Attending toward fearful faces and other threatening stimuli increase the chance of survival. The dot-probe task is a commonly used measure of spatial attention. Event-related potentials (ERPs) have been found to be a reliable measure of attentional bias. The dot-probe literature suggests that posterior contralateral N170 amplitudes are more enhanced by fearful faces compared to ipsilateral amplitudes. However, ERP methods remove non-phase locked frequencies, which provides additional information about neural activity. Specifically, theta oscillations (5–7 Hz) have been linked to attentional processing. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between posterior contralateral theta oscillations and N170 amplitudes in the dot-probe task. A modified dot-probe task was used with fear and neutral facial expressions and EEG data was recorded from 33 electrodes. The ERP and time-frequency data were extracted from the P7 and P8 electrodes (left and right occipitotemporal regions). This study found enhanced N170 amplitude and theta oscillations in the electrodes posterior contralateral to the fearful face. Contralateral N170 amplitudes and theta oscillations were related such that greater N170 amplitudes were associated with greater theta oscillations. The results indicated that increased contralateral N170 and theta oscillations are related to each other and underlie attentional bias to fearful faces.

关注可怕的面孔和其他威胁性刺激会增加生存的机会。点探测任务是一种常用的空间注意力度量。已发现事件相关电位 (ERP) 是衡量注意力偏差的可靠指标。点探针文献表明，与同侧振幅相比，可怕的面部后对侧 N170 振幅更能增强。然而，ERP 方法去除了非锁相频率，这提供了关于神经活动的额外信息。具体而言，theta 振荡（5-7 Hz）与注意力处理有关。本研究的目的是检查点探针任务中后对侧 theta 振荡与 N170 振幅之间的关系。改进的点探针任务用于恐惧和中性面部表情，并从 33 个电极记录 EEG 数据。从 P7 和 P8 电极（左右枕颞区）提取​​ ERP 和时频数据。该研究发现，恐惧面部后对侧电极中的 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡增强。对侧 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡相关，因此更大的 N170 振幅与更大的 theta 振荡相关。结果表明，增加的对侧 N170 和 theta 振荡彼此相关，并且是对可怕面孔的注意力偏见的基础。该研究发现，恐惧面部后对侧电极中的 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡增强。对侧 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡相关，因此更大的 N170 振幅与更大的 theta 振荡相关。结果表明，增加的对侧 N170 和 theta 振荡彼此相关，并且是对可怕面孔的注意力偏见的基础。该研究发现，恐惧面部后对侧电极中的 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡增强。对侧 N170 振幅和 theta 振荡相关，因此更大的 N170 振幅与更大的 theta 振荡相关。结果表明，增加的对侧 N170 和 theta 振荡相互关联，并且是对可怕面孔的注意力偏见的基础。