Event-Related Potentials to Facial Expressions Are Related to Stimulus-Level Perceived Arousal and Valence.

ABSTRACT: Facial expressions provide critical details about social partners' inner states. We investigated whether event-related potentials (ERP) related to the visual processing of facial expressions are modulated by participants' perceived arousal and valence at the stimulus level. ERPs were recorded while participants (N = 80) categorized the gender of faces expressing fear, anger, happiness, and no emotion. Participants then viewed each face again and rated them on arousal and valence using 1-9 Likert scales. For each participant, ratings of each unique face were linked back to corresponding ERP trials. ERPs were analyzed at all time points and electrodes using hierarchical mass univariate statistics. Three different ANOVA models were employed: the original emotion model, and models with valence

SUBMITTER: Durston AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11926668 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature