An eye for detail: an event-related potential study of the rapid processing of fearful facial expressions in children.
There is converging evidence for the presence of a fast subcortical face-processing route that operates on global face characteristics in the mature brain. Until now, little has been known about the development of such a route, which is surprising given suggestions that this fast subcortical face-processing route might be affected in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. To address this, early visual event-related potentials to pictures of fearful and neutral faces containing detailed or global information in 3- to 4-year-old (n = 20), 5- to 6-year-old (n = 25), and 7- to 8-year-old (n = 25) children were compared. In children, emotional processing was driven by detailed information. Developmental effects are discussed in terms of maturation of the fast subcortical face-processing route as well as an increase in experience with facial expressions with age.
Vlamings
Petra H J M
PH
Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Section, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. p.vlamings@psychology.unimaas.nl
Jonkman
Lisa M
LM
Kemner
Chantal
C
D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*