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Updated: Nov 12, 2025

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

Fearful faces modulate spatial processing in peripersonal space: An ERP study.

Giulia Ellena¹, Francesca Starita¹, Patrick Haggard²

¹Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, 47521, Cesena, Italy.

Neuropsychologia

|March 16, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Fearful faces in near peripersonal space (PPS) enhance sensory processing for peripheral threats, suggesting a heightened defensive response. This effect, measured electrophysiographically, sharpens threat detection when danger is close.

Keywords:

Fearful faces Multisensory Integration N1 Peripersonal space Space representation

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Sensory Processing

Background:

Peripersonal space (PPS) is the body-centered region crucial for defensive responses to threats.
Previous research indicated that looming fearful faces in near PPS redirect sensory resources peripherally.
The neural mechanisms underlying this threat-modulated spatial processing remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the electrophysiological basis of how fearful faces in near PPS influence spatial attention.
To examine the neural processing of tactile stimuli under varying visual threat conditions (fearful vs. neutral faces) and spatial locations (near vs. far).

Main Methods:

Participants responded to tactile stimuli on the cheeks while viewing looming neutral or fearful avatar faces.
A visual probe (checkerboard ball) appeared centrally or peripherally relative to the avatar.
Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded brain activity, focusing on the N1 component of the event-related potential.

Main Results:

Behaviorally, peripheral tactile processing was facilitated by fearful faces in near PPS compared to neutral faces.
Electrophysiologically, a reduction in N1 amplitude for peripheral probes was observed with fearful versus neutral faces in near PPS.
Faster peripheral than central tactile responses correlated with smaller N1 amplitudes, indicating enhanced peripheral processing.

Conclusions:

Fearful faces encroaching on near peripersonal space may heighten expectations of peripheral visual events.
This fear-induced modulation enhances the defensive function of PPS when threat proximity is high but location is uncertain.
The findings elucidate neural mechanisms supporting adaptive defensive behaviors within the peripersonal space.