Krombholz Andreas, Schaefer Florian, Boucsein Wolfram
Department of Physiological Psychology, University of Wuppertal, Max-Horkheimer-Strasse 20, 42119 Wuppertal, Germany.
Biol Psychol. 2007 Oct;76(3):156-62. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.07.004. Epub 2007 Jul 26.
The N170 is widely regarded as a face sensitive potential, having its maximum at occipito-temporal sites, with right-hemisphere dominance. However, it is debatable whether the N170 is modulated by different emotional expressions of a face. The aim of this study was to analyze the N170 elicited by schematic happy and angry faces when the emotional expression is semantically processed. To investigate the influence of different emotional expressions of schematic faces, we used a Prime-Probe procedure with the N400 effect as an indicator for a semantic processing. Eighteen subjects were presented the German word "happiness" or "anger" followed by happy and angry faces. The word-face pair could be congruent or incongruent in emotional meaning. Subjects were instructed to compare the emotional meaning of the words and faces and to count the congruent trials. Event-related potentials were recorded from 124 sites. Congruent faces elicited a smaller negativity in the N400 time range than incongruent faces, indicating that the facial emotional expression was cognitively processed. The face sensitive N170 was most pronounced at posterior and occipital sites, and N170 amplitudes were larger following the angry as compared to the happy faces. It is concluded that different emotional expressions of schematic faces can modulate the N170.
N170被广泛认为是一种对面部敏感的电位，在枕颞部位达到最大值，具有右半球优势。然而，N170是否会受到面部不同情感表达的调节仍存在争议。本研究的目的是分析在对情感表达进行语义加工时，由示意性的开心脸和愤怒脸所诱发的N170。为了研究示意性面部不同情感表达的影响，我们采用了启动-探测程序，以N400效应作为语义加工的指标。向18名受试者呈现德语单词“happiness”或“anger”，随后呈现开心脸和愤怒脸。单词-面部组合在情感意义上可以是一致的或不一致的。受试者被要求比较单词和面部的情感意义，并对一致的试验进行计数。从124个部位记录事件相关电位。与不一致的面部相比，一致的面部在N400时间范围内诱发的负波较小，这表明面部情感表达得到了认知加工。对面部敏感的N170在后部和枕部部位最为明显，与开心脸相比，愤怒脸之后的N170波幅更大。研究得出结论，示意性面部的不同情感表达可以调节N170。
