Neurophysiological evidence (ERPs) for hemispheric processing of facial expressions of emotions: Evidence from whole face and chimeric face stimuli

This study was designed to investigate the patterns of electrophysiological responses of early emotional processing at frontocentral sites in adults and to explore whether adults’ activation patterns show hemispheric lateralisation for facial emotion processing. Thirty-five adults viewed full face and chimeric face stimuli. After viewing two faces, sequentially, participants were asked to decide which of the two faces was more emotive. The findings from the standard faces and the chimeric faces suggest that emotion processing is present during the early phases of face processing in the frontocentral sites. In particular, sad emotional faces are processed differently than neutral and happy (including happy chimeras) faces in these early phases of processing. Further, there were differences in the electrode amplitudes over the left and right hemisphere, particularly in the early temporal window. This research provides supporting evidence that the chimeric face test is a test of emotion processing that elicits right hemispheric processing.