[Evoked Potentials on Faces Presented in Emotional Context].

Abstract

Ability for face recognition is a key skill for our social behavior. A lot of attention is devoted to investigation of emotional faces and expressions perception, but issue of context influence on face recognition process is not so explored. In the current study subjects had watched emotional film fragment before their EEG were recorded during the task with photos of neutral faces: actors from the film and fillers (actors who didn't appear in the film). Method of event-related potentials were used (ERP). The difference between amplitude of P200 component on faces of culprit and victim was found that may be connect with different subjective rele- vance of stimuli for person, who watched the film. Correlations between personal traits of subjects (anxiety, aggression, animosity) and enhanced amplitude of P200 on face of victim in comparison with filler face also were found. Further investigation of emotional context influence on face perception process is necessary.