title: Rapid fear detection relies on high spatial frequencies.
abstract: Signals of threat--such as fearful faces--are processed with priority and have privileged access to awareness. This fear advantage is commonly believed to engage a specialized subcortical pathway to the amygdala that bypasses visual cortex and processes predominantly low-spatial-frequency information but is largely insensitive to high spatial frequencies. We tested visual detection of low- and high-pass-filtered fearful and neutral faces under continuous flash suppression and sandwich masking, and we found consistently that the fear advantage was specific to high spatial frequencies. This demonstrates that rapid fear detection relies not on low- but on high-spatial-frequency information--indicative of an involvement of cortical visual areas. These findings challenge the traditional notion that a subcortical pathway to the amygdala is essential for the initial processing of fear signals and support the emerging view that the cerebral cortex is crucial for the processing of ecologically relevant signals.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Kiley
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seymour
authors.forename: Martin N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Hebart
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sterzer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: consciousness; continuous flash suppression; facial expressions; fear; fear detection; fearful faces; sandwich masking; spatial frequency; visual perception