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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 21, 2026

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Working memory load reduces facilitated processing of threatening faces: an ERP study.

Lotte F Van Dillen¹, Belle Derks

¹Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, Netherlands. Dillenlfvan@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Emotion (Washington, D.C.)

|May 31, 2012

Summary

Cognitive load from working memory impacts threat detection. High working memory load reduces the processing of threatening faces, suggesting cognitive resources are vital for threat cue processing.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Social Psychology

Background:

Threatening facial expressions capture attention rapidly.
The role of cognitive resources, such as working memory, in modulating this threat bias is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how working memory load influences the processing of threatening (angry) versus neutral (happy) faces.
To determine if cognitive resource availability is a prerequisite for the negativity bias in face perception.

Main Methods:

Participants performed a gender-naming task on angry and happy faces under varying working memory load conditions (1-digit vs. 8-digit rehearsal).
Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), specifically N2 and Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitudes, were recorded.
Behavioral measures (reaction times) were analyzed to assess the negativity bias.

Main Results:

The behavioral negativity bias (slower responses to angry faces) was abolished under high working memory load.
Event-related potentials showed reduced N2 amplitudes to angry faces under low load, and significantly reduced LPP amplitudes under high load.
High working memory load diminished the enhanced LPP response typically seen for angry faces.

Conclusions:

Working memory load enhances attentional control, diminishing the processing of threatening facial cues.
Facilitated processing of threat is contingent on the availability of cognitive resources.
These findings highlight the dynamic interplay between cognitive load and emotional face perception.