In the Blink of an Eye: Neural Responses Elicited to Viewing the Eye Blinks of Another Individual

Brefczynski-Lewis, Julie A.; Berrebi, Michael E.; McNeely, Marie E.; Prostko, Amy L.; Puce, Aina

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2011.00068

Cited by 16 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Clusters of electrodes showing maximum ERP component amplitudes were identified in the bilateral temporo-occipital scalp, consistent with electrode positions that showed maxima in our previous studies (Puce et al, 2000, 2003; Brefczynski-Lewis et al, 2011), which were chosen to form an even cluster around electrodes P8, P08, and P10, and their respective left hemisphere homologues. These 10-10 electrode positions have been typically observed to produce N170s of maximal amplitude in previous studies.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 81%

Multiple faces elicit augmented neural activity

Puce¹,

McNeely²,

Berrebi³

et al. 2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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How do our brains respond when we are being watched by a group of people?Despite the large volume of literature devoted to face processing, this question has received very little attention. Here we measured the effects on the face-sensitive N170 and other ERPs to viewing displays of one, two and three faces in two experiments. In Experiment 1, overall image brightness and contrast were adjusted to be constant, whereas in Experiment 2 local contrast and brightness of individual faces were not manipulated. A robust positive-negative-positive (P100-N170-P250) ERP complex and an additional late positive ERP, the P400, were elicited to all stimulus types. As the number of faces in the display increased, N170 amplitude increased for both stimulus sets, and latency increased in Experiment 2. P100 latency and P250 amplitude were affected by changes in overall brightness and contrast, but not by the number of faces in the display per se. In Experiment 1 when overall brightness and contrast were adjusted to be constant, later ERP (P250 and P400) latencies showed differences as a function of hemisphere. Hence, our data indicate that N170 increases its magnitude when multiple faces are seen, apparently impervious to basic low-level stimulus features including stimulus size. Outstanding questions remain regarding category-sensitive neural activity that is elicited to viewing multiple items of stimulus categories other than faces.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 81%

Multiple faces elicit augmented neural activity

Puce¹,

McNeely²,

Berrebi³

et al. 2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…Notably, in all of our previous studies, we obtained neural responses to implicitly processed stimuli: most our stimulus paradigms involved passive viewing (Puce et al, 2000; 2003), with the exception of one task in which participants had to detect a non-face target stimulus that was superimposed on the train of dynamic real face stimuli (Brefczynski-Lewis et al, 2011). In this latter study similar modulatory effects of eye aversion were seen on N170.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of apparent motion perception of impoverished facial stimuli: A comparison of ERP and ERSP activity

et al. 2014

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Our brains readily decode human movements, as shown by neural responses to face and body motion. N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) are earlier and larger to mouth opening movements relative to closing in both line-drawn and natural faces, and gaze aversions relative to direct gaze in natural faces (Puce and Perrett, 2003; Puce et al., 2000). Here we extended this work by recording both ERP and oscillatory EEG activity (event-related spectral perturbations, ERSPs) to line-drawn faces depicting eye and mouth movements (Eyes: Direct vs Away; Mouth: Closed vs Open) and non-face motion controls. Neural activity was measured in 2 occipitotemporal clusters of 9 electrodes, one in each hemisphere. Mouth opening generated larger N170s than mouth closing, replicating earlier work. Eye motion elicited robust N170s that did not differ between gaze conditions. Control condition differences were seen, and generated the largest N170. ERSP difference plots across conditions in the occipitotemporal electrode clusters (Eyes: Direct vs Away; Mouth: Closed vs Open) showed statistically significant differences in beta and gamma bands for gaze direction changes and mouth opening at similar post-stimulus times and frequencies. In contrast, control stimuli showed activity in the gamma band with a completely different time profile and hemispheric distribution to facial stimuli. ERSP plots were generated in two 9 electrode clusters centered on central sites, C3 and C4. In the left cluster for all stimulus conditions, broadband beta suppression persisted from about 250 ms post-motion onset. In the right cluster, beta suppression was seen for control conditions only. Statistically significant differences between conditions were confined between 4 – 15 Hz, unlike occipitotemporal sites where differences occurred at much higher frequencies (high beta/gamma). Our data indicate that N170 amplitude is sensitive to the amount of movement in the visual field, independent of stimulus type. In contrast, occipitotemporal beta and gamma activity differentiate between facial and non-facial motion. Context and stimulus configuration likely play a role in shaping neural responses, based on comparisons of the current data to previously reported studies. Broadband suppression of central beta activity, and significant low frequency differences were likely stimulus driven and not contingent on behavioral responses.

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“…Two temporo-occipital 9 electrode clusters including equivalent 10–10 system sites P07/P9 and P08/P10 were chosen for further analyses, based on inspection of the grand averaged data from the current study and previously reported maxima in N170 amplitudes that used 4 electrode clusters for 64- and 128-channel EEG derivations, and P09 and P10 for smaller electrode arrays of 10–10 system sites (Puce et al, 2000 , 2003 ; Carrick et al, 2007 ; Brefczynski-Lewis et al, 2011 ; Rossi et al, 2014 ; Figures 2 , 3 ). Averaged data from the 9 electrodes in each hemispheric cluster were used in all subsequent ERP analyses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photographic but not line-drawn faces show early perceptual neural sensitivity to eye gaze direction

Rossi

Parada

Latinus

et al. 2015

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Our brains readily decode facial movements and changes in social attention, reflected in earlier and larger N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) to viewing gaze aversions vs. direct gaze in real faces (Puce et al., 2000). In contrast, gaze aversions in line-drawn faces do not produce these N170 differences (Rossi et al., 2014), suggesting that physical stimulus properties or experimental context may drive these effects. Here we investigated the role of stimulus-induced context on neurophysiological responses to dynamic gaze. Sixteen healthy adults viewed line-drawn and real faces, with dynamic eye aversion and direct gaze transitions, and control stimuli (scrambled arrays and checkerboards) while continuous electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded. EEG data from 2 temporo-occipital clusters of 9 electrodes in each hemisphere where N170 activity is known to be maximal were selected for analysis. N170 peak amplitude and latency, and temporal dynamics from Event-Related Spectral Perturbations (ERSPs) were measured in 16 healthy subjects. Real faces generated larger N170s for averted vs. direct gaze motion, however, N170s to real and direct gaze were as large as those to respective controls. N170 amplitude did not differ across line-drawn gaze changes. Overall, bilateral mean gamma power changes for faces relative to control stimuli occurred between 150–350 ms, potentially reflecting signal detection of facial motion. Our data indicate that experimental context does not drive N170 differences to viewed gaze changes. Low-level stimulus properties, such as the high sclera/iris contrast change in real eyes likely drive the N170 changes to viewed aversive movements.

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In the Blink of an Eye: Neural Responses Elicited to Viewing the Eye Blinks of Another Individual

Cited by 16 publications

References 57 publications

Multiple faces elicit augmented neural activity

Multiple faces elicit augmented neural activity

Neural correlates of apparent motion perception of impoverished facial stimuli: A comparison of ERP and ERSP activity

Photographic but not line-drawn faces show early perceptual neural sensitivity to eye gaze direction

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