Attention is an important function that allows us to selectively enhance the processing of relevant stimuli in our environment. Fittingly, a number of studies have revealed that potentially threatening/fearful stimuli capture attention more efficiently. Interestingly, in separate fMRI studies, threatening stimuli situated close to viewers were found to enhance brain activity in fear-relevant areas more than stimuli that were further away. Despite these observations, few studies have examined the effect of personal distance on attentional capture by emotional stimuli. Using electroencephalography (EEG), the current investigation addressed this question by investigating attentional capture of emotional faces that were either looming/receding, or were situated at different distances from the viewer. In Experiment 1, participants carried out an incidental task while looming or receding fearful and neutral faces were presented bilaterally. A significant lateralised N170 and N2pc were found for a looming upright fearful face, however no significant components were found for a looming upright neutral face or inverted fearful and neutral faces. In Experiment 2, participants made gender judgements of emotional faces that appeared on a screen situated within or beyond peripersonal space (respectively 50 cm or 120 cm). Although response times did not differ, significantly more errors were made when faces appeared in near as opposed to far space. Importantly, ERPs revealed a significant N2pc for fearful faces presented in peripersonal distance, compared to the far distance. Our findings show that personal distance markedly affects neural responses to emotional stimuli, with increased attention towards fearful upright faces that appear in close distance.

注意是一项重要功能，可让我们选择性地增强环境中相关刺激的处理。适当地，许多研究表明，潜在的威胁/恐惧刺激可以更有效地吸引注意力。有趣的是，在单独的功能磁共振成像研究中，发现靠近观看者的威胁性刺激比与恐惧相关的区域更能刺激大脑活动。尽管有这些观察结果，但很少有研究检查过个人距离对情绪刺激对注意力捕获的影响。通过使用脑电图（EEG），当前的研究通过调查注意力集中在情绪隐现的问题上来解决了这个问题，这些情感问题要么隐约可见/后退，要么与观看者之间的距离不同。在实验1中，参加者执行了一项附带任务，同时隐约可见或退避了两边呈现的恐惧和中立面孔。发现了明显的侧面化的N170和N2pc，以显示出隐约可见的直立的恐惧面孔，但是没有发现显着的分量显示出隐约的直立的中性面孔或倒置的恐惧和中性面孔。在实验2中，参与者对人脸的性别做出了判断，这些人脸出现在位于个人空间内或周围（分别为50 cm或120 cm）的屏幕上。尽管响应时间没有差异，但是当面孔在远处而不是在远处出现时，会犯更多的错误。重要的是，ERP揭示了与远距离相比，在人际距离呈现的可怕面孔的N2pc很大。