title: Are event-related potentials to dynamic facial expressions of emotion related to individual differences in the accuracy of processing facial expressions and identity?
abstract: Despite a wealth of knowledge about the neural mechanisms behind emotional facial expression processing, little is known about how they relate to individual differences in social cognition abilities. We studied individual differences in the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by dynamic facial expressions. First, we assessed the latent structure of the ERPs, reflecting structural face processing in the N170, and the allocation of processing resources and reflexive attention to emotionally salient stimuli, in the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive complex (LPC). Then we estimated brain-behavior relationships between the ERP factors and behavioral indicators of facial identity and emotion-processing abilities. Structural models revealed that the participants who formed faster structural representations of neutral faces (i.e., shorter N170 latencies) performed better at face perception (r = -.51) and memory (r = -.42). The N170 amplitude was not related to individual differences in face cognition or emotion processing. The latent EPN factor correlated with emotion perception (r = .47) and memory (r = .32), and also with face perception abilities (r = .41). Interestingly, the latent factor representing the difference in EPN amplitudes between the two neutral control conditions (chewing and blinking movements) also correlated with emotion perception (r = .51), highlighting the importance of tracking facial changes in the perception of emotional facial expressions. The LPC factor for negative expressions correlated with the memory for emotional facial expressions. The links revealed between the latency and strength of activations of brain systems and individual differences in processing socio-emotional information provide new insights into the brain mechanisms involved in social communication.
authors.affiliation: Differential Psychology and Psychological Assessment, Universität Hamburg, Von-Melle-Park 5, R4004, D-20146, Hamburg, Germany. guillermo.recio@uni-hamburg.de.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Recio
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D011897:Random Allocation; D012938:Social Perception; D066107:Social Skills
keywords: Attention; Brain–behavior relations; ERP; Emotion; Individual differences