Effects of attractiveness on face memory separated from distinctiveness: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Abstract

. (2014) 'Eects of attractiveness on face memory separated from distinctiveness : evidence from event-related brain potentials. ', Neuropsychologia., Further information on publisher's website: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. AbstractThe present study examined effects of attractiveness on behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) correlates of face memory. Extending previous reports, we controlled for potential moderating effects of distinctiveness, a variable known to affect memory. Attractive and unattractive faces were selected on the basis of a rating study, and were matched for distinctiveness. In a subsequent recognition memory experiment, we found more accurate memory for unattractive relative to attractive faces. Additionally, an attractiveness effect in the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) during learning, with larger amplitudes for attractive than unattractive faces, correlated significantly with the magnitude of the memory advantage for unattractive faces at test. These findings establish a contribution of attractiveness to face memory over and above the well-known effect of distinctiveness. Additionally, as the EPN is typically enhanced for affective stimuli, our ERP results imply that the processing of emotionally relevant attractive faces during learning may hamper their encoding into memory.

Beauty is in the belief of the beholder: cognitive influences on the neural response to facial attractiveness

“…In a similar vein, prior research has shown the EPN/N250 to be enhanced both by facial attractiveness (Werheid et al , 2007; Wiese et al , 2014) as well as the repetition of face stimuli (Schweinberger et al , 2004; Tanaka et al , 2006). Our own results successfully replicate both of these independent findings.…”

“…To derive the EPN/N250 for our exploratory analyses, we applied the aforementioned processing stream, with two differences: (i) we used an average scalp reference in accordance with prior research (Schweinberger et al , 2004; Wiese et al , 2014) 3 and (ii) single-trial EEG epochs were extracted for a period beginning 200 ms before face image onset until 600 ms. After artifact rejection on these epochs, ∼98% of trials remained for analyses in each of the three trial types. The EPN/N250 was quantified as the average activity at sites TP9/TP10, where visual inspection suggested the component was maximal, in the 200–400 ms time window 4 …”

“…In particular, a negative waveform occurring in the 200–400 ms time range at temporal-occipital sites on the scalp—corresponding to the early posterior negativity (EPN; Schupp et al , 2004, 2007) or the N250 (Schweinberger et al , 2004; Wiese et al , 2014)—has been linked to a rapid identification process which assigns motivational significance to stimuli. Although the LPP has been shown to be reliably altered by emotion regulation techniques such as the cognitive reappraisal of affective stimuli (Foti and Hajcak, 2008; Thiruchselvam et al , 2011), evidence for the impact of cognitive change on this earlier ERP component remains sparse.…”

“…TP9/TP10) suggested that facial attractiveness modulated the negative waveform beginning at 200 ms. Consistent with prior research (Wiese et al , 2014), we coded the EPN/N250 activity until 400 ms. The reported effects are still present when using the 270–400 ms window as employed by Wiese et al (2014).…”

Early temporal negativity is sensitive to perceived (rather than physical) facial identity

“…Selections were based on high and similar distinctiveness ratings in a pre-study that used a deviation measure (Wickham, Morris, & Fritz, 2000;Wiese, Altmann, & Schweinberger, 2014). In this pre-study, 13 participants (5 male, M age = 25.7 years, SD age = 3.4) rated the distinctiveness of eight famous faces (David Beckham, Orlando Bloom, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo Di Caprio, Kevin Costner, Wladimir Klitschko, Brad Pitt, and John Travolta) on a six-point scale with respect to how much a face deviated in visual appearance from typical faces known to them (1 = very much, 6 = very little).…”