Investigating electrophysiological correlates of nonconscious processing of facial expressions using dichoptic forward masking.

ABSTRACT: Affective stimuli, such as fearful faces, are assumed to receive prioritized processing over neutral stimuli, making them easier to detect when perception is suppressed using techniques such as visual masking or binocular rivalry. Moreover, some studies suggest that fearful expressions can be processed outside of conscious awareness, as evidenced by enhanced early event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to subliminally presented fearful vs. neutral faces. This might be associated with increased detection of fear-related stimuli. However, it remains unclear whether increased cortical processing of unseen fearful faces is a necessary condition for detection advantages and whether effects are related to expression-related or low-level features of stimuli. In the present pre-registered ERP

SUBMITTER: Bruchmann M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12570014 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature