Self-face and emotional faces—are they alike?

Abstract

The image of one’s own face is a particularly distinctive feature of the self. The self-face differs from other faces not only in respect of its familiarity, but also in respect of its subjective emotional significance and saliency. The current study aimed at elucidating similarities/dissimilarities between processing of one’s own face and emotional faces: happy faces (based on the self-positive bias) and fearful faces (because of their high perceptual saliency, a feature shared with self-face face). EEG data were collected in the group of 30 participants who performed a simple detection task. ERP analyses indicated significantly increased P3 and LPP amplitudes to the self-face in comparison to all other faces: fearful, happy, and neutral. Permutation tests confirmed the differences between the self-face and all three types of other faces for numerous electrode sites and in broad time windows. Representational similarity analysis, in turn, revealed distinct processing of the self-face and did not provide any evidence in favour of similarities between the self-face and emotional (either negative or positive) faces. These findings strongly suggest that the self-face processing do not resemble those of emotional faces, thus implying that prioritized self-referential processing is driven by the subjective relevance of one’s own face.

Impaired attentional bias toward one's own face in autism spectrum disorder: ERP evidence

“…Our P3 and permutation test results in the group of TD participants corroborate findings of previous studies reporting enhanced brain activity to the self‐face in comparison to other (either familiar or unfamiliar) faces (Bola et al, 2021; Cygan et al, 2014; Keyes et al, 2010; Sui et al, 2006; Tacikowski & Nowicka, 2010; Żochowska et al, 2021). Importantly, the novel Stroop‐like paradigm extends previous results providing evidence that the self‐prioritization effect is present even when the identity of faces is task‐irrelevant.…”

“…Similarly to emotionally salient stimuli, one may expect the saliency of self‐related stimuli to interfere with the task of naming colors in a Stroop‐like paradigm. The saliency of self‐related stimuli (e.g., one's own face) was emphasized in previous research (Bola et al, 2021; Wójcik et al, 2018, 2019) and detection of one's own face was shown to be associated with enhanced P3 (Gunji et al, 2009; Kotlewska & Nowicka, 2015; Sui et al, 2006; Tacikowski & Nowicka, 2010; Tanaka et al, 2006), even in comparison to emotional faces (Żochowska et al, 2021). Consequently, in the TD group, exposure to one's own face, even if task‐irrelevant, should result in increased P3 amplitudes, confirming the self‐prioritization effect.…”

“…The required sample size was estimated using the G*Power 3 software (Faul et al, 2007). We checked the group size on the basis of P3 data from our recently published ERP study on self‐face processing (Żochowska et al, 2021). We found that a sample size of 17 participants would be sufficient to detect P3 effects of the same magnitude with 95% power at a 0.05 significance level.…”

“…It is strongly linked to physical self‐identity (Estudillo, 2017; McNeill, 1998), and the image of one's own face may trigger the sense of self‐awareness in general (Devue & Brédart, 2011; Keenan et al, 2005). In the typically developing (TD) population, a growing literature shows the self‐preference effect as revealed by enhanced brain activity associated with the processing of that stimulus (e.g., Bola et al, 2021; Brédart et al, 2006; Kotlewska & Nowicka, 2015; Ma & Han, 2010; Miyakoshi et al, 2010; Tacikowski & Nowicka, 2010; Żochowska et al, 2021). The most important account of such self‐prioritization is that it is driven by tuning attention toward self‐related information, that is, self‐relevance modulates attentional processing (Humphreys & Sui, 2016; Sui & Rotshtein, 2019).…”

Eye size recognition of self and others among people with self-face dissatisfaction

“…It is known that the self-face is perceived and processed in preference to non-self-related information because it is closely related to oneself. Previous studies have shown that self-relevant information is considered more likely to be encoded and retrieved because it is seen and heard often in daily life ( Bola et al, 2021 ; Burton et al, 2005 ; Żochowska et al, 2021 ). Keenan et al (1999) conducted a three-choice reaction time task in which participants’ dominant (right) and nondominant (left) hands were used depending on whether the presented stimulus was a self-face, familiar face, or unfamiliar face.…”