ISSN : 1226-9654
Emoticons are widely used for various offline and online communication. To investigate whether the perceptual encoding of face emoticon relies on the face-specific configural processing, we examined how stimulus inversion affects the amplitude and peak latency of face-sensitive ERP component N170 which is known to be larger and delayed in response to inverted than to upright human face (N170-face inversion effect; N170-FIE) as well as ERP component P1 which is known to be sensitive to low-level visual features. ERPs were recorded to upright and inverted face emoticons, face photos, and house icons which were surrounded by oval-shaped outline. Participants had to judge the relative height of two gaps on the outline. N170 was enhanced for face emoticons and face photos relative to house icons (face-sensitive N170 effect), and showed no amplitude difference between face emoticons and face photos. N170 amplitude was not affected by inversion for all types of experimental stimuli. N170 was delayed for face photos relative to face emoticons as well as house icons, and showed no latency difference between face emoticons and house icons. The aforesaid latency difference among experimental stimuli were found only for inverted stimuli. For face emoticons and face photos, N170 was delayed for inverted relative to upright faces (N170-FIE), but, no N170 peak latency-related inversion effect was found for house icons. However, the magnitude of inversion effect was largest for face photos, and showed no difference between face emoticons and house icons. The amplitude and peak latency of P1 showed neither face-sensitive effect nor FIE, and only showed the effect of low-level visual differences among experimental stimuli. These findings show that perceptual encoding of upright face emoticons can rely on face-sensitive configural processing mechanisms to a less degree than face photos, but perceptual encoding of inverted face emoticons can rely on object-sensitive perceptual mechanisms like house icons.
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