Money or smiles: Independent ERP effects of associated monetary reward and happy faces

Abstract

In comparison to neutral faces, facial expressions of emotion are known to elicit attentional prioritization, mainly demonstrated by means of event-related potentials (ERPs). Recent evidence indicated that such a preferential processing can also be gained by neutral faces when associated with increased motivational salience via reward. It remains, however, an open question, whether impacts of inherent emotional salience and associated motivational salience might be integrated. In the present study, participants (N=42) learned to categorize happy and neutral faces as reward-and zero-outcome-related via an associative learning paradigm. After successful learning, a consolidation phase followed to strengthen the learned associations. ERPs were recorded throughout the experiment. In the learning phase, happy faces boosted the face-sensitive N170 and the emotion-related EPN component, compared to neutral faces, whereas effects of associated motivational salience were absent. In the subsequent consolidation phase, happy faces again elicited enhanced N170 and EPN amplitudes, while reward-associated faces -irrespective of their expressions -amplified the LPC, a component linked to higherorder evaluations. Interactions between expressions and associated outcome conditions were absent in all ERP components of interest. The present study offers new evidence that acquired salience impacts stimulus processing but independent of the effects driven by happy facial expressions.

Neural Mechanisms of Overt Attention Shifts to Emotional Faces

“…This is in line with previous studies finding emotion effects on the EPN (e.g. Hammerschmidt et al, 2018;Schupp et al, 2003) and confirms that this component is a reliable indicator of emotional content and its attentional draw. Notably, the EPN time windows (250 -300ms) might overlap with the time point during which saccades occur.…”

“…The increased neural responses can be measured with Electroencephalography (EEG), to determine Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), reflecting the time-course of stimulus processing with a high temporal accuracy. Emotional, compared to neutral, stimuli elicit an increased Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), a negative response occurring 250-300 ms after the onset of a stimulus in posterior areas of the brain (Hammerschmidt, Kulke, Broering, & Schacht, 2018;Schupp, Junghöfer, Weike, & Hamm, 2003). A later response, the Late Positive Potential (LPP, also LPC) has also been shown to be increased to happy (Bublatzky, Gerdes, White, Riemer, & Alpers, 2014;Recio, Sommer, & Schacht, 2011) and angry (Schupp et al, 2004) compared to neutral faces.…”

Do emojis influence social interactions? Neural and behavioral responses to affective emojis in bargaining situations

“…In the current study, monetary feedback seemed to dominate the behavioral responses to offers, whereas the different social identities did not alter decision making. A possible solution for this lack of influence might be to enrich different identities by further information (e.g., by intensifying their social and emotional relevance; Bublatzky, Gerdes, White, Riemer, & Alpers, ; Hammerschmidt, Kulke, Broering, & Schacht, ). Taken together, our paradigm may be useful to experimentally examine social influence in the sense or context of classic research in social psychology in the future (e.g., Cialdini & Goldstein, ), since we at least found effects regarding altered neuronal processing of affective emojis.…”

Differential effects of learned associations with words and pseudowords on event-related brain potentials

“…According to the dual competition model (Pessoa, 2009), emotional and motivational stimuli, similar to physically salient stimuli, are processed preferentially, leading to improved perceptual and behavioural responses towards them. Empirically, for example, gain-associated faces compared to zero outcome associated faces showed increases in P1 amplitude (Hammerschmidt, Sennhenn-Reulen, & Schacht, 2017) and boosted amplitudes of the Late Positive Complex (LPC) (Hammerschmidt, Kagan, Kulke, & Schacht, 2018;Hammerschmidt, Kulke, Broering, & Schacht, 2018). ERP modulations in the C1 time range were also reported for line gratings associated with threat-related pictures (Stolarova, Keil, & Moratti, 2005).…”