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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 13, 2026

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Conscious and Non-conscious Representations of Emotional Faces in Asperger's Syndrome

Published on: July 31, 2016

Sex differences in interhemispheric communication during face identity encoding: evidence from ERPs.

Ornella Godard¹, Arnaud Leleu, Mohamed Rebaï

¹Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, UMR6265 CNRS, Equipe éthologie développementale et psychologie cognitive, Université de Bourgogne, 9(E) Bld Jeanne d'Arc, 21000 Dijon, France. ornella.godard@gmail.com

Neuroscience Research

|March 26, 2013

Summary

Men show right-hemisphere dominance for face processing, while women exhibit more bilateral brain activity. This study reveals sex-based differences in brain hemisphere communication during facial recognition tasks.

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Last Updated: May 13, 2026

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Human Brain Imaging

Background:

Hemispheric lateralization, the specialization of brain functions in one hemisphere, is well-documented.
Sex-related differences in brain structure and function are increasingly recognized, but their impact on face processing remains an active area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate sex-related differences in hemispheric lateralization and interhemispheric transmission times (IHTTs) during face identity encoding.
To examine these differences at the level of early visual event-related potential (ERP) components, specifically P1 and N170.

Main Methods:

Utilized a divided visual-field paradigm to present faces to either the left or right visual field.
Recorded event-related potentials (ERPs), focusing on P1 and N170 components, to analyze brain activity.
Measured interhemispheric transmission times (IHTTs) derived from ERP latencies.

Main Results:

No significant sex-related differences or lateralization effects were observed for the P1 component.
The N170 component showed sex-specific patterns: right hemisphere (RH) dominance in men and more bilateral activity in women.
N170 latencies and derived IHTTs indicated an RH advantage in men and a left hemisphere (LH) advantage in women.

Conclusions:

Face identity encoding reveals distinct patterns of hemispheric lateralization between men and women, starting at the N170 component.
These findings suggest functional, rather than structural, differences underlying sex-related hemispheric asymmetries in face processing.
The results generalize previous findings, highlighting sex differences in interhemispheric communication efficiency, particularly in the male brain.