New Publication: How the Brain Encodes Emotions When We See Faces

We are excited to share a new publication addressing how emotions are encoded in the human brain during face perception. Combining high-frequency pupillometry with fMRI, the study disentangles perceptual load and arousal components of emotional face processing. Faces, compared to control stimuli, elicited stronger pupil dilations and enhanced activation in bilateral occipito-fusiform regions and the amygdalae. Notably, angry faces produced the largest pupillary responses, while fearful faces triggered the strongest neural activity in a right-lateralized network centered on the superior temporal sulcus. Overall, the findings suggest that emotional meaning is specified early in perception, with distinct physiological and neural signatures for different threat-related expressions.

👉 Read the paper here