ERP evidence for an early emotional bias towards happy faces in trait anxiety.
The present study examined the influence of trait anxiety on the early stages of emotional face processing. In order to test if such early effect of anxiety could appear in response to positive as well as to negative stimuli, we recorded event-related potentials in response to both happy and fearful faces - contrasted with neutral faces - during a task where attention was explicitly directed to the emotion, in two groups differing by their anxiety level. We observed an amplification of the occipital P1 peak (90-120 ms) in response to happy compared to neutral faces in high trait anxious participants but not in the low trait anxious ones. Additionally, the N170 and EPN components were enhanced for the negative (fearful) faces, with no impact of trait anxiety. Our results provide evidence for an early bias towards positive stimuli in trait anxiety.
CNRS, UMR 7295, CeRCA, Université François-Rabelais, Tours, France. Electronic address: shasha.morel@etu.univ-tours.fr.
Shasha
S
Morel
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, ICM, UMR_S 1127, and Centre MEG-EEG-CENIR, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France; Inserm, U 1127, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France; ENS, Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France.
Nathalie
N
George
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, ICM, UMR_S 1127, and Centre MEG-EEG-CENIR, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France; Inserm, U 1127, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France.
Aurélie
A
Foucher
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, ICM, UMR_S 1127, and Centre MEG-EEG-CENIR, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France; Inserm, U 1127, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France.
Mariam
M
Chammat
Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Paris, France; Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, ICM, UMR_S 1127, and Centre MEG-EEG-CENIR, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR 7225, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France; Inserm, U 1127, ICM and Centre MEG-EEG, Paris, France.
Stéphanie
S
Dubal
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D015982:Bias; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011594:Psychometrics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
Anxiety; Attention; Emotion; Event-related potentials; Face; P1