Neural Oscillations Underlying Guilt-Related Modulation of Visual Size Perception

Recent research demonstrates that guilt, as a self-conscious moral emotion, can shape early visual perception. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Using a pre-post experimental design combined with electroencephalography (EEG), we investigated how guilt modulates visual size perception and its neurophysiological correlates. Across four experiments, we confirmed that guilt emotion consistently increased the size overestimation component of the Ebbinghaus illusion. Time-frequency analyses revealed that guilt processing involved decreased prefrontal theta (4 to 7 Hz) power and reduced phase coupling of prefrontal theta and temporo-parieto-occipital alpha (8 to 12 Hz) oscillations. The guilt-related modulation of visual size perception was specifically associated with occipital alpha phase coherence. These results demonstrate that guilt emotion shapes fundamental visual processing through coordinated neural oscillations across large-scale brain networks. The findings advance understanding of emotion-cognition interactions and have implications for guilt-related psychiatric disorders.