing impairment in migraineurs, while no report is available considering the automatic processing of emotional information. In this study, we aimed to characterize the pre-attentive processing of facial expressions in migraine sufferers by recording and analyzing expression-related visual mismatch negativity (EMMN). MethodsAltogether, 30 migraineurs (19 females) during the interictal period and 30 age-matched healthy controls (17 females) were recruited. An expression-related oddball paradigm was used to investigate automatic emotional processing, and a group of schematic emotional faces (neutral, happy, sad) unrelated to the participant’s task were employed in the experiment in order to avoid low-level processing. ResultsThere was no significant difference in behavioral performance (the response accuracy and reaction time) between migraine patients and healthy controls. Nevertheless, the mean EMMN amplitudes within the ranges of 150–250 ms and 250–350 ms were markedly attenuated in patients compared with controls, regardless of happy or sad condition (happy minus neutral or sad minus neutral), and sad EMMN was observed to be larger than happy EMMN only in healthy participants. Moreover, these electrophysiological data directly correlated with frequency and duration of migrainous attacks. ConclusionsOur findings implied that the pre-attentive dysfunction of processing both happy and sad expressions was demonstrated in interictal migraineurs, without the existence of negative bias (sad superiority) effect. Further studies on the availability of EMMN as an evaluative marker for migraine are warranted.

Нolistic and Analytic Processing of Facial Expressions: A Method of Multidimentional Scaling

Contemporary scientific literature is controversial about the two basic mechanisms that play a significant role in the identification and discrimination of facial expressions, that is, the analytic process (perceiving individual facial features) and the holistic process (perceiving the face as a Gestalt). Despite the large number of studies, the question of their relative contributions into the perception of facial expressions remains open. In the present study, we investigated the interaction of the analytic and holistic processing simultaneously using the methods of composite and inverted faces in the task of assessing the expression similarity. To achieve this goal, the method of multidimensional scaling was used to enable the construction of a subjective space of expression similarities and then to analyze the clustering of expressions under up-right and inverted exposure conditions. The results showed that: 1. In up-right conditions of face presentations holistic processing plays a more important role; 2. Under the inverted conditions, the role of analytic processing is increased that is manifested in a change of expression clustering in the subjective space of expression similarities; 3. The method of multidimensional scaling is productive for investigating the interaction of analytic and holistic encoding mechanisms of facial expressions; 4. Sharing methods of the composite and inverted faces is an effective tool for changing the impact of analytic and holistic processes in assessing expression similarities.

Happy faces selectively increase the excitability of cortical neurons innervating frowning muscles of the mouth.

Although facial muscles are heavily involved in emotional expressions, there is still a lack of evidence about the role of face primary motor cortex (face M1) in the processing of facial recognition and expression. This work investigated the effects of the passive viewing of different facial expressions on face M1 and compared data with those obtained from the hand M1. Thirty healthy subjects were randomly assigned to two groups undergoing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of face or hand M1. In both groups, short-latency intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) were probed in the depressor anguli oris (DAO) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles 300ms after presentation of a picture of a face that expressed happy, sad or neutral emotions. Statistical analysis of SICI showed a non-significant effect of muscle (F1,28 = 1.903, p = 0.179), but a significant effect of emotion (F2,56 = 6.860, p = 0.004) and a significant interaction between muscle and emotion (F2,56 = 5.072, p = 0.015). Post hoc analysis showed that there was a significant reduction of SICI in the DAO muscle after presentation of a face with a happy expression compared with a neutral face (p < 0.001). In the FDI, a significant difference was observed between neutral and sad expressions (p = 0.010) No clear differences in ICF were detected. The different responses of face and hand muscles to emotional stimuli may be due to their functional roles in emotional expression versus protection of the body.

Facial identity influences facial expression recognition: A high-density ERP study

The relationship between facial identity and facial expression processing has long been debated. Although previous facial recognition models indicate that facial identity and facial expression processing are independent, psychological studies using the selective attention task (the Garner paradigm) have revealed an asymmetrical relationship between the perception of identity and emotional expressions in faces: while facial expression does not influence facial identity recognition, facial identity influences facial expression recognition. We used the Garner paradigm and recorded high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the influence of facial identity on facial expression recognition. Twenty participants judged the expression of faces, while the irrelevant dimension of identity was either held constant (control condition) or varied (orthogonal condition). We recorded 128-channel EEGs while participants completed the facial expression task. We analyzed the two major components of early visual stages: P1 and N170. ERP results revealed a significant main effect of condition on the N170 latency. These results suggest that facial identity influences facial expression recognition in the N170 that reflects the structural encoding of faces. Thus, information on facial expression might be computed based on the unique structure of individual faces.

Dysfunction of processing task-irrelevant emotional faces in primary insomnia patients: an evidence from expression-related visual MMN

According to the cognitive processing perspectives, patients with insomnia have insufficient neural management of expressional information. In this study, we compared the pre-attentive processing function of task-irrelevant facial expressions in patients with primary insomnia (PI) and matched healthy controls, with expression-related mismatch negativity (EMMN) elicited by emotional faces as the indicator. Using three schematic facial expressions (neutral, happy, and sad) as task-irrelevant stimuli, we investigated the visual processing of PI patients (n = 22) and healthy subjects (n = 22) in an expression-related oddball paradigm designed to elicit the visual N170 and EMMN component. After recording and analyzing the electroencephalogram of all participants, amplitude analysis of N170 and EMMN was eventually conducted under corresponding time window. Compared with control group, the amplitude of sad-EMMN component was significantly attenuated in patients with PI, while no remarkable difference was observed under the happy condition. In addition, negative cognitive bias was further validated in the control group, but not presented in the PI group. The current data suggest dysfunctional expressional information processing in PI patients, accompanied by the disorganization of high level perceptual strategy of processing facial emotional expression.

Is subliminal face processing modulated by attentional task sets? Evidence from masked priming effects in a gender decision task

AbstractUnlike classical theories of automaticity, refined theories suggest that unconscious automatic processes depend on cognitive control settings. Cognitive control influences on unconscious word and object processing are well documented, but corresponding findings in the field of face processing are heterogeneous. The present study therefore investigated, whether subliminal face priming in a gender categorization task is susceptible to feature-specific attention. Participants performed a gender decision task by orthogonally varying gender congruency (prime-target: same vs. different gender) and emotion congruency (prime-target: same vs. different emotional facial expression) using a masked priming paradigm. Perceptual vs. emotional induction tasks, performed prior to prime presentation, served to activate corresponding attentional task sets. Subliminal gender priming (faster reactions to gender-congruent primes) differed as a function of induction task and emotional congruency. Following perceptual induction, gender priming was only obtained in the emotionally congruent condition, whereas following emotional induction gender priming was observed independently of emotional congruency. In line with the classical notion of automaticity, subliminal gender priming did not depend on a specific attentional focus. However, attention to shape facilitated subliminal processing of task-irrelevant emotional facial expressions. Most likely, mutual facilitation of emotionally congruent prime and target representations enhanced gender priming compared with emotionally incongruent pairings.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ЕКСПРЕСІЇ ОСІБ З РІЗНОЮ СХИЛЬНІСТЮ ДО АЛЕКСИТИМІЇ

Статтю присвячено проблемі розпізнавання власних емоційних переживань та їх зовнішніх виразів. Схильність особистості до розпізнавання емоцій через сприйняття експресії розглядається як усталена, багатокомпонентна, інтегральна властивість, що забезпечує точність, адекватність розуміння своїх емоційних переживань і переживань іншого. Актуальність розробки проблеми пов’язана з дефіцитом соціальних зв’язків, відсутністю досвіду в розпізнаванні емоцій, особливо в ситуації розвитку Інтернет-Комунікацій, що призводить до редукції емоційної лексики сучасної людини. Процес соціальної адаптації неможливий без здатності особистості розуміти та диференціювати емоції. Це спричинює необхідність вивчення здатності особистості до адекватного визначення власних емоційних станів і розуміння власного експресивного репертуару. Дослідження ґрунтується на припущенні, що труднощі розпізнавання власних емоцій та їх експресивних виявів можуть бути пов’язані з різною схильністю особистості до алекситимії. Алекситимія розглядається як нездатність сприймати, відчувати і називати словом (lexis) свої почуття, свої емоції (thymos).Мета роботи полягає у дослідження здатності до розуміння та розпізнавання власних експресивних проявів емоцій в осіб, котрі різняться схильністю до алекситимії. Розкрито поняття алекситимії як чинника розуміння емоцій; вивчено співвідношення між показниками означених змінних; виявлено осіб, схильних і не схильних до алекситимії, та визначено й порівняно особливості їх експресії. Емпірично встановлена наявність значимого від’ємного зв’язку між показниками виразної експресії та алекситимії.Показано, що тенденція до збільшення рівня алекситимії гальмує здатність особистості до експресивних проявів власних емоційних переживань, а прояви успішного розпізнавання власної експресії демонструють особи, котрі не виявили схильності до алекситимії.Доведено, що схильність до алекситимії є одним із психологічних чинників здатності особистості не тільки розуміти власні емоції, а й здатності ідентифікувати і використовувати власний експресивний репертуар, його можливості та ресурси.