Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
Brain Cogn. 2010 Jun;73(1):20-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2010.01.007. Epub 2010 Mar 6.
Facial expressions are a basic form of non-verbal communication that convey important social information to others. The relevancy of this information is highlighted by findings that backward masked facial expressions facilitate spatial attention. This attention effect appears to be mediated through a neural network consisting of the amygdala, anterior cingulate, and visual cortex. However, a direct investigation of the neural time course associated with orienting to such stimuli has yet to be performed. In the current investigation, a backward masked fearful face dot-probe task was performed while ERPs were recorded. Reaction time results suggest that spatial attention is captured by backward masked fearful faces and attention is focused at the location of the fear stimulus. Masked right visual field fearful faces enhanced the N170 amplitudes of contralateral occipito-temporal electrodes. The rapid contralateral N170 enhancement was positively correlated with participants' behavioral index of spatial attention. Thus, backward masked fearful face-elicited spatial attention facilitates behavior and modulates the early stage of facial processing reflected by the N170.
面部表情是一种基本的非言语交际形式，向他人传达重要的社会信息。这些信息的相关性通过以下发现得到了强调：掩蔽后的面部表情有助于空间注意。这种注意效应似乎是通过由杏仁核、前扣带和视觉皮层组成的神经网络介导的。然而，对于与这种刺激相关的神经时程的直接研究尚未进行。在当前的研究中，当记录 ERP 时，进行了掩蔽后的恐惧面孔点探测任务。反应时间的结果表明，空间注意被掩蔽后的恐惧面孔所捕捉，并且注意力集中在恐惧刺激的位置。掩蔽的右视野恐惧面孔增强了对侧枕颞电极的 N170 振幅。快速的对侧 N170 增强与参与者空间注意的行为指标呈正相关。因此，掩蔽后的恐惧面孔引起的空间注意促进了行为，并调节了由 N170 反映的面部处理的早期阶段。
