ERP Responses to Smile-Provoking Pictures

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Gierych ◽  
RafaŽ Milner ◽  
Andrzej Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
Cartoon Characters ◽  
Human Faces

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to search for event-related potential (ERP) correlates of processing pictures commonly described as “funny” but not preceded by the apparent “context-setting” phase. Three pairs of stimuli were used: (1) famous cartoon characters and images of household objects, (2) pictures reminiscent of a recently seen joke and similar pictures that did not produce such associations, (3) funny caricatures and drawings of neutral human faces. ERP differences in each pair were analyzed in two experiments. In the first experiment, both stimuli were targets in an “oddball” procedure, presented among the more frequent green disks. In the second experiment, they were both nontargets whereas the green disks were task-relevant. Both experiments and all pairs of stimuli produced similar results. ERPs for funny pictures were consistently more positive within the broad latency windows, resembling the effects of emotional arousal. Negative deflections, typical for incongruity processing, were not found. Such results indicated that these types of “humorous” images belonged to the class of affective stimuli that produced attentional reallocation of processing resources. The cognitive phase during which incongruity is detected and resolved was probably reduced to minimum or even absent.

Short-term mobilization of processing resources is revealed in the event-related potential

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 914-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Falkenstein ◽  
Jörg Hoormann ◽  
Joachim Hohnsbein ◽  
Thomas Kleinsorge
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Processing Resources

scholarly journals Emotional Arousal Substrate in Relation to Eysenck Theory of Extraversion

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.22) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Nasir Yusoff ◽  
Nik NurAzhani Anuar ◽  
Wan Nor Arifin ◽  
Tahamina Begum ◽  
Faruque Reza
Keyword(s):  
Personality Trait ◽  
Interaction Effect ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Well Being ◽  
International Affective Picture System ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Combination Effect ◽  
Personality Questionnaire ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Recording Session

Background: Eysenck theory posits that extraverts possess a trait of personality that is associated with personal enjoyment. Objectives: This study aims to examine the combination effect of extraversion and arousal intensity on the neural process of emotional arousal. Methods: This study was implemented in two parts – (1) Validation of Extraversion-Five Factor Non Verbal Personality Questionnaire (E-FF-NPQ) for personality screening, and (2) Event Related Potential (ERP)/electroencephalograph (EEG) recording session. In part one, the E-FF-NPQ was validated by 153 respondents, recruited from Universiti Sains Malaysia. In part two, after having their personality trait screened, electroencephalogram was recorded in 90 participants (N=30 for each personality) during the Event Related Potential session. Emotional arousal pictures that were taken randomly from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) were used as visual stimuli and divided into three categories (high, moderate, low) based on the normative mean values of IAPS. Results: Interaction effect of the extraversion trait and emotional arousal intensity was detected in the frontal region as indicated by the latency of N200. Conclusion: The Theory of Eysenck on the connection between extraversion and well-being is almost supported.  

scholarly journals A Study of Facial Features of American and Japanese Cartoon Characters

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Liu ◽  
Jun-Hong Chen ◽  
Kang-Ming Chang
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Real People ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Animated Characters ◽  
Cartoon Characters ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Japanese Animation

Many researchers think that the characters in animated cartoons and comics are designed according to the exaggeration or reduction of some features based on the human face. However, the feature distribution of the human face is relatively symmetrical and uniform. Thus, to ensure the characters look exaggerated, but without breaking the principle of symmetry, some questions remain: Which facial features should be exaggerated during the design process? How exaggerated are the faces of cartoon characters compared to real faces? To answer these questions, we selected 100 cartoon characters from American and Japanese animation, collected data from their facial features and the facial features of real people, and then described the features using angles, lengths, and areas. Finally, we compared cartoon characters’ facial features values with real facial features and determined the key parts and degree of facial exaggeration of animated characters. The research results show that American and Japanese cartoon characters both exaggerate the eyes, nose, ears, forehead, and chin. Compared with human faces, taking the eye area as an example, American animation characters are twice as large compared with human faces, whereas Japanese animation characters are 3.4 times larger than human faces. The study results can be used for reference by animation character designers and researchers.

scholarly journals An Event-Related Potential Study of Onset Primacy in Visual Change Detection

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Van Pelt ◽  
Benjamin Lowe ◽  
Jonathan Robinson ◽  
Maria J. Donaldson ◽  
Patrick Johnston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Change Detection ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Onset Detection ◽  
Change Detection Task ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Visual Change ◽  
Detection Mode ◽  
Visual Change Detection ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
Attentional System

AbstractOnset primacy is a behavioural phenomenon whereby humans identify the appearance of an object (onset) with greater efficiency than other kinds of visual change, such as the disappearance of an object (offset). The default mode hypothesis explains this phenomenon by postulating that the attentional system is optimised for onset detection in its initial state. The present study extended this hypothesis by combining a change detection task and measurement of the P300 event-related potential (ERP), which was thought to index the amount of processing resources available to detecting onsets and offsets. In an experiment, participants indicated the locations of onsets and offsets under the condition in which they occurred equally often in the same locations across trials. Although there was no reason to prioritise detecting one type of change over the other, onsets were detected more quickly and they evoked a larger P300 than offsets. These results suggest that processing resources are preferentially allocated to onset detection. This biased allocation may be a basis on which the attentional system defaults to the ‘onset detection’ mode. Possible contributions of other ERP components to onset primacy are also discussed in the article.

scholarly journals Modulation of Face-sensitive Event-related Potentials by Canonical and Distorted Human Faces: The Role of Vertical Symmetry and Up-Down Featural Arrangement

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1343-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viola Macchi Cassia ◽  
Dana Kuefner ◽  
Alissa Westerlund ◽  
Charles A. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Linear Increase ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Positive Potential ◽  
Orientation Judgment ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Human Faces

This study examined the sensitivity of early face-sensitive event-related potential (ERP) components to the disruption of two structural properties embedded in faces, namely, “updown featural arrangement” and “vertical symmetry.” Behavioral measures and ERPs were recorded as adults made an orientation judgment for canonical faces and distorted faces that had been manipulated for either or both of the mentioned properties. The P1, the N170, and the vertex positive potential (VPP) exhibited a similar gradient in sensitivity to the two investigated properties, in that they all showed a linear increase in amplitude or latency as the properties were selectively disrupted in the order of (1) up-down featural arrangement, (2) vertical symmetry, and (3) both up-down featural arrangement and vertical symmetry. Exceptions to this finding were seen for the amplitudes of the N170 and VPP, which were largest for the stimulus in which solely vertical symmetry was disrupted. Interestingly, the enhanced amplitudes of the N170 and VPP are consistent with a drop in behavioral performance on the orientation judgment for this stimulus.

scholarly journals Direct Electrophysiological Mapping of Shape-Induced Affective Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingli Li ◽  
Qingguo Ding ◽  
Yuancun Zhao ◽  
Yanan Bu ◽  
Xiaoyan Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Happy Face ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Electrophysiological Responses ◽  
Affective Perception ◽  
Angry Face ◽  
Emotional Effects

Visual information may convey different affective valences and induce our brain into different affective perceptions. Many studies have found that unpleasant stimuli could produce stronger emotional effects than pleasant stimuli could. Although there has been a notion that triangle is perceived as negative and circle as positive, there has been no systematic study to map the degrees of valence of shapes with different affective perceptions. Here, we employed four shapes (ellipse, triangle, and line-drawn happy and angry faces) to investigate the behavior and electrophysiological responses, in order to systematically study shape-induced affective perception. The reaction time delay and the event-related potential (ERP), particularly the early ERP component, were applied to find the associations with different affective perceptions. Our behavioral results showed that reaction time for angry face was significantly shorter than those for the other three types of stimuli (p<0.05). In the ERP results, P1, N1, P2, and N2 amplitudes for angry face were significantly larger than those for happy face. Similarly, P1, N1, P2, and N2 amplitudes for triangle were significantly larger than those for ellipse. Particularly, P1 amplitude in the parietal lobe for angry face was the strongest, followed by happy face, triangle, and ellipse. Hence, this work found distinct electrophysiological evidence to map the shape-induced affective perception. It supports the hypothesis that affective strain would induce larger amplitude than affective ease does and strong affective stimuli induce larger amplitude than mild affective stimuli do.

Processing the Trees and the Forest during Initial Stages of Face Perception: Electrophysiological Evidence

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 1406-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Bentin ◽  
Yulia Golland ◽  
Anastasia Flevaris ◽  
Lynn C. Robertson ◽  
Morris Moscovitch
Keyword(s):  
Face Perception ◽  
Face Processing ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Face Identification ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Potential Component ◽  
Processing Resources ◽  
Global And Local

Although configural processing is considered a hallmark of normal face perception in humans, there is ample evidence that processing face components also contributes to face recognition and identification. Indeed, most contemporary models posit a dual-code view in which face identification relies on the analysis of individual face components as well as the spatial relations between them. We explored the interplay between processing face configurations and inner face components by recording the N170, an event-related potential component that manifests early detection of faces. In contrast to a robust N170 effect elicited by line-drawn schematic faces compared to line-drawn schematic objects, no N170 effect was found if a pair of small objects substituted for the eyes in schematic faces. However, if a pair of two miniaturized faces substituted for the eyes, the N170 effect was restored. Additional experiments ruled out an explanation on the basis of miniaturized faces attracting attention independent of their location in a face-like configuration and show that global and local face characteristics compete for processing resources when in conflict. The results are discussed as they relate to normal and abnormal face processing.

Psychophysiological Correlates of Emotional- and Alcohol-Related Cues Processing in Offspring of Alcohol-Dependent Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-381
Author(s):  
I Dominguez-Centeno ◽  
R Jurado-Barba ◽  
A Sion ◽  
A Martínez-Maldonado ◽  
G Castillo-Parra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Affective Stimuli ◽  
Early Posterior Negativity ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Alcohol Dependent

Abstract Aims To determinate if offspring of alcohol-dependent patients (OA) process affective stimuli and alcohol-related cues in a different manner than control subjects do. Methods Event-related potentials (early posterior negativity [EPN]/ late positive potential [LPP]) and event-related oscillations (Theta) were obtained by electroencephalographic (EEG) recording during the viewing of International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images with positive, negative and neutral valence, as well as alcohol-related cues. The total sample was comprised of 60 participants, divided into two groups: one group consisted of OA (30) and the control group of participants with negative family history of alcohol use disorders (30). Results Theta power analysis implies a significant interaction between condition, region and group factors. Post-hoc analysis indicates an increased theta power for the OA at different regions, during pleasant (frontal, central, parietal, occipital, right temporal); unpleasant (frontal, central, occipital); alcohol (frontal, central, parietal, occipital, right and left temporal) and neutral (occipital) cues. There are no group differences regarding any of the event-related potential measurements (EPN/LPP). Conclusions There is evidence of alterations in the processing of affective stimuli and alcohol-related information, evidenced by changes in theta brain oscillations. These alterations are characterized by an increased emotional reactivity, evidenced by increased theta at posterior sites. There is also an increased recruitment of emotion control, which could be a compensation mechanism, evidenced by increased theta power at anterior sites during affective stimuli and alcohol cues.

Limits of Event-related Potential Differences in Tracking Object Processing Speed

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1241-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume A. Rousselet ◽  
Marc J.-M. Macé ◽  
Simon J. Thorpe ◽  
Michéle Fabre-Thorpe
Keyword(s):  
Processing Speed ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
Object Processing ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Tracking Object ◽  
Animal Faces ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Face Task

We report results from two experiments in which subjects had to categorize briefly presented upright or inverted natural scenes. In the first experiment, subjects decided whether images contained animals or human faces presented at different scales. Behavioral results showed virtually identical processing speed between the two categories and very limited effects of inversion. One type of event-related potential (ERP) comparison, potentially capturing low-level physical differences, showed large effects with onsets at about 150 msec in the animal task. However, in the human face task, those differences started as early as 100 msec. In the second experiment, subjects responded to close-up views of animal faces or human faces in an attempt to limit physical differences between image sets. This manipulation almost completely eliminated small differences before 100 msec in both tasks. But again, despite very similar behavioral performances and short reaction times in both tasks, human faces were associated with earlier ERP differences compared with animal faces. Finally, in both experiments, as an alternative way to determine processing speed, we compared the ERP with the same images when seen as targets and nontargets in different tasks. Surprisingly, all task-dependent ERP differences had relatively long latencies. We conclude that task-dependent ERP differences fail to capture object processing speed, at least for some categories like faces. We discuss models of object processing that might explain our results, as well as alternative approaches.

scholarly journals EPOC outside the shield: comparing the performance of a consumer-grade EEG device in shielded and unshielded environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan Wehrman ◽  
Sidsel Sörensen ◽  
Peter de Lissa ◽  
Nicholas A. Badcock
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Human Face ◽  
Eeg Signals ◽  
N170 Amplitude ◽  
The Face ◽  
Research Grade ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Human Faces

AbstractLow-cost, portable electroencephalographic (EEG) headsets have become commercially available in the last 10 years. One such system, Emotiv’s EPOC, has been modified to allow event-related potential (ERP) research. Because of these innovations, EEG research may become more widely available in non-traditional settings. Although the EPOC has previously been shown to provide data comparable to research-grade equipment and has been used in real-world settings, how EPOC performs without the electrical shielding used in research-grade laboratories is yet to be systematically tested. In the current article we address this gap in the literature by asking participants to perform a simple EEG experiment in shielded and unshielded contexts. The experiment was the observation of human versus wristwatch faces which were either inverted or noninverted. This method elicited the face-sensitive N170 ERP.In both shielded and unshielded contexts, the N170 amplitude was larger when participants viewed human faces and peaked later when a human face was inverted. More importantly, Bayesian analysis showed no difference in the N170 measured in the shielded and unshielded contexts. Further, the signal recorded in both contexts was highly correlated. The EPOC appears to reliably record EEG signals without a purpose-built electrically-shielded room or laboratory-grade preamplifier.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document