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Updated: Mar 17, 2026
05:36
Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention
Published on: November 16, 2017
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Social motivation modulates early visual processing for a few others' emotions
Kei Kobayashi1, Tetsuko Kasai2
1Graduate School of Education, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan.
Summary
Individual differences in empathy influence how the brain processes multiple happy faces. This suggests social motivation dynamically shapes early visual attention to emotional expressions.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
- Visual Processing
Background:
- Emotional faces enhance early event-related potentials (ERPs), indicating implicit visual processing.
- Individual interpersonal traits can influence responses to facial expressions.
- Social interactions frequently involve viewing multiple faces, yet research often focuses on single faces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the number of happy faces implicitly modulates early visual processing.
- To examine the role of individual differences in empathic concern in this modulation.
- To explore the interplay between processing multiple emotional faces and social motivation.
Main Methods:
- Participants viewed arrays of three faces (varying happy and neutral expressions) while performing a visual task.
- Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded early event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically P1 and N170 amplitudes.
- Self-reported empathic concern was assessed to measure individual differences.
Main Results:
- The numerosity of happy faces and empathic concern jointly modulated posterior P1 and N170 amplitudes.
- Specific patterns indicated that prioritized facial expression processing varied with empathic concern levels and processing stages.
- This suggests an interaction between processing multiple emotional faces and the viewer's social motivation.
Conclusions:
- Early visual processing of multiple emotional faces is dynamically influenced by viewer's social motivation, specifically empathic concern.
- This highlights an interplay between trait empathy and the automatic processing of social cues from multiple individuals.
- Visuo-attentional processes for multiple others' emotional states are dynamic and influenced by individual differences.
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