Does facial expression processing require attention? A multi-lab replication of Eimer et al. (2003)
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: How the brain processes facial expressions and whether this process requires focal attention have been central topics of neurophysiological research on face processing. In a seminal study, using scalp-recorded event-related potentials (ERPs), Eimer, Holmes, and McGlone (2003) found that emotional and neutral faces were differently processed in the brain as early as 160 ms after stimulus onset. Importantly, these ERP differences disappeared when attention was directed away from the face stimuli, suggesting the necessity of focal attention in facial expression processing. These results have greatly motivated further research in the field. Yet, subsequent research did not always agree with these findings, and the study was never directly replicated. Hence, this study has been selected by #EEGManyLabs, a global and multi-laboratory replication project, for a high-powered direct replication across multiple laboratories (N = 41 in each laboratory). We hypothesize the replication of the original positive findings, including the ERP effects differentiating emotional and neutral faces and their dependence on focal attention. To address the debate on facial expression processing and the role of N170, we will also take this opportunity to reassess key negative findings of the original study, namely no difference between emotional and neutral facial expressions in N170 and no ERP differences among the six facial expressions. Replication or revision of these findings will confirm the necessity of focal attention in emotional face processing and the postulated biomarkers of basic emotion processing. This study will provide a reproducible benchmark on face processing.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Authors: Ziyi Wang, Alejandro Estudillo, Ala Yankouskaya, Nazanin S. Andalibi, Amy Bland, Chris Robert Harrison Brown, Elisabeth Fonteneau, Donovan G. Govan, Marine Granjon, Tijl Grootswagers, Jennifer Nadine Gutsell, José Antonio Hinojosa, Jing Ke, Yixuan Ku, Bryan Qi Zheng Leong, Claudia Poch, Ellen Seiss, Efe Soyman, Oscar Sun, Manuel Varlet, Nolhan Zermane, Faisal Mushtaq, Yuri G. Pavlov, Xun He
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223242789