Event-Related Brain Potential Correlates of Face Processing: A High-Precision Replication and Individual Differences...

While substantial individual differences in face processing abilities are well established, their neural basis remains underexplored. Moreover, while recent years have seen an increased interest in highly powered replications of event-related potential (ERP) studies, experiments estimating ERP face processing effects with high precision are currently lacking. Here, we tested participants (N = 84) with a battery of standard (CFMT+, GFMT2) and purpose-built behavioral tests (response time priming), and measured several ERP effects (P100 contrast effect, N170 inversion and selectivity effects, image-independent N250r). Data were analyzed using both traditional component-based ERP analyses and data-driven mass univariate tests. We found highly reliable results for all face ERP effects, with medium to large effect sizes. Our results further suggest partly different neuro-cognitive processes underlying N170 inversion and selectivity effects, as well as early (N250r) and later ERP repetition effects. While participants with larger contrast effects in the P100 demonstrated better performance in both the GFMT2 and the CMFT+, N170 latency was related to the former and the N170 inversion effect to the latter test. Overall, these results provide high-precision estimates of ERP face processing effects and extend our knowledge on the neural basis of individual differences in face processing.