Emotional facial expressions reduce neural adaptation to face identity

Anna M V Gerlicher, Anouk M van Loon, H Steven Scholte, Victor A F Lamme, Andries R van der Leij

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In human social interactions, facial emotional expressions are a crucial source of information. Repeatedly presented information typically leads to an adaptation of neural responses. However, processing seems sustained with emotional facial expressions. Therefore, we tested whether sustained processing of emotional expressions, especially threat-related expressions, would attenuate neural adaptation. Neutral and emotional expressions (happy, mixed and fearful) of same and different identity were presented at 3 Hz. We used electroencephalography to record the evoked steady-state visual potentials (ssVEP) and tested to what extent the ssVEP amplitude adapts to the same when compared with different face identities. We found adaptation to the identity of a neutral face. However, for emotional faces, adaptation was reduced, decreasing linearly with negative valence, with the least adaptation to fearful expressions. This short and straightforward method may prove to be a valuable new tool in the study of emotional processing.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)610-4
Number of pages5
JournalSocial Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Volume9
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2014

Keywords

  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • Brain
  • Electroencephalography
  • Emotions
  • Evoked Potentials, Visual
  • Face
  • Facial Expression
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Young Adult
  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Emotional facial expressions reduce neural adaptation to face identity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this