The selective processing of briefly presented affective pictures: An ERP analysis

By:Schupp, HT (Schupp, HT); Junghofer, M (Junghofer, M); Weike, AI (Weike, AI); Hamm,
AO (Hamm, AO)
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
Volume: 41
Issue: 3
Pages: 441-449
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2004.00174.x
Published: MAY 2004
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Abstract
Recent event-related potential (ERP) studies revealed the selective processing of affective
pictures. The present study explored whether the same phenomenon can be observed when
pictures are presented only briefly. Toward this end. pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant
pictures from the International Affective Pictures Series were presented for 120 ins while
event related potentials were measured by dense sensor arrays. As observed for longer
picture presentations, brief affective pictures were selectively processed, Specifically,
pleasant and unpleasant pictures were associated with an early endogenous negative shift
over temporo-occipital sensors compared to neutral images. In addition, affective pictures
elicited enlarged late positive potentials over centro-parietal sensor sites relative to neutral
images. These data suggest that a quick glimpse of emotionally relevant stimuli appears
sufficient to tune the brain for selective perceptual processing.
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Emotion and attention: event-related brain potential studies
By:Schupp, HT (Schupp, Harald T.); Flaisch, T (Flaisch, Tobias); Stockburger, J
(Stockburger, Jessica); Junghofer, M (Junghoefer, Markus)
Edited by:Anders, S; Ende, G; Junghoffer, M; Kissler, J; Wildgruber, D
UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS
Book Series: PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH
Volume: 156
Pages: 31-51
DOI: 10.1016/S0079-6123(06)56002-9
Published: 2006
View Journal Information
Abstract

Emotional pictures guide selective visual attention. A series of event-related brain potential
(ERP) studies is reviewed demonstrating the consistent and robust modulation of specific
ERP components by emotional images. Specifically, pictures depicting natural pleasant and
unpleasant scenes are associated with an increased early posterior negativity, late positive
potential, and sustained positive slow wave compared with neutral contents. These
modulations are considered to index different stages of stimulus processing including
perceptual encoding, stimulus representation in working memory, and elaborate stimulus
evaluation. Furthermore, the review includes a discussion of studies exploring the interaction
of motivated attention with passive and active forms of attentional control. Recent research is
reviewed exploring the selective processing of emotional cues as a function of stimulus
novelty, emotional prime pictures, learned stimulus significance, and in the context of explicit
attention tasks. It is concluded that ERP measures are useful to assess the emotion-attention
interface at the level of distinct processing stages. Results are discussed within the context
of two-stage models of stimulus perception brought out by studies of attention, orienting, and
learning.
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Attention and emotion: an ERP analysis of facilitated emotional stimulus processing
By:Schupp, HT (Schupp, HT); Junghofer, M (Junghofer, M); Weike, AI (Weike, AI); Hamm,
AO (Hamm, AO)
NEUROREPORT
Volume: 14
Issue: 8
Pages: 1107-1110
DOI: 10.1097/01.wnr.0000075416.59944.49
Published: JUN 11 2003
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Abstract
Recent event-related potential studies observed an early posterior negativity (EPN) reflecting
facilitated processing of emotional images. The present study explored if the facilitated
processing of emotional pictures is sustained while subjects perform an explicit nonemotional attention task. EEG was recorded from 129 channels while subjects viewed a
rapid continuous stream of images containing emotional pictures as well as task-related
checkerboard images. As expected, explicit selective attention to target images elicited large
P3 waves. Interestingly, emotional stimuli guided stimulus-driven selective encoding as
reflected by augmented EPN amplitudes to emotional stimuli, in particular to stimuli of
evolutionary significance (erotic contents, mutilations, and threat). These data demonstrate
the selective encoding of emotional stimuli while top-down attentional control was directed
towards non-emotional target stimuli.
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Arousal modulates valence effects on both early and late stages of affective picture

processing in a passive viewing task.

By:Feng, Chunliang; Li, Wanqing; Tian, Tengxiang; Luo, Yi; Gu, Ruolei; Zhou, Chenglin; Luo,
Yue-Jia
Social neuroscience
Volume:9
Issue:4
Pages:364-77
DOI:10.1080/17470919.2014.896827
Published:2014-Aug (Epub 2014 Mar 07)
Abstract
Valence and arousal are primary dimensions of affective stimuli. An interaction of these two
factors on affective processing is largely unknown. In this study, the processing of affective
pictures was investigated in an orthogonal valence (positive vs. negative) by arousal (high
vs. low) task design. Participants were instructed to passively view each presented picture
and did not need to make any responses. The valence by arousal interaction was observed
on three event-related potential (ERP) components, including the P2 (160-190ms), N2 (220320ms) and late positive potential (LPP) (400-700ms). This interaction revealed that negative
pictures evoked larger neural responses compared with positive pictures (i.e., negative bias)
at the high-arousal level, whereas negative pictures evoked smaller neural responses than
positive pictures (i.e., positive offset) at the low-arousal level. The current results suggest
that the effect of emotional valence on affective picture perception is modulated by levels of
arousal at both early and late stages of processing. Finally, the main effect of valence was
evident in the P1 component (90-110ms) and arousal effect in the N1 component (120150ms).
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Fleeting images: A new look at early emotion discrimination
By:Junghofer, M (Junghofer, M); Bradley, MM (Bradley, MM); Elbert, TR (Elbert, TR); Lang,
PJ (Lang, PJ)
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
Volume: 38
Issue: 2
Pages: 175-178
DOI: 10.1017/S0048577201000762
Published: MAR 2001
View Journal Information
Abstract

The visual brain quickly sorted stimuli for emotional impact despite high-speed presentation
(3 or 5 per s) in a sustained, serial torrent of 700 complex pictures. Event-related potentials,
recorded with a dense electrode array, showed selective discrimination of emotionally
arousing stimuli from less affective content. Primary sources of this activation were over the
occipital cortices, extending to right parietal cortex: suggesting a processing focus in the
posterior visual system. Emotion discrimination was independent of formal pictorial
properties (color, brightness, spatial frequency, and com plexity). The data support the
hypothesis of a very short-term conceptual memory store (M. C. Potter, 1999)-shown here to
include a fleeting but reliable assessment of affective meaning
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Affective picture processing: The late positive potential is modulated by motivational
relevance
By:Schupp, HT (Schupp, HT); Cuthbert, BN (Cuthbert, BN); Bradley, MM (Bradley, MM);
Cacioppo, JT (Cacioppo, JT); Ito, T (Ito, T); Lang, PJ (Lang, PJ)
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
Volume: 37
Issue: 2
Pages: 257-261
DOI: 10.1017/S0048577200001530
Published: MAR 2000
View Journal Information
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that the late positive component of the event-related-potential
(ERP) is enhanced for emotional pictures, presented in an oddball paradigm, evaluated as
distant from an established affective context. In other research, with context-free, random
presentation, affectively intense pictures (pleasant and unpleasant) prompted similar
enhanced ERP late positivity (compared with the neutral picture response). In an effort to
reconcile interpretations of the late positive potential (LPP), ERPs to randomly ordered
pictures were assessed, but using the faster presentation rate, brief exposure (1.5 s), and
distinct sequences of six pictures, as in studies using an oddball based on evaluative
distance. Again, results showed larger LPPs to pleasant and unpleasant pictures, compared
with neutral pictures. Furthermore, affective pictures of high arousal elicited larger LPPs than
less affectively intense pictures. The data support the view that late positivity to affective
pictures is modulated both by their intrinsic motivational significance and the evaluative
context of picture presentation.
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Rapid emotional face processing in the human right and left brain hemispheres: an ERP
study
By:Pizzagalli, D (Pizzagalli, D); Regard, M (Regard, M); Lehmann, D (Lehmann, D)

NEUROREPORT
Volume: 10
Issue: 13
Pages: 2691-2698
DOI: 10.1097/00001756-199909090-00001
Published: SEP 9 1999
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Abstract
IMAGING work has begun to elucidate the spatial organization of emotions; the temporal
organization, however, remains unclear. Adaptive behavior relies on rapid monitoring of
potentially salient cues (typically with high emotional value) in the environment. To clarify the
timing and speed of emotional processing in the two human brain hemispheres, eventrelated potentials (ERPs) were recorded during hemifield presentation of face images. ERPs
were separately computed for disliked and liked faces, as individually assessed by postrecording affective ratings. After stimulation of either hemisphere, personal affective
judgements of face images significantly modulated ERP responses at early stages, 80-116
ms after right hemisphere and 104-106 ms ms after left hemisphere stimulation. This is the
first electrophysiological evidence for valence-dependent, automatic, ie. pre-attentive
emotional processing in humans. (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
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Affective picture processing as a function of preceding picture valence: An ERP analysis
By:Schupp, HT (Schupp, Harald T.)[ 1 ] ; Schmalzle, R (Schmaelzle, Ralf); Flaisch, T
(Flaisch, Tobias); Weike, AI (Weike, Almut I.)[ 2 ] ; Hamm, AO (Hamm, Alfons O.)[ 2 ]
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume: 91
Issue: 1
Pages: 81-87
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2012.04.006
Published: SEP 2012
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Abstract
Event-related brain potential (ERP) studies consistently revealed that a relatively early (early
posterior negativity; EPN) and a late (late positive potential; LPP) ERP component
differentiate between emotional and neutral picture stimuli. Two studies examined the
processing of emotional stimuli when preceded either by pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant
context images. In both studies, distinct streams of six pictures were shown. In Study 1,
hedonic context was alternated randomly across the 180 picture streams. In Study 2,

hedonic context sequences were blocked, resulting in 60 preceding sequences of pleasant,

neutral, and unpleasant context valence, respectively. The main finding was that the valence
of the preceding picture sequence had no significant effect on the emotional modulation of
the EPN and LPP components. However, previous results were replicated in that emotional
stimulus processing was associated with larger EPN and LPP components as compared to
neutral pictures. These findings suggest that the prioritized processing of emotional stimuli is
primarily driven by the valence of the current picture. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights
reserved.
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Affective picture processing: An integrative review of ERP findings
By:Olofsson, JK (Olofsson, Jonas K.)[ 1 ] ; Nordin, S (Nordin, Steven)[ 1 ] ; Sequeira, H
(Sequeira, Henrique)[ 2 ] ; Polich, J (Polich, John)[ 3 ]
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume: 77
Issue: 3
Pages: 247-265
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.11.006
Published: MAR 2008
View Journal Information
Abstract
The review summarizes and integrates findings from 40 years of event-related potential
(ERP) studies using pictures that differ in valence (unpleasant-to-pleasant) and arousal (lowto-high) and that are used to elicit emotional processing. Affective stimulus factors primarily
modulate ERP component amplitude, with little change in peak latency observed. Arousal
effects are consistently obtained, and generally occur at longer latencies. Valence effects are
inconsistently reported at several latency ranges, including very early components. Some
affective ERP modulations vary with recording methodology, stimulus factors, as well as
task-relevance and emotional state. Affective ERPs have been linked theoretically to
attention orientation for unpleasant pictures at earlier components (<300 ms). Enhanced
stimulus processing has been associated with memory encoding for arousing pictures of
assumed intrinsic motivational relevance, with task-induced differences contributing to
emotional reactivity at later components (>300 ms). Theoretical issues, stimulus factors, task
demands, and individual differences are discussed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights
reserved.
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Differentiating neural responses to emotional pictures: Evidence from temporal-spatial PCA
By:Foti, D (Foti, Dan)[ 1 ] ; Hajcak, G (Hajcak, Greg)[ 1 ] ; Dien, J (Dien, Joseph)[ 2 ]
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY

Volume: 46
Issue: 3
Pages: 521-530
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00796.x
Published: MAY 2009
View Journal Information
Abstract
Consistent with the notion that emotional stimuli receive preferential attention and perceptual
processing, many event-related potential (ERP) components appear sensitive to emotional
stimuli. In an effort to differentiate components that are sensitive to emotional versus neutral
stimuli, the current study utilized temporospatial principal components analysis to analyze
ERPs from a large sample (N=82) while pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant images were
passively viewed. Several factors sensitive to emotional stimuli were identified-corresponding
to the N1, early posterior negativity (EPN), and P3; multiple factors resembling the late
positive potential (LPP) emerged. Results indicate that the N1 represents the earliest
component modulated by emotional stimuli; the EPN and the LPP represent unique
components; the scalp-recorded LPP appears to include a P3-like positivity as well as
additional positivities at occipital and central recording sites.