Electrophysiological correlates of face distortion after-effects

Abstract

When observers are exposed to a distorted face the perceived configuration of a subsequently presented face is altered, a phenomenon called face distortion after-effect (FDAE). We compared the face-related components of the event-related potential (ERP) after adaptation to noise images—veridical and distorted faces. We found large bilateral adaptation effects on the P100 and N170 components that are related to face detection. Moreover, we found smaller adaptation effects on the N170, recorded over the right hemisphere, which can be related to the behavioural distortion after-effect and to face configurations. Our results suggest that the observed ERP adaptation effects are general for various steps of face processing and that the FDAEs similarly to gender after-effects are related to the early face-specific ERP components.