Emotion-specific modulation of early visual perception

Abstract

Exposure to fearful facial expressions enhances vision at low spatial-frequencies and impairs vision at high spatial-frequencies. This perceptual trade-off is thought to be a consequence of a fear-related activation of the magnocellular visual pathway to the amygdala. In this study we examined the generality of the effect of emotion on low-level visual perception by assessing participants' orientation sensitivity to low and high spatial-frequency targets following exposure to disgust, fear, and neutral facial expressions. The results revealed that exposure to fear and disgust expressions have opposing effects on early vision: fearful expressions enhanced low spatial-frequency vision and impaired high spatial-frequency vision, while disgust expressions, like neutral expressions, impaired low spatial-frequency vision and enhanced high spatial-frequency vision. Thus we show the effect of exposure to fear on visual perception is not a general emotional effect, but rather one that may that depend on amygdala activation, or one that may be specific to fear.

Keywords:

• Emotional facial expressions
• Visual perception
• Disgust
• Fear

Notes

¹ The idea that disgust may activate the P pathway was suggested by Adam K. Anderson in a discussion with the first author at the 2012 Lake Ontario Vision Establishment Conference, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.