Attentional Modulation of the Emotional Expression Processing Studied with ERPs and sLORETA

作者：Wronka Eligiusz^*; Walentowska Wioleta

来源：Journal of Psychophysiology, 2014, 28(1): 32-46.

DOI：10.1027/0269-8803/a000109

• attention
• emotional expression
• ERP
• source localization

Recent ERP studies demonstrate that the processing of facial emotional expression can be modulated by attention. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of attentional influence on the emotional expression processing at early stages. We recorded ERP responses to facial stimuli containing neutral versus emotional expression in two different conditions. The first task was to discriminate facial expressions, while the second task was to categorize face gender. Enhanced positivity at occipital and occipito-temporal locations between 110 and 170 ms poststimulus was elicited by facial stimuli presented in the expression task when compared to the gender task. This effect temporally overlapped with the P1 and N170 components, which reflect the early stages of face processing. To localize the sources of the brain activity underlying observed attentional modulation, we used Standardized Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography. Enhanced activity within the extrastriate cortex for the expression task was obtained as the reflection of early ERP effect. Additionally, we found stronger activation within the superior temporal and the fusiform gyrus of the right hemisphere in the expression task when compared to the gender task. Our findings undoubtedly confirm that early stages of the emotional expression processing can be modified by top-down attention.

• 出版日期2014