scholarly journals Altering sensorimotor simulation impacts early stages of facial expression processing depending on individual differences in alexithymic traits

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Schiano Lomoriello ◽  
Antonio Maffei ◽  
Sabrina Brigadoi ◽  
Paola Sessa
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Facial Mimicry ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Expression Processing

Simulation models of facial expressions suggest that posterior visual areas and brain areas underpinning sensorimotor simulations might interact to improve facial expression processing. According to these models, facial mimicry, a manifestation of sensorimotor simulation, may contribute to the visual processing of facial expressions by influencing early stages. The aim of this study was to assess whether and how sensorimotor simulation influences early stages of face processing, also investigating its relationship with alexithymic traits given that previous studies have suggested that individuals with high levels of alexithymic traits (vs. individuals with low levels of alexithymic traits) tend to use sensorimotor simulation to a lesser extent. We monitored P1 and N170 ERP components of the event-related potentials (ERP) in participants performing a fine discrimination task of facial expressions and animals, as a control condition. In half of the experiment, participants could freely use their facial mimicry whereas in the other half they had their facial mimicry blocked by a gel. Our results revealed that only individuals with lower compared to high alexithymic traits showed a larger modulation of the P1 amplitude as a function of the mimicry manipulation selectively for facial expressions (but not for animals), while we did not observe any modulation of the N170. Given the null results at the behavioural level, we interpreted the P1 modulation as compensative visual processing in individuals with low levels of alexithymia under conditions of interference on the sensorimotor processing, providing a preliminary evidence in favor of sensorimotor simulation models.

scholarly journals Joint Modulation of Facial Expression Processing by Contextual Congruency and Task Demands

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Aguado ◽  
Karisa Parkington ◽  
Teresa Dieguez-Risco ◽  
José Hinojosa ◽  
Roxane Itier
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Early Posterior Negativity ◽  
The Face ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Expression Processing ◽  
And Task

Faces showing expressions of happiness or anger were presented together with sentences that described happiness-inducing or anger-inducing situations. Two main variables were manipulated: (i) congruency between contexts and expressions (congruent/incongruent) and (ii) the task assigned to the participant, discriminating the emotion shown by the target face (emotion task) or judging whether the expression shown by the face was congruent or not with the context (congruency task). Behavioral and electrophysiological results (event-related potentials (ERP)) showed that processing facial expressions was jointly influenced by congruency and task demands. ERP results revealed task effects at frontal sites, with larger positive amplitudes between 250–450 ms in the congruency task, reflecting the higher cognitive effort required by this task. Effects of congruency appeared at latencies and locations corresponding to the early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP) components that have previously been found to be sensitive to emotion and affective congruency. The magnitude and spatial distribution of the congruency effects varied depending on the task and the target expression. These results are discussed in terms of the modulatory role of context on facial expression processing and the different mechanisms underlying the processing of expressions of positive and negative emotions.

Affective facial expression processing in young children who have experienced maltreatment during the first year of life: An event-related potential study

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. John Curtis ◽  
Dante Cicchetti
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Facial Affect ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
First Year ◽  
Maltreated Children ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
First Year Of Life ◽  
Expression Processing

AbstractThis study employed event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neural correlates of facial affect processing in maltreated and nonmaltreated children at 42 months of age. ERPs elicited while children passively viewed standardized pictures of female models posing angry, happy, and neutral facial expressions were examined, and differences between maltreated (N = 46) and nonmaltreated (N = 25) children were reported. Three occipital components (P1, N170, and P400) and four frontal–central components (N150, P240, Nc, and a positive slow wave [PSW]) were identified. Findings revealed that maltreated children had greater P1 and P400 amplitude in response to angry facial affect compared to other emotions, and compared to nonmaltreated children. N170 amplitude was greater in response to happy compared to angry in the maltreated group. For the P240 component, maltreated children had greater amplitude in response to angry facial expressions relative to happy, whereas children in the nonmaltreated group had greater P240 amplitude in response to happy relative to angry facial affect. Further, the nonmaltreated group had greater PSW amplitude in response to angry facial affect, whereas those in the maltreated group showed greater PSW amplitude to happy facial expressions. The results provided further support for the hypothesis that the experience of maltreatment and the predominantly negative emotional tone in maltreating families alters the functioning of neural systems associated with the identification and processing of facial emotion. These results exemplify the importance of early preventive interventions focused on emotion for children who have experienced maltreatment early in life.

scholarly journals Altering sensorimotor simulation impacts early stages of facial expression processing depending on individual differences in alexithymic traits

2021 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
pp. 105678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Schiano Lomoriello ◽  
Antonio Maffei ◽  
Sabrina Brigadoi ◽  
Paola Sessa
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Facial Expression ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Expression Processing

An ERP Study on Facial Expression of Emotion: Comparison of Linguistic and Visual Semantic Decoding

2005 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Balconi
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Facial Stimuli ◽  
Facial Expression Of Emotion ◽  
Expression Of Emotion ◽  
Related Potentials

The present research compared the semantic information processing of linguistic stimuli with semantic elaboration of nonlinguistic facial stimuli. To explore brain potentials (ERPs, event-related potentials) related to decoding facial expressions and the effect of semantic valence of the stimulus, we analyzed data for 20 normal subjects ( M age = 23.6 yr., SD = 0.2). Faces with three basic emotional expressions (fear, happiness, and sadness from the 1976 Ekman and Friesen database), with three semantically anomalous expressions (with respect to their emotional content), and the neutral stimuli (face without an emotional content) were presented in a random order. Differences in peak amplitude of ERP were observed later for anomalous expressions compared with congruous expressions. In fact, the results demonstrated that the emotional anomalous faces elicited a higher negative peak at about 360 msec., distributed mainly over the posterior sites. The observed electrophysiological activity may represent specific cognitive processing underlying the comprehension of facial expressions in detection of semantic anomaly. The evidence is in favour of comparability of this negative deflection with the N400 ERP effect elicited by linguistic anomalies.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Abuse and Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions in Healthy Young Men: Event-Related Potential and Behavioral Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutong Liu ◽  
Huini Peng ◽  
Jianhui Wu ◽  
Hongxia Duan
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Emotional Abuse ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Childhood Emotional Abuse ◽  
The Relationship

Background: Individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment present with a deficiency in emotional processing in later life. Most studies have focused mainly on childhood physical or sexual abuse; however, childhood emotional abuse, a core issue underlying different forms of childhood maltreatment, has received relatively little attention. The current study explored whether childhood emotional abuse is related to the impaired processing of emotional facial expressions in healthy young men.Methods: The emotional facial processing was investigated in a classical gender discrimination task while the event-related potentials (ERPs) data were collected. Childhood emotional abuse was assessed by a Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) among 60 healthy young men. The relationship between the score of emotional abuse and the behavioral and the ERP index of emotional facial expression (angry, disgust, and happy) were explored.Results: Participants with a higher score of childhood emotional abuse responded faster on the behavioral level and had a smaller P2 amplitude on the neural level when processing disgust faces compared to neutral faces.Discussion: Individuals with a higher level of childhood emotional abuse may quickly identify negative faces with less cognitive resources consumed, suggesting altered processing of emotional facial expressions in young men with a higher level of childhood emotional abuse.

scholarly journals Neuropsychology of facial expressions. The role of consciousness in processing emotional faces

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Balconi
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Emotional Faces ◽  
Facial Expression Of Emotion ◽  
Expression Of Emotion ◽  
Brain Correlates ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Emotional Face

Neuropsychological studies have underlined the significant presence of distinct brain correlates deputed to analyze facial expression of emotion. It was observed that some cerebral circuits were considered as specific for emotional face comprehension as a function of conscious vs. unconscious processing of emotional information. Moreover, the emotional content of faces (i.e. positive vs. negative; more or less arousing) may have an effect in activating specific cortical networks. Between the others, recent studies have explained the contribution of hemispheres in comprehending face, as a function of type of emotions (mainly related to the distinction positive vs. negative) and of specific tasks (comprehending vs. producing facial expressions). Specifically, ERPs (event-related potentials) analysis overview is proposed in order to comprehend how face may be processed by an observer and how he can make face a meaningful construct even in absence of awareness. Finally, brain oscillations is considered in order to explain the synchronization of neural populations in response to emotional faces when a conscious vs. unconscious processing is activated.

scholarly journals Response of Schizophrenic Patients to Dynamic Facial Expressions: An Event-Related Potentials Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayuko Fukuta ◽  
Eiji Kirino ◽  
Reiichi Inoue ◽  
Heii Arai
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Dynamic Facial Expressions ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Related Potentials
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