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Combined effects of attention and inversion on event-related potentials to human bodies and faces

Combined effects of attention and inversion on event-related potentials to human bodies and faces We investigated effects of attentional load and inversion on event-related potentials to body or face distractors. Participants performed demanding (high load) or less demanding (low load) unrelated letter-search tasks. Bodies and faces were intact (Experiment 1) or without heads or eyes (Experiment 2). We measured prominent P100, N170, and late occipito-temporal negative (LNC) components. N170 to bodies had smaller and more anterior maxima than faces. N170 to intact bodies and faces was increased by inversion, relatively independently of load. Inversion effects were dramatically reduced for headless bodies, and even reversed for eyeless faces. Load effects were most prominent in LNC, with enhanced negativity under low load. We suggest that N170 reflects mandatory, category-specific initial distractor encoding in body- or face-sensitive cortical areas, a process which may depend on interactive encoding of hierarchical cues (bodies, heads, eyes). By contrast, LNC mainly reflects residual capacity allocated to extended processing of task-irrelevant distractors. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Cognitive Neuroscience Taylor & Francis

Combined effects of attention and inversion on event-related potentials to human bodies and faces

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References (35)

Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
Copyright 2011 Psychology Press, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
ISSN
1758-8936
eISSN
1758-8928
DOI
10.1080/17588928.2011.597848
pmid
24168528
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

We investigated effects of attentional load and inversion on event-related potentials to body or face distractors. Participants performed demanding (high load) or less demanding (low load) unrelated letter-search tasks. Bodies and faces were intact (Experiment 1) or without heads or eyes (Experiment 2). We measured prominent P100, N170, and late occipito-temporal negative (LNC) components. N170 to bodies had smaller and more anterior maxima than faces. N170 to intact bodies and faces was increased by inversion, relatively independently of load. Inversion effects were dramatically reduced for headless bodies, and even reversed for eyeless faces. Load effects were most prominent in LNC, with enhanced negativity under low load. We suggest that N170 reflects mandatory, category-specific initial distractor encoding in body- or face-sensitive cortical areas, a process which may depend on interactive encoding of hierarchical cues (bodies, heads, eyes). By contrast, LNC mainly reflects residual capacity allocated to extended processing of task-irrelevant distractors.

Journal

Cognitive NeuroscienceTaylor & Francis

Published: Sep 1, 2011

Keywords: Body; Face; Event-related potential (ERP); N170; Attention

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