The Task-irrelevant affective flanker effects on the impression judgement for facial expression

The threat capture hypothesis states that threatening stimuli are automatically processed with higher priority than non-threatening stimuli, irrespective of the task. We evaluated the threat capture hypothesis with respect to the early perceptual stages of face processing. We focused on an electrophysiological marker of face processing (the lateralized N170) in response to neutral, happy, and angry facial expressions displayed in competition with a non-face stimulus (a house). We evaluated how effects of facial expression on the lateralized N170 were modulated by task demands. In one task, participants were required to identify the gender of the face, which made the face task-relevant and entailed structural encoding of the face stimulus. In another task, participants identified the location of a missing pixel in the fixation cross, which made the face task-irrelevant and placed it outside the focus of attention. When faces were relevant, the lateralized N170 to angry faces was enhanced compared to happy and neutral faces. When faces were irrelevant, facial expression had no effect. These results reveal the critical role of task demands on the preference for threatening faces, indicating that top-down, voluntary processing modulates the prioritization of threat.

Download Full-text

Variation of nontarget visual stimuli and task-irrelevant P3

Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/s0013-4694(97)88910-2 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 103 (1) ◽

pp. 191-192

Author(s):

M Saito

Keyword(s):

Visual Stimuli ◽

Task Irrelevant ◽

And Task

Download Full-text

The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression

10.1017/cbo9780511752841 ◽

1990 ◽

Cited By ~ 128

Author(s):

G. -B. Duchenne de Boulogne

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Human Facial Expression

Download Full-text

The Relationship of Interrogative Suggestibility to Memory and Attention

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803.20.2.79 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 79-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

R.C. Howard ◽

A. Chaiwutikornwanich

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Short Story ◽

Oddball Paradigm ◽

Memory Processes ◽

Memory And Attention ◽

Irrelevant Distractors ◽

Alternative Hypotheses ◽

Visual Oddball Paradigm ◽

Interrogative Suggestibility ◽

Task Irrelevant

This study combined an individual differences approach to interrogative suggestibility (IS) with ERP recordings to examine two alternative hypotheses regarding the source of individual differences in IS: (1) differences in attention to task-relevant vis-à-vis task-irrelevant stimuli, and (2) differences in one or more memory processes, indexed by ERP old/new effects. Sixty-five female participants underwent an ERP recording during the 50 min interval between immediate and delayed recall of a short story. ERPs elicited by pictures that either related to the story (“old”), or did not relate to the story (“new”), were recorded using a three-stimulus visual oddball paradigm. ERP old/new effects were examined at selected scalp regions of interest at three post-stimulus intervals: early (250-350 ms), middle (350-700 ms), and late (700-1100 ms). In addition, attention-related ERP components (N1, P2, N2, and P3) evoked by story-relevant pictures, story-irrelevant pictures, and irrelevant distractors were measured from midline electrodes. Late (700-1100 ms) frontal ERP old/new differences reflected individual differences in IS, while early (250-350 ms) and middle latency (350-700 ms) ERP old/new differences distinguished good from poor performers in memory and oddball tasks, respectively. Differences in IS were not reflected in ERP indices of attention. Results supported an account of IS as reflecting individual differences in postretrieval memory processes.

Download Full-text

A New Technique to Measure the Level of Interest Using Heartbeat-Evoked Brain Potential

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000257 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 15-22

Author(s):

Kohei Fuseda ◽

Jun’ichi Katayama

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Random Order ◽

Overt Response ◽

Brain Potential ◽

Probe Technique ◽

Dynamic Stimuli ◽

Attentional Resources ◽

Opposite Sex ◽

A New Technique ◽

Task Irrelevant

Abstract. Interest is a positive emotion related to attention. The event-related brain potential (ERP) probe technique is a useful method to evaluate the level of interest in dynamic stimuli. However, even in the irrelevant probe technique, the probe is presented as a physical stimulus and steals the observer’s attentional resources, although no overt response is required. Therefore, the probe might become a problematic distractor, preventing deep immersion of participants. Heartbeat-evoked brain potential (HEP) is a brain activity, time-locked to a cardiac event. No probe is required to obtain HEP data. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether the HEP can be used to evaluate the level of interest. Twenty-four participants (12 males and 12 females) watched attractive and unattractive individuals of the opposite sex in interesting and uninteresting videos (7 min each), respectively. We performed two techniques each for both the interesting and the uninteresting videos: the ERP probe and the HEP techniques. In the former, somatosensory stimuli were presented as task-irrelevant probes while participants watched videos: frequent (80%) and infrequent (20%) stimuli were presented at each wrist in random order. In the latter, participants watched videos without the probe. The P2 amplitude in response to the somatosensory probe was smaller and the positive wave amplitudes of HEP were larger while watching the videos of attractive individuals than while watching the videos of unattractive ones. These results indicate that the HEP technique is a useful method to evaluate the level of interest without an external probe stimulus.

Download Full-text