The influence of stimulus valence on perceptual processing of facial expressions and subsequent response inhibition

• Published in: Psychophysiology 2020-02, Vol.57 (2), p.e13467-n/a
• Main Authors: Stockdale, Laura A., Morrison, Robert G., Silton, Rebecca L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adolescent; Adult; Arousal; Attention - physiology; Attention task; Cognitive ability; Electroencephalography; emotional face processing; Emotions - physiology; ERP; Event-related potentials; Event-Related Potentials, P300 - physiology; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Executive Function - physiology; Facial Expression; Facial Recognition - physiology; Female; Gender; Humans; Information processing; Inhibition, Psychological; Latency; Male; N170; N200/P300; P100; Pattern recognition; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; response inhibition; Scalp; Sex discrimination; stop‐signal task; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13467

The constant interplay between affective processing and cognitive control supports emotion regulation and appropriate social functioning. Even when affective stimuli are processed implicitly, threat‐related stimuli are prioritized in the earliest stages of processing; yet, it remains unclear how implicit attention to affect influences subsequent cognitive control functions. The present study evaluated the influence of affective valence on early perceptual processes and subsequent response inhibition in a context where affective properties of the stimuli (facial expressions) were not critical for performing the task. Participants (N = 32) completed an affective stop‐signal task (SST) while their scalp EEGs were recorded. The SST assessed response inhibition while participants implicitly attended to happy and afraid facial expressions that were matched for level of arousal. Behavioral performance was measured via response time and accuracy while physiological response was measured via the P100, N170, and N200/P300 ERP components. Decreased gender discrimination accuracy, delayed P100 latency, and more negative N170 amplitude were observed for afraid faces compared to happy faces, suggesting a shift in processing with respect to face valence. However, differences in stopping accuracy or N200/P300 ERP components during response inhibition were not observed, pointing to top‐down cognitive processes likely being recruited to override the early automatic response to prioritize threat‐related stimuli. Findings highlight that, in this implicit affective attention task, threat‐related stimuli are prioritized early during processing, but implicitly attending to differentially valenced stimuli did not modulate subsequent cognitive control functions. The constant interplay between affective processing and cognitive control supports social functioning. When affective stimuli are processed implicitly, threat‐related stimuli are prioritized in the earliest stages of processing; yet, it remains unclear how implicit attention to affect influences subsequent cognitive control functions. Results from the present study illustrated that participants prioritized task‐irrelevant, threat‐related stimuli during early perceptual processing, as evidenced by reduced accuracy for threat‐related stimuli and delayed P100 latency and increased N170 amplitude in response to threat‐related stimuli. However, despite early prioritization of threat‐related stimuli, subsequent response inhibiti