Skip to main content

Shared neural dynamics of facial expression processing.

Ely, M. M. and Ambrus, G. G., 2025. Shared neural dynamics of facial expression processing. Cognitive Neurodynamics, 19, 1-18.

Full text available as:

[thumbnail of Ely_Ambrus_2025.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Ely_Ambrus_2025.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.

7MB

DOI: 10.1007/s11571-025-10230-4

Abstract

The ability to recognize and interpret facial expressions is fundamental to human social cognition, enabling navigation of complex interpersonal interactions and understanding of others' emotional states. The extent to which neural patterns associated with facial expression processing are shared between observers remains unexplored, and no study has yet examined the neural dynamics specific to different emotional expressions. Additionally, the neural processing dynamics of facial attributes such as sex and identity in relation to facial expressions have not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we investigated the shared neural dynamics of emotional face processing using an explicit facial emotion recognition task, where participants made two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) decisions on the displayed emotion. Our data-driven approach employed cross-participant multivariate classification and representational dissimilarity analysis on EEG data. The results demonstrate that EEG signals can effectively decode the sex, emotional expression, and identity of face stimuli across different stimuli and participants, indicating shared neural codes for facial expression processing. Multivariate classification analyses revealed that sex is decoded first, followed by identity, and then emotion. Emotional expressions (angry, happy, sad) were decoded earlier when contrasted with neutral expressions. While identity and sex information were modulated by image-level stimulus features, the effects of emotion were independent of visual image properties. Importantly, our findings suggest enhanced processing of face identity and sex for emotional expressions, particularly for angry faces and, to a lesser extent, happy faces.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1871-4080
Additional Information:Supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-025-10230-4.
Uncontrolled Keywords:Electroencephalography;Emotions;Face processing;Facial expressions;Multivariate pattern analysis
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:40847
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:01 Apr 2025 11:11
Last Modified:01 Apr 2025 11:11

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

More statistics for this item...
Repository Staff Only -