Event-related brain potentials differentiate positive and negative mood adjectives during both supraliminal and subliminal visual processing

Edward Bernat, Scott Bunce, Howard Shevrin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

254 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

This experiment provides brain event-related potential (ERP) evidence for differential processing of visually presented pleasant and unpleasant affectively valent words (mood adjectives) for both supraliminal (40 ms) and subliminal (unmasked, 1 ms) stimulus durations. Unpleasant words elicited a more positive amplitude than pleasant words in both durations. ERP components (P1, N1, P2, P3, and a late positive potential; LP) were measured at six electrode sites (F3, F4, P3, P4, CzPz, Oz). ERPs to subliminal stimuli demonstrated differences between pleasant and unpleasant words in the left hemisphere across all measured components. Supraliminal processing showed similar differences in the left hemisphere for early components (P1 and N1), but bilateral differences for late components (P3 and LP). Activity in the P2 time window was associated with the divergence between supraliminal and subliminal affective responses. Implications for the study of affect and consciousness are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)11-34
Number of pages24
JournalInternational Journal of Psychophysiology
Volume42
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2001

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Neuroscience
  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Physiology (medical)

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