title: Single-trial ERP evidence for the three-stage scheme of facial expression processing.
abstract: Using a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm, we previously showed that the average amplitudes of six event-related potential (ERP) components were affected by different categories of emotional faces. In the current study, we investigated the six discriminating components on a single-trial level to clarify whether the amplitude difference between experimental conditions results from a difference in the real variability of single-trial amplitudes or from latency jitter across trials. It is found that there were consistent amplitude differences in the single-trial P1, N170, VPP, N3, and P3 components, demonstrating that a substantial proportion of the average amplitude differences can be explained by the pure variability in amplitudes on a single-trial basis between experimental conditions. These single-trial results verified the three-stage scheme of facial expression processing beyond multitrial ERP averaging, and showed the three processing stages of "fear popup", "emotional/unemotional discrimination", and "complete separation" based on the single-trial ERP dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Affective and Social Neuroscience, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
authors.forename: Dandan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yuejia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult