Prioritized processing of fearful compared to neutral faces is reflected in behavioral advantages such as lower detection thresholds, but also in enhanced early and late event‐related potentials (ERPs). Behavioral advantages have recently been associated with the spatial frequency spectrum of fearful faces, better fitting the human contrast sensitivity function than the spectrum of neutral faces. However, it is unclear whether and to which extent early and late ERP differences are due to low‐level spatial frequency spectrum information or high‐level representations of the facial expression. In this pre‐registered EEG study (N = 38), the effects of fearful‐specific spatial frequencies on event‐related ERPs were investigated by presenting faces with fearful and neutral expressions whose spatial frequency spectra were manipulated so as to contain either the average power spectra of neutral, fearful, or both expressions combined. We found an enlarged N170 to fearful versus neutral faces, not interacting with spatial frequency. Interactions of emotional expression and spatial frequencies were observed for the P1 and Early Posterior Negativity (EPN). For both components, larger emotion differences were observed when the spectrum contained neutral as opposed to fearful frequencies. Importantly, for the EPN, fearful and neutral expressions did not differ anymore when inserting fearful frequencies into neutral expressions, whereas typical emotion differences were found when faces contained average or neutral frequencies. Our findings show that N170 emotional modulations are unaffected by expression‐specific spatial frequencies. However, expression‐specific spatial frequencies alter early and mid‐latency ERPs. Most notably, the EPN to neutral expressions is boosted by adding fearful spectra—but not vice versa.

中文翻译：

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恐惧面孔的空间频谱会调制早期和中期延迟的ERP，而不会调制N170。

与中性面孔相比，优先处理恐惧的行为表现为行为优势，例如较低的检测阈值，而且还体现在增强的早期和晚期事件相关电位（ERP）。行为上的优势最近已与可怕的面孔的空间频谱相关联，比中性面孔的频谱更适合人类的对比敏感度功能。但是，目前尚不清楚ERP的早期和晚期差异是由于低水平的空间频谱信息或面部表情的高水平表示而造成的，以及在何种程度上出现差异。在此预先注册的EEG研究中（N = 38），通过呈现带有恐惧和中性表情的人脸来研究特定于恐惧的空间频率对事件相关的ERP的影响，这些表情的空间频谱已被操纵以包含中性，恐惧或两个表情的平均功率谱结合。我们发现N170扩大了，使其面对中性的面孔，与空间频率无关。观察到情绪表达和空间频率的相互作用，涉及P1和早期后阴性（EPN）。对于这两个分量，当频谱包含中性而不是可怕的频率时，观察到较大的情感差异。重要的是，对于EPN，在将恐惧频率插入中性表情时，恐惧和中性表情不再存在差异，而当面孔包含平均或中性频率时，会发现典型的情感差异。我们的发现表明，N170情绪调节不受特定于表情的空间频率的影响。但是，特定于表达的空间频率会更改早期和中期延迟的ERP。最值得注意的是，通过添加可怕的频谱可以将EPN转换为中性表达式，但反之则不然。