Study on differences of early-mid ERPs induced by emotional face and scene images

Abstract

Researches about the cortical processing mechanisms of emotions have important scientific significance and application value. To probe cortical processing differences of emotional face and scene images, electroencephalogram (EEG) of sixteen volunteers was recorded while they watching emotional images. Early-mid occipital ERPs (Event Related Potentials) under different images were compared, and RMS (Root Mean Square) was calculated to analyze activities of the whole brain. Results showed that the N1 (170 ms) amplitudes and P2 (250 ms) amplitudes induced by face images were respectively larger and smaller than that induced by scene images, which embodied specific processing of faces and reprocessing of complex scenes. Negative scene images were processed preferentially and induced more obvious N1 than positive or neutral scene images. Comparisons of ERPs among the whole brain displayed that occipital lobe was the main active region and frontal lobe responsible for emotional regulation was activated mainly at moments of N1 and P2. The early-mid ERPs comparisons explicitly showed cortical processing differences of emotional face and scene images, which deserved further studies.