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Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings

This research explores early Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) sensitivity to facial stimuli, investigating various facial features aimed to unveil underlying neural mechanisms. Two experiments, each involving 15 undergraduate students, utilized a multidimensional stimulus set incorporating race, gend...

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Autor principal: Brunet, Nicolas M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10634455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37954936
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1268972
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author Brunet, Nicolas M.
author_facet Brunet, Nicolas M.
author_sort Brunet, Nicolas M.
collection PubMed
description This research explores early Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) sensitivity to facial stimuli, investigating various facial features aimed to unveil underlying neural mechanisms. Two experiments, each involving 15 undergraduate students, utilized a multidimensional stimulus set incorporating race, gender, age, emotional expression, face masks, and stimulus orientation. Findings highlight significant modulations in N170 and P200 amplitudes and latencies for specific attributes, replicating prior research and revealing novel insights. Notably, age-related facial feature variations, facial inversion, and the presence of face masks significantly impact neural responses. Several speculative explanations are proposed to elucidate these results: First, the findings lend support to the idea that the increased N170 amplitude observed with facial inversion is closely tied to the activation of object-sensitive neurons. This is further bolstered by a similar amplitude increase noted when masks (effective objects) are added to faces. Second, the absence of an additional amplitude increase, when inverting face images with face masks suggests that neural populations may have reached a saturation point, limiting further enhancement. Third, the study reveals that the latency deficit in N170 induced by facial inversion is even more pronounced in the subsequent ERP component, the P200, indicating that face inversion may impact multiple stages of face processing. Lastly, the significant increase in P200 amplitude, typically associated with face typicality, for masked faces in this study aligns with previous research that demonstrated elevated P200 amplitudes for scrambled faces. This suggests that obscured faces may be processed as typical, potentially representing a default state in face processing.
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spelling pubmed-106344552023-11-10 Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings Brunet, Nicolas M. Front Hum Neurosci Human Neuroscience This research explores early Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) sensitivity to facial stimuli, investigating various facial features aimed to unveil underlying neural mechanisms. Two experiments, each involving 15 undergraduate students, utilized a multidimensional stimulus set incorporating race, gender, age, emotional expression, face masks, and stimulus orientation. Findings highlight significant modulations in N170 and P200 amplitudes and latencies for specific attributes, replicating prior research and revealing novel insights. Notably, age-related facial feature variations, facial inversion, and the presence of face masks significantly impact neural responses. Several speculative explanations are proposed to elucidate these results: First, the findings lend support to the idea that the increased N170 amplitude observed with facial inversion is closely tied to the activation of object-sensitive neurons. This is further bolstered by a similar amplitude increase noted when masks (effective objects) are added to faces. Second, the absence of an additional amplitude increase, when inverting face images with face masks suggests that neural populations may have reached a saturation point, limiting further enhancement. Third, the study reveals that the latency deficit in N170 induced by facial inversion is even more pronounced in the subsequent ERP component, the P200, indicating that face inversion may impact multiple stages of face processing. Lastly, the significant increase in P200 amplitude, typically associated with face typicality, for masked faces in this study aligns with previous research that demonstrated elevated P200 amplitudes for scrambled faces. This suggests that obscured faces may be processed as typical, potentially representing a default state in face processing. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC10634455/ /pubmed/37954936 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1268972 Text en Copyright © 2023 Brunet. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Human Neuroscience
Brunet, Nicolas M.
Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title_full Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title_fullStr Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title_full_unstemmed Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title_short Face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
title_sort face processing and early event-related potentials: replications and novel findings
topic Human Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10634455/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37954936
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1268972
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