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Updated: Jul 9, 2026
05:36
Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention
Published on: November 16, 2017
Affective picture perception: emotion, context, and the late positive potential
M Carmen Pastor1, Margaret M Bradley, Andreas Löw
1NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. mpastor@psb.uji.es
Brain Research
|December 11, 2007
Summary
Emotional pictures capture attention regardless of context, unlike neutral images which are influenced by presentation. This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate context effects on emotional picture processing.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psychophysiology
Background:
- Emotional stimuli elicit distinct neural responses compared to neutral stimuli.
- The influence of stimulus context on emotional processing is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how the presentation context (blocked vs. intermixed) affects event-related potentials (ERPs) to pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures.
- To determine if emotional picture processing is modulated by its surrounding context.
Main Methods:
- Measured ERPs in participants viewing pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures in blocked and intermixed contexts.
- Analyzed early ERP components (150-300 ms) and late positive potentials (LPP, 400-700 ms) over various scalp sensors.
Main Results:
- An early ERP component to pleasant pictures was context-independent.
- Emotional pictures (pleasant and unpleasant) elicited larger late positive potentials (LPP) and slow waves, unaffected by context.
- Neutral pictures showed context-dependent ERPs, with larger LPPs in blocked contexts.
Conclusions:
- Emotional pictures automatically engage attention and orienting responses, irrespective of the presentation context.
- Neutral picture processing is more susceptible to contextual influences, suggesting a flexible attentional system.
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